A woman and a man. Did he kidnap her? Is he holding her against her will? Or is it a game? If so, who will win? Even when more people join in – a housekeeper and two girls – their relationship doesn’t gain clarity. On the contrary, nothing is certain here. And the rules of the game exist only to relish in circumventing them. British dramaturg Martin Crimp has written 12 variations of an encounter in which the boundaries between power and powerlessness continually shift. With profound wit and keen powers of observation, he allows the contradictions of gender relations to manifest, showing how centuries-old power structures become fixed and continue to exist – if only as parody.

Phaedra’s fate is set in stone. Since the ancient Greek myth has existed, it has been told and retold into the present time. Euripides, Ovid, Seneca, and Jean Racine are but some of the authors who have spread the material. Operas, films, frescos, and sarcophaguses also address the story. The end usually goes unchanged: Phaedra commits suicide. She cannot handle the humiliation of her stepson’s unrequited love. Her closest confidante, Oenone, dies during the piece as well. To protect her mistress, she starts the rumor that Hippolytos, the son of Phaedras’ husband, was after the king’s lovesick royal consort. The king sticks by his wife, which here is synonymous with his own son’s death.