Kill like Medea, but with love this time: Marina Carr’s take on filicide in by the bog of cats

Abstract

This paper discusses Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats, an Irish theatrical play that is a loose adaptation of Euripides’ Medea. Originally staged at the Abbey Theatre on the 7th of October 1998, By the Bog of Cats is Marina Carr’s most renowned and oft-performed theatrical play today. Carr borrows and reworks the deadly myth of Medea, namely the story of a mother who kills her children as a form of revenge against her husband. Carr transposes the myth to the rural Midlands of Ireland, bringing a tragedy originally performed in 431 BC to a contemporary Irish setting. Placed into this new context, what stands out in Carr’s adaptation in relation to the ancient precursor is Carr’s profound take on filicide. Leaving aside notions of retribution and jealousy typically assigned to Medea, filicide, in Carr’s hands, transforms into a radically liberating force.