Parabases: William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream

This year's PARABASES, the SNFCC series of staged readers' theatre, goes out to the Park for five performances, presenting Shakespeare's most magical play in a theatrical reading specially adapted for the Dome of the Cultural Center and intended for everyone. Wrapping up this year's extremely successful readers' theatre performances at the SNFCC, Ektoras Lygizos is directing the (expanded) ensemble of young actors of the LOVE'S LABOURS series: employing simple theatrical means, they tell the complex story of the most summery theatrical dream.

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind..."

On this midsummer night, two young couples and a troupe of amateur actors take refuge in a forest on the outskirts of Athens, where they are preyed upon by shrewd and playful fairies. The next morning, none of them will know if their nightly adventures actually happened or were just a dream.

The top Shakespearean comedy is a work of great poetic inspiration. While never losing its lightness and festive tone, the play also functions as a multidimensional study of love, dream and fantasy. Outrageous farcical situations, theater within the theater, songs, magic spells, passionate confessions, quarrels and verbal altercations, are masterfully intertwined to compose a dreamlike universe where the natural order of things is upended - ultimately to everyone's delight.

Translated by: Dionysis Kapsalis
Adapted & Directed by: Ektoras Lygizos

Costumes: Ellada Damianou

Lighting Design: Dimitris Kasimatis

Assistant Director: Eva Vlassopoulos

