The long-standing artistic collaboration between director Deborah Warner and actress Fiona Shaw has, argues Clara Armand, raised the powers of performance to a form of genuine authorship. Her article explores the distinctive qualities of their scenic writing as evident in the production of Medea which transferred from the Abbey Theatre to London's West End on 30 January 2001, and went on to play at the Queen's Theatre for over ten weeks. She makes comparisons between the production of Medea and those of the earlier Footfalls and Richard II, focusing on Warner's challenging ways of transforming pre-existing playtexts and theatrical spaces so as to enunciate statements about the contemporary world. Shaw's interpretation of Medea is explored with an emphasis on the actress's ability to maintain truthful identification with the dramatic character and make it reverberate with her own critical social stance as an artist. The discussion of Medea as seen at the Queen's Theatre is developed in the light of Bakhtin's concept of dialogism and related ideas. The article is complemented by the interview with Fiona Shaw which follows. Clara Armand teaches acting and directs at the Stratford Circus Theatre in Stratford East, and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Reading.