Inspired by Euripides' The Bacchae
and, even more importantly, by the puzzling darkness at the heart of
the most ritualistic ancient Greek tragedy, Yannis Mavritsakis delivers
another enigmatic play. A strikingly modern, technocratic universe,
prominently featuring a projector screen in lieu of Pentheus' palace,
serves as the space for a theatrical event walking the fine line between
the virtual and the real, dream and actual experience, culture and
nature, male and female, human and divine. Poetic language takes centre
stage, vividly brought to life at the Little Theatre of Ancient
Epidaurus through Giorgos Skevas' distinctly cinematic style.
New Greek works inspired by ancient drama and commissioned by the Athens and Epidaurus FestivalFour
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 Euripides'
Hippolytus,
Medea,
Bacchae and Sophocles'
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 company's worth of artists comprising a unique team in
this year's 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 Festival's
initiative of supporting and promoting Greek theatre.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, all performance dates are subject to change Directed by Giorgos Skevas
Set design Thalia Melissa
Costume design Evelina Darzenta
Music Simi Tsilali
Lighting design Haris Dallas
Video Giorgos Skevas
Assistant to the director Giannis Savouidakis
Assistant to the set designer Iris Skolidi
Photos Elina Giounanli
Cast
Maximos Moumouris (Dionysus), Giorgos Nousis (Pentheus), Kora Karvouni
(Agave), Angeliki Papathemeli (Messenger), Giorgos Ziovas (Cadmus),
George Frintzilas (Tiresias)
Executive producer Highway Productions - George Lykiardopoulos
Production manager Katerina Berdeka
Production organiser Panos Svolakis
