A movement theatre performance based on Sophocles' tragedy  Women of Trachis

In Sophocles' tragedy, seemingly the hot-burning robe wrapped around the hero's body is the one that kills. But blood and human death are in fact claimed by absence, lack and the irredeemable silence. A high price to pay, and a way out of paying seems impossible. But is it?

The absent husband and father (Heracles) lives his life far from the city of Trachis, his wife (Deianeira), his son (Hyllos) and the people of his entire household. His wife, not knowing anything about him, is waiting for him in uncertainty, together with her fellow women of Trachis. She hopes for news from her son, who is on the trail of his missing father. But the developments are painfully sobering: although Heracles is soon to return home, his arrival is heralded by the prisoners sent ahead as spoils of victory, including Iolé, the mute princess, Heracles' intended new wife. Desperation drives Déianeira to her fateful act: she makes a robe and dyes it with the blood of the centaur slain by Heracles. The promise is that the potion will bind the wearer to eternal loyalty. But the centaur lied, and in the end he avenges his killer. Heracles puts on the (poisonous) robe he was given and, in agony, learns of mortals' own: finite life. Deianeira, confronted with the terrible consequences of her innocent deed, chooses death, and Heracles uses his last strength to force his son to accept Iole as his eternal companion.

The tragedy of Sophocles begins where myth subsides into silence. We see Heracles in a way we are not used to seeing him: the hero has now accomplished his heroic deeds and should be living the life of the common man. But he cannot. Not only because his death in agony interferes. The suspicion is justified that he has failed a thousand times as a husband and father. When he spoke, he always spoke in the voice of the hero. When he took action, it was always for new glory. And now, even in the moment of agonizing death, he leaves his son only terrible instructions: as a husband he has to love the woman Heracles has stolen for himself. Women of Trachis can rightly be seen as the tragedy of the failure of dialogue. The women left behind stand helpless on the precipice of their common fate. Anyone who looks into the abyss sees a devastating darkness of heroism and masculinity, in which only an attempt to understand and rediscover each other can shed light. The heroes of the tragedy fail to reach this. The question is: can we ourselves break the curse by breaking the bad patterns we have inherited? Are we capable of waking up in time to our situation, capable of the sincere curiosity that will allow us to understand the other? And most importantly, are we able to put our fears and desires into words? This performance (also) speaks about this - without words.

Cast: Tamás-Zsolt Imreh, Emma Kovács, Margit-Mária Kúti, Juliánna-Noémi Nagy, Eneh-Éva Pálfalvi, Kriszta Pánczél, Szilárd Róbert, Mercédesz-Dóra Szlivka, Noémi Szőcs

Director, choreographer: Kinga Kis-Luca
Dramaturg: Tamás Lovassy Cseh
Technical assistant: Zoltán Portik