HOLSTEBRO, Denmark — A hush fell in the red room, the largest performing space in the former barn here that the experimental Odin Teatret has called home since 1966. The theater’s founder and director, Eugenio Barba, welcomed the 32 members of the Gambuh Desa Batuan Ensemble, who had just arrived from Bali and were sitting on the floor in sarongs. They were to play the roles of Medea and her kinsmen in “The Marriage of Medea,” a new production presented last month by the Odin in a town festival.

“The Jasonite family and friends,” the 71-year-old Mr. Barba said, pausing to indicate fresh-faced performers in flashy hip-hop-inspired outfits sitting behind him, who were to play the Greek hero Jason’s followers and family members, “are very, very curious to know who you are, Medea’s people. We have the occasion now to greet each other in our own theatrical way. Then we will embrace each other and go back to work. The Jasonites will work very hard, otherwise my reputation will be spoiled."

Everyone laughed, though Mr. Barba may not have been entirely kidding. The performances that followed — a hip-hop-flavored song-and-dance sequence, a visiting Polish group’s a cappella rendering of a Georgian funeral song, a Balinese dance solo, and a love-song duet in Chinese and Portuguese between a Nanguan opera singer and a Brazilian percussionist — were the kinds of intercultural exchange that Mr. Barba and his group have been practicing for almost half a century. The Jasonites, however, were something new.

Det tyvstarter på Struer Havn fredag den 6. juni om aftenen - og så fortælles den lange historie om Medeas bryllup med Jason ellers over de følgende mange dage i Holstebro Festuge 2008 »Lys & Mørke«.

Og det ER sandelig en historie, der er fyldt med både lys og mørke.

Myterne om Medea er mange. Den mest kendte historie er nok Euripides' skuespil »Medea«, der blev opført første gang i år 431 i Grækenland. Og noget af den version går da også igen i teaterleder og instruktør Eugenio Barbas version af begivenhederne i Medeas liv.