A VENERABLE Cambridge tradition returns to the Arts Theatre next week when the Cambridge Greek Play gets its triennial staging.

The tradition of performing an ancient Greek play in its original language began in 1882 and it has come around once every three years since then. This year's production - the 40th Cambridge Greek Play - is Euripides' classic Medea. The title character has betrayed her family to join Jason in Corinth. But several years later he abandons her to marry a princess and Medea faces exile. She asks for one day's grace so that she can enact her bloody revenge on her former lover, his new bride and her royal father.

The epic tragedy was written in 431BC and has become firmly imbedded in mythology down the ages. Passages from the play were recited by the Suffragettes who were inspired by the struggle of the central controversial figure. Rupert Brooke appeared in the Cambridge Greek Play in 1906 and Ralph Vaughan Williams composed the music for Aristophanes' Wasps in 1909. This year's title role is played by Marta Zlatic, a junior research fellow at Trinity College who previously played the title roles in 2001's Electra and 2004's Oedipus. She has been reunited with director Annie Castledine for the production.