Medusa
Medusa
Friday 11 July 2025, 19:30PM - 20:30PM
Silk Street Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London
Embedded Files
‘I had a dream last night that I had gills instead of lungs.’
MEDUSA is a contemporary re-telling of the Greek myth of Medusa, focussing on Medusa’s own story before her encounter with Perseus. This chamber opera explores both her girlhood and the aftermath of her violation in Athena’s temple, reclaiming the narrative of the woman who has historically been portrayed as solely a ‘monster’. She is both joyful and furious, unflinching and terrified, violated and fiercely powerful - she is all these things at once. Focussing on Medusa’s own story before her encounter with Perseus, opera, dance, puppetry and video mapping blend together to compose a semi-staged, deconstructed shipwreck of girlhood and “monsterhood”.
Foreword by Librettist Jess McNulty:
My inspiration for this libretto was born out of a conversation I had with my mum in our kitchen at home about the change in awareness of our bodies we both experienced as young teenagers. We were looking through photos of her when she was about eleven or twelve, and she was remembering the almost sudden consciousness she had of the fact that her body was perceived, that in some ways her body was not just her own. I have a very similar experience and distinctly remember how being told I had a ‘strong build’ shifted from positive to negative. As a child, it meant that I was strong and fast and could jump the highest in netball but, as a teenager, it had connotations that I was not petite enough and took up too much space. Something that ‘Medusa’ explores is that shift; the first scene was inspired by a video of children being asked what they would change about their body, all of whom came up with the most amazing suggestions which gave them some sort of superpower. At the beginning, Medusa has a certain naivety surrounding her body and it is only through meeting Poseidon and his imposed gaze, that she realises her body and her self are not solely her own. Someone has an unwanted claim on her.
I also just want to touch briefly on a couple of other themes which I feel drove me the most when writing ‘Medusa’. The first is rage. I read many an essay on female rage, something which Medusa’s image is seen to represent in a lot of feminist interpretations of the myth. Megan Nolan in ‘The Functions of Female Rage’ talks about a rage which is ‘unfocussed’, and I really love that image, of an anger that does not have to have a use to be justified. At the end, Medusa’s anger is a stark contrast to her naivety and girlhood at the beginning of the opera, something which she is also deeply aware of. It is an anger which she knows might overcome her, but also one which is a scream against the injustice of her story and that is born out of a deep desire to protect herself and her sisters.
There is also, of course, a perpetuating theme of victim blaming – Medusa is punished for a crime which was committed against her. In fact, not only was she blamed for it, but her sisters, who stood by her, were also punished. I found this particularly hard to write as the punishment is inflicted by a woman, and I struggled for a long time on how to portray Athena. To me, she could not be so black and white, or so unashamedly vindictive. It didn’t make sense. However, she was a goddess so also saw ‘mortals’ differently and couldn’t go back on herself. It was only as I wrote that she began to unravel, began to almost soften – I think she still has some unravelling to do. Furthermore, until only very recently, I had let Poseidon get off very lightly for his violation (although he still is not held accountable in the way I long for him to be). He simply disappeared after his unforgivable act against Medusa, only mentioned in name. I initially wanted that disappearance to trigger some anger in the audience at the injustice of it, and at the fact the opera ended with two women arguing because of what he did. However, after a suggestion, I drafted a scene of a conversation between him and Athena, which I now think is extremely important. It shows his awful attitude and his power of being ‘untouchable’, as well as Athena almost trying to defend Medusa but being unable to fully do so. It also contextualises Athena and Medusa’s stand-off in the final scene slightly more. The last thing related to victim blaming that I want to quickly highlight is the idea of rumours being what turns Medusa, Stheno and Euryale into ‘monsters’. It is not their physical change, but how they are perceived and how they are consequently treated because of it. By being blamed for her rape, Medusa is then made into the ‘monster’ – it is a consequence of the lies which are spread about her, and of what she then must do to protect her own.
Medusa’s story is not only incredibly heart-breaking but also not solely an isolated one. There are many themes that I hope a lot of people, perhaps especially women, will relate to or see intertwined with their own stories. Lastly, I want to make one thing clear. I do not see Medusa as a monster, I think she is far from one. In fact, I don’t think she ever was one, no matter what the myths say. To quote Athena, ‘she was just a girl.’
This is a semi-staged student-led production.
TW // this performance contains mentions of multiple distressing topics including but not limited to sexual assault, rape, misogyny, victim blaming and death.
Scene 1
Medusa and her two sisters, Euryale and Stheno are at sea, singing playfully, imagining magical changes to their bodies - from neck and eyebrows to adding a tail and a shark fin. There is joy, freedom, and innocence in their banter and in their unburdened girlhood and sisterly bond.
