As the title suggests, this is no ordinary retread in Euripides’s footsteps. It is the winning entry in this year’s New Directions Award, which encourages young theatremakers to experiment with their craft. A certain amount of directorial showing-off might, therefore, be excused but Dylan Tighe pushes our tolerance way too far.

The opening performance art-like tableau is a wonderful indicator of what’s to come. Someone gargles in a fish-tank, a man in a balaclava eats a boiled egg, a naked woman watches a toaster and a French programme on myth plays silently on a television screen (we’ll get Italian later). Oh, and it all unfolds behind gauze. Naturellement.

If you have a working knowledge of the original Medea — who killed her children to punish her ex‑husband and his remarriage — you might just find things to admire in this bewildering, self‑referential, artfully deconstructed labyrinth. There are several references to the British citizenship test; Tighe should have pushed his promising idea of Jason marrying Glauce for the “right” passport further.

There are scarcely any spoken words, the longueurs seem endless and it doesn’t help that every second ticks away before us on a clock on a monitor. It’s an object lesson for all aspiring directors: to learn where inventiveness stops and mess begins.
Until 18 July (020 7229 0706, www.gatetheatre.co.uk).