King’s College London’s annual Greek Play, staged every year since 1953, takes on Euripides’ Medea, recast as the exile and outsider in a city that will not have her.
King’s College London stages Euripides’ Medea as its annual Greek Play at the Greenwood Theatre near London Bridge, from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 March 2027.
Classical drama has been performed at King’s since the late 19th century. The Greek Play in its present form began in 1953 with Hippolytus, and Medea was staged two years later.
King’s says it is the only university in the country to perform Greek drama wholly or partly in the original language every academic year. Since 1987 the play has been part of the University of London Festival of Greek Drama, and productions have toured universities in the United States and Canada.
This adaptation casts Medea as the one who does not belong: the mother, the exile, the sorcerer. It is built on physical theatre effects, and the company ties the play to present arguments about immigration and national belonging.
King’s students make the production, with the touring company Actors of Dionysus as its executive directors. Actors of Dionysus have performed Greek tragedy, comedy and new writing inspired by myth since 1993.