Scene 2
On the shore, Medusa meets a mysterious man who flirts with and flatters her. He seems to hold many stories of the sea and of monsters and although their conversation seems harmless, an unsettling undertone emerges. He gives her a shell, asking for her name, which she eventually shares
She returns to her sisters, flustered, embarrassed - all laughing at this man’s attention.
Scene 3
Medusa is alone at the beach, wearing the shell as a necklace. The mysterious man appears again and begins to speak of her beauty, the gods and Amphitrite, the Queen of Sea - how the god Poseidon fell in love with her and pursued her until she was his. The interaction becomes increasingly sinister until the man reveals himself to be Poseidon, god of the sea, declaring that he will not be refused.
Medusa runs away in fear.
Scene 4
Medusa returns to her sisters in a panic and confides in them. She tells them Poseidon threatened her after she rejected him. They decide to take her to Athena’s temple, believing the goddess of wisdom and justice will protect her.
Scene 5
In Athena’s temple, Medusa prays alone. Poseidon enters, enraged by the rejection; he is a god in full form. He does not listen to her pleas and the scene ends in darkness.
Medusa is left alone in the aftermath of her violation at the hands of Poseidon. She searches her soul and body, pleading to be transformed into something lifeless - sea, sand, stone.
Scene 6
Morning comes. Her sisters return to find her bruised and shaken. As they go to leave the temple, Athena appears and blames Medusa for desecrating the temple. Despite her sisters’ defense, Athena curses Medusa and her sisters, transforming them into the monsters of the myths.
Scene 7
As time passes, a chorus of voices spread gossip about Medusa, distorting her story. The sisters are all branded as ‘monsters’. Athena reflects on her actions, recognising the injustice but justifying them as necessary. Medusa, now able to turn men to stone, becomes feared, not for who she is, but for how others perceive her.
Scene 8
In a confrontation between Poseidon and Athena, blame is exchanged. Athena accuses Poseidon of stealing Medusa’s girlhood; he deflects and mocks her for acting like a mortal. Athena’s guilt surfaces - she cursed a victim, while Poseidon remains untouched. But gods cannot admit mistakes.
Scene 9
Athena goes to Medusa in her exile. Surrounded by the statues of men she has turned to stone, Medusa accuses Athena of abandoning and cursing her. Athena claims she gave her power, but Medusa counters: ‘You turned me into a monster’. The transformation was no protection - it was punishment disguised as strength. Medusa cannot forgive either god. She is no longer who she was.
Hella Termeulen
Medusa (First Half)
Dutch mezzo-soprano Hella Termeulen recently completed her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she studied with Janice Chapman and Marcus van den Akker. She is now continuing her training on the opera course at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Hella has a particular love for opera, contemporary music, and ensemble work.
Eva Stone-Barney
Medusa (Second Half)
Eva Stone-Barney is a Canadian mezzo-soprano pursuing her Masters in Vocal Studies at Guildhall, where she studies with Samantha Malk. She holds degrees in vocal performance and musicology from McGill University and the University of Toronto. This summer, she will appear as a young artist in various performances at the Festival Lyrique-en-mer in Belle-Île, France. Recent highlights include Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro (Goodenough College), Nancy in scenes from Britten’s Albert Herring, Ramiro in scenes from Mozart’s La finta giardiniera (Guildhall), chorus in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Guildhall), and New Ofglen in Poul Rouders’ The Handmaid’s Tale (Banff Centre).
Twm Tegid Brunton
Poseidon
Twm Tegid is a baritone from North East Wales he has recently finished an undergraduate degree in classical music at the Guildhall school of music and Drama. Twm’s recent achievements include winning both the Junior Kathleen Ferrier Bursary and the Colin Jones scholarship, as well as reaching the final round in the prestigious Towyn Roberts competition at the National Eisteddfod. Twm also had great success in the Dunraven young singer competition regarded as one of the most prestigious competitions. As well as Twm’s love for classical music he still has interests in the land based sectors, where he worked as a forester prior to his studies in music. Twm’s dream of becoming a singer stem from his Welsh heritage, he will continue his studies at guildhall school of music and drama following a successful audition for the opera course.
Teresa Cachada
Athena
Teresa Cachada is a Portuguese mezzo-soprano, who has just completed her BMus 2nd year undergraduate at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Teresa started to have music lessons at the age of 8 and had participated in many concerts in choir and as a soloist, many musicals and operas during the school years as Cherubino and Marcellina from Le Nozze di Figaro; Dorabella from Cosi fan Tutte and many more.
Alice Hermand
Euryale
Belgian soprano Alice Hermand is completing her undergraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she has performed roles such as Mařenka (The Bartered Bride), the Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), and the First Lady and Second Genie (Die Zauberflöte). She has also appeared as Barbarina and covered Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Saluzzo Opera Academy, and participated in the 2025 Grandi Voci Competition in Salzburg. Upcoming engagements include historically informed performances as Natura (La Calisto) and Almira (Almira) at Guildhall. In autumn 2025, she will begin her Master’s studies at IMEP in Namur and join the MM Academy of La Monnaie/De Munt.
Júlia Guix i Estrada
Stheno
Júlia Guix i Estrada is a soprano from Barcelona. She began her musical training at the Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona and is currently completing her third year of undergraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Recent stage appearances include the roles of Puck and Mustardseed in A Fairy Queen’s Midsummer Night (Purcell/ Britten). Her repertoire spans a variety of styles and languages, including roles such as Despina (Così fan tutte) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Lieder from Schubert to Pfitzner, English song by composers such as Madeleine Dring, as well as Catalan, Spanish, and French repertoire - ranging from Bizet to Ravel. She has a strong interest in early music and has recently explored a range of Vivaldi works. Passionate about stylistic versatility, she enjoys engaging with both historical and contemporary repertoire, and brings curiosity and energy to each new project.
Depi Gorgogianni
Dancer (Medusa’s consciousness)
Depi Gorgogianni is a versatile Dance Artist working across movement direction, choreography, and contemporary dance. She holds an MA in Movement Direction from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and trained at the Rallou Manou Professional Dance School in Athens.
Her credits include Mami Wata (Bush Theatre), Electra Untitled (Arcola), Ergo Sum (Barbican), Henry VIII(Guildhall, dir. Owen Horsley), and productions with Proud Haddock including Square Rounds, The Dog Beneath the Skin, and The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus. She was Assistant Choreographer for Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (West End), directed by Vicky Featherstone, and Assistant Movement Director on Measure for Measure and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe. She has also devised work with Vertebra Theatre Company.
Depi has choreographed musicals at London College of Music and performed with choreographers including Quang Kien Van, Jorge Crecis, and others. She has taught at ArtsEd, Central, The Place, and East 15.
Brian Choi
Conductor
Brian Choi is a conductor from Hong Kong, now based in London. He studied at Diocesan Boys’ School, and later at Guildhall School of Music with Prof Tim Redmond and Dominic Wheeler. Brian now holds the Junior Fellowship in Conducting at the Guildhall School of Music, assisting guest conductors such as Lionel Bringuier, Roberto Gonzalez Monjas with symphonic projects at the Barbican Centre. Apart from the Fellowship, he was also on the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Artist Conductor observership scheme, and attended the Saluzzo Italian Opera Academy as a Conductor funded by Lily Niblock Memorial Scholarship. Most recently, Brian has been selected by Maestro Daniel Harding to take part in the YMCG Festival in China as conducting fellow and public masterclass student, in which he conducted Mahler’s First Symphony.
In the operatic field, Brian has conducted arias from Mozart, Handel, and Puccini at the 58th International Vocal Competition in Netherlands for Masterclasses, and is assistant conductor for London Opera Company’s production of Wagner’s Siegfried in St John Smith Square, returning for Götterdammerung in 2025. Brian’s passion for the Wagnerian repertoire has led him to be selected by the Wagner Society UK and Richard Wagner Stipendienstiftung, as a Bayreuth Stipendiat 2025.
In 2022, Brian founded the Sutton Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Great Sutton Street, where he is also Music Director. Together, they have performed works by Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, and Wagner. Particular highlights include a semi-staged performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Palm Sunday 2024, and well-received performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod.
Goi Ywei Chern
Composer
Goi Ywei Chern is a Singaporean composer and guitarist currently based in London. He is pursuing a DMus (Composition) degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, supervised by Professors Richard Baker, Matt Kaner, and Julian Anderson. He has received awards including First Prize in the 11th International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition (2023) and the Leong Yoon Pin Composition Competition (2016). His music has been performed in Singapore, London, Leeds, Bangkok, and Ayrshire. Goi holds a Diploma in Music Performance from NAFA and a First-Class Honours degree from the NAFA–Royal College of Music (RCM) programme. He later completed a Master’s in Composition at the Royal College of Music with Distinction. As a guitarist, Goi studied under Manuel Cabrera II and Hunter Mah, and his composition mentors include Dr. Zechariah Goh, Professor Kenneth Hesketh, and Professor Alison Kay. He also performs in the chamber duo Duo Flore with flautist Jess McNulty. More information at www.goiyweichern.com.
Jess McNulty
Librettist
Jess McNulty is a flautist and writer based in London. She completed her undergraduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied flute with Ian Clarke, Sarah Newbold, Philippa Davies, and Christopher Green in 2024. She has just finished her studies as a librettist on the Guildhall’s Opera Making and Writing MA.
Jess is extremely interested in the crossover between words and music. She is the librettist of both ‘Medusa’ (collaborating with composer Goi Ywei Chern with premier in Summer 2025) and ‘Alexander and the Tree’ (working with composer Sorena Sabah and performed in June 2025 at the Guildhall School as part of the Making It Festival). Her poetry collection ‘I have a body no longer’ was commended in the Indigo First Collection Competition in January 2025.
As a flautist, Jess was a finalist in the prestigious Needlemaker’s Woodwind Prize in March 2024. She has further appeared as a soloist in London Fashion Week, in both the shows of Edeline Lee X Glass Magazine and in Patrick McDowell X Guildhall School. A dedicated chamber player, Jess is a member of The Nuada Quintet. As a wind quintet, they have played in settings including BBC Maida Vale Studios, Milton Court, and in new music recordings. Passionate about outreach, The Nuada Quintet has been involved in several projects, including with the New York-based collective DECODA, and with GYA Taunton leading workshops, masterclasses, and performances. More recently, they have led workshops in Madrid and have made their debut international performance. She also performs as part of Duo Flore with guitarist and composer Goi Ywei Chern.
Mayra Stergiou
Director
Mayra (she/they) is a professional Director, Choreographer and Performer. She trained in Lecoq Devised Theatre and Performance at London International School of Performing Arts, in Dramatherapy at University of Derby (MA), in Contact Improvisation and other physical theatre methods. She directs and performs in Devised Theatre, Opera and New Music pieces. In 2013 she founded the Visual Theatre company “Vertebra Theatre”. She has been a visiting lecturer teaching Puppetry, Mask and Embodiment (Roehampton, RCSSD, UAL). Recent Opera credits include:Puppeteer, for Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo by Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin & Janni Younge, Composed by Georg Kallweit and Directed by Janni Younge, at Pierre Boulez Saal, The Game by Elif Karlidag and Electra Untitled. www.mayrastergiou.com
Vertebra Theatre
Vertebra Theatre, founded in 2012 by the Artistic Director Mayra Stergiou, is an Award Winning Disabled and Queer led Ensemble of artists from diverse backgrounds and artistic disciplines with passion for creating contemporary Physical and Visual Theatre deeply rooted in Experimentation. With a taste of the Absurd, the Surreal and Visual Storytelling we seek to explore the interplay between the dynamics of life, imagination, myths and science creating original and socially informed embodied writing for stage and film. Placing the live Body & Scenography in the core of our practice and research, we strive to create artistic work that stretches the boundaries and constantly shifting, shaping and negotiating spaces between Physical Theatre, Dance, Puppetry, Opera and the Visual Arts.
Previous Productions:
Electra Untitled
★★★★ “Even within the solemn and tragic sense of the play, being infected by laughter seemed inevitable.” – North West End UK
An Ice Thing to Say
★★★★★ 'Outstanding Show' Fringe Review
Dark Matter
★★★★★'Beautifully done' Fringe Review
★★★★'The joy of this piece is the rarity of its exploration' The Upcoming
Social Media
Twitter: @VertebraTheatre
Instagram: @vertebratheatre
Website: http://www.vertebrarts.com
Cast
Medusa (first half): Hella Termeulen
Medusa (second half): Eva Stone-Barney
Euryale: Alice Hermand
Stheno: Júlia Guix i Estrada
Athena: Teresa Cachada
Poseidon: Twm Tegid Brunton
Dancer: Depi Gorgogianni
Orchestra
Flute, Alto Flute, & Piccolo: Lara Ali
Oboe & Cor Anglais: Laura Ware-Heine
Clarinet & Bass Clarinet: Ben Adams
French Horn: Josh Pizzoferro
Bassoon: Clara Graham
Percussion: Josh Gearing
Harp: Alicija Cetnar
Violin 1: Niya Lecheva
Violin 2: Anson Kwong
Viola: Benedict Bailey
Cello: Sam Booth
Double Bass: Izzy Nisbett
Piano: Alicia Hernandez Huebra
Creative Crew
Producer: Jess McNulty
Repetiteurs: Alex Dakin & Alicia Hernandez Huebra
Set Design: Bautista Araya
Costume Designer: Talia Servadio
Puppet/Prop Maker: Nadja Zaremba-Byrne
AV Designer: Utkucan Eken
Marketing & Communication: Jess McNulty & Mayra Stergiou
Assistant Costume Designers: Blair Addison, Aimee Fields
Surtitle Operator: Alex Dakin
Lighting Operator: Mayra Stergiou
Associate Producer: Vertebra Theatre
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