Medea The Child Benefit Scandal
What if Medea weren’t a mythical Greek figure, but a mother caught in the Dutch childcare benefits scandal? Medea The Child Benefit Scandal is a radical reinterpretation of Euripides’ classic, based on the real stories of those affected. Not a tragedy about revenge or victimhood—no, this Medea is about resilience, survival, and choosing love in extremely difficult times.
Location Schuur, Haarlem and on tour through the Netherlands
Run time tba
Genre Music theatre
Language Dutch
Surtitles Surtitled in English and Dutch every night
Premiere Thu 23 Apr
Medea voor een toeslagenherdenking
Jason and Medea are torn apart when the Tax Authority falsely accuses her of fraud. While Medea fights against a system that drives her to despair, Jason begins to doubt her innocence, and his love for her is put to a merciless test. In a desperate attempt to save them from a hopeless existence, Medea resolves to kill her children.
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The distance between them grows, and their trust crumbles. But when the truth finally comes to light—when the pain is spoken aloud and guilt is acknowledged—they find their way back to each other.
Angelo Ormskerk on Medea voor een toeslagenherdenking
“The victims of the childcare benefits scandal are, above all, survivors. What moves me in their stories is that, despite the many ways in which they were stripped of power, there were always others who continued to stand by them. People who believed them and helped them—long before the full impact of the scandal became widely known.”
Angelo Ormskerk (1992) is de recipient of the International Ibsen Fellowship.
Ormskerk was born in the Netherlands and raised in Amsterdam, graduated as a theatre director from the Academy of Theatre and Dance. Before pursuing his directing studies at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, he studied jazz and modern dance, among other disciplines, at the Institut de Formation Professionnelle Rick Odums in Paris.
Currently, he works with Toneelschuur Producties in Haarlem on new productions co-produced by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. Additionally, he collaborates with Danstheater Aya on dance theatre performances for schools.
Ormskerk reinterprets classical repertoire from within his personal perspective on the world and explores how imagery influences our subconscious. Angelo often works in an interdisciplinary manner and focuses on issues surrounding justice and injustice.
Credits
A production by Toneelschuur Producties
Coproducer Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
Director Angelo Ormskerk
Based on Medea by Euripides
Text Maarten van Hinte & Angelo Ormskerk
With Urmie Plein, Dennis Rudge, Joe Sinduhije
Musical director and keyboardist Jeremiah Owusu-Ansah
Vocals Pkeyz & ToneByte
Set and costume design Wael Qadriyeh
Lighting design Casper Leemhuis
-|-Research advisor Fenneke Wekker
Dramaturgical advice Rinke Brans & Daniel 't Hoen
Scenic Construction and Technical Production Isa Keijser and Daan Ottevanger
Decorator Fred Höppener
Social Practice Yuen Kwan Lo & Merel Smitt
Head of Production Fabian Pikula and Loesje Riethof
Production manager Jessie Verbrugh
Production Petra Swagers & Willy Veen
Head of marketing Sjoerd Appelman
Marketing Eva Lute, Iris Istha
Education Heleen van Ham & Lisa Giezen
Campaign image Tengbeh Kamara & e.v.a. Studio
Surtitles Chloé Harris & An Verlinden
Marketing intern Isabel de Bruin
