Yannos Perlengas
milk, blood by Alexandra Κ*

 

Due to the ongoing pandemic, all performance dates are subject to change

During the summer of Ά58, in a Greek village, a woman kills her two children. In this play, Alexandra K* brings Medea into an era in which women have just begun to realise that life doesnΆt offer hold the same fate for both sexes. Xeni, or the Stranger, has spent years trapped in the roles of daughter, wife, and mother, and now lives under the watching eye of the stifling community where she has been brought to live. When her husband marries another woman and she is left with no role to play, the Stranger struggles to discover what, if anything, remains alive inside her.

Yannos PerlengasΆ directing will highlight a style of language that places special emphasis on form and rhythm.

 

Main photo courtesy of Sokratis Kougeas' personal archive, included in the book Tragoudia toy Kosmou - Moirologia tis Messiniakis Manis (To Rodakio Publishing)

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New Greek works inspired by ancient drama and commissioned by the Athens and Epidaurus Festival

Four avant-garde Greek writers, Amanda Michalopoulou, Alexandra K*, Yannis Mavritsakis and Vavgelis Hatziyiannidis, have been commissioned by the Festival to author an original work, each in dialogue with an ancient Greek tragedy, namely EuripidesΆ Hippolytus, Medea, Bacchae and SophoclesΆ Trachiniae respectively. Each of these original plays will be staged by an acclaimed director (Yannis Kalavrianos, Yannos Perlengas, Eleni Skoti and Giorgos Skevas) at the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus.

In addition to the unique dynamics generated by each work and performance, this is a multifaceted artistic endeavour, with dramaturgical, performative, social and publishing aspects; an experiment aiming to re-ignite the process of making art from scratch. On the one hand, it fosters dialogue between playwriting and Ancient Drama, providing food for thought on the relationship between ancient myths and contemporary identity. On the other hand, in these extremely difficult times for theatre, this project motivates over thirty actors and several other theatre professionals (directors, set designers, musicians, dramaturgs, translators), a companyΆs worth of artists comprising a unique team in this yearΆs artistic programme.

With our eyes set to the future, and with a global outreach in mind, a bilingual edition of these four original works will be published in cooperation with Nefeli Publishing, as part of a newly launched theatre book series. An ambitious, highly promising publishing project that is central to the FestivalΆs initiative of supporting and promoting Greek theatre.

   

 

Directed by Yannos Perlengas

Assistant to the director Giorgis Vassilopoulos

Set and costume design Loukia Chouliara

Lighting design Tasos Palaioroutas

Musical supervision Stratos Grintzalis

Cast Elena Topalidou (the Stranger), Magda Kafkoula (their Teacher, a young woman), Giorgis Vassilopoulos (their Friend, a young man), Yannos Perlengas (her Father, an old man), Syrmo Keke (his Mother, an old woman), Michalis Titopoulos (her Husband, a man)

Executive producer Evangelos Konstas – Constantly Productions