This paper investigates Marina Carr's play By the Bog of Cats... (1998), a transposition of Euripides' tragedy Medea, with focus on intertextuality and folklore references. Introducing Euripides' play, the article analyses Carr's departures from the original in terms of narrative, as well as the Irish cultural context into which the tragedy has been transposed.
The main focus is the folklore tradition of the mélusine legend, which is examined along with the traditions of the cailleach and the bean sí figures. Postulating Hester Swane as an older version of the cailleach, an Otherworld woman of the Macha, fairy, or mermaid wife type, the paper investigates the implications for reading the Medea myth in Carr's play.