Parabases | Love's Labours

Love, seduction and gender identity, as negotiated by William Shakespeare in four of his most characteristic and entertaining comedies, will be the themes of this year's series of dramatized readers' theater.

The world of Shakespearean comedy is a world full of outrageous plots, gender struggles, battles of logic against emotion, endless misunderstandings, passionate love, heroes and heroines who are frantically searching for their identity and their "other half," witty wordplays, epic altercations, irony of fate and sarcasm of the poet, happy endings, as well as a hefty dose of darkness.

The readers' theater performances will be staged under the care of four directors of the younger generation, who are distinguished for their highly personalized gaze and method, but also share a love for the texts and for fruitful experimentation with theatrical speech. This year's PARABASES will be supported by an expanded ensemble of young actors, who will be alternating in the casts to tell complex stories with simple theatrical means and take on the archetypal characters of Shakespearean theatre. The works have been delightfully translated by prominent poets and translators, while artistic director of the series Ektoras Lygizos is also in charge of the dramaturgy and adaptation of the plays.

Plays:
The Comedy of Errors
Love's Labour's Lost
Twelfth Night
The Taming of the Shrew

Translators:
Dionysis Kapsalis, Stratis Paschalis, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, Nikos Hatzopoulos

Directors:
Manos Vavadakis
Eva Vlassopoulos
Katerina Giannopoulou
Aris Balis

Artistic Direction:
Ektoras Lygizos

Sunday 13/11, 14.00 | 17.00

William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost

The young King of Navarre and his three companions swear off the company of love and earthly pleasures for three years in order to focus on study. However, their oath is immediately put under test as the Princess of France and her ladies arrive at the court for negotiations.

Love's Labour's Lost, one of Shakespeare's early works, is a charming mix of youth romance, philosophical monologues, frantic conversations, passionate love letters, sonets, disguises, and unexpected swings from dry prose to elaborate verse. Above all else, this play is one of the most heartwarming dissertations ever written on love's power and futility.

Translation: Stratis Paschalis
Adaptation: Ektoras Lygizos

Directed by: Aris Balis
Actors: Vaggelis Ambatzis, Konstantinos Zografos, Katerina Patsiani, Ioanna Piata, Iasonas Stasinos, Areti Tili

This event comes under a grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). Alongside the majority of its events, which are free thanks to a series of SNF grants, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center also organizes a number of events with affordable tickets, thus enriching its income sources and securing its long-term financial integrity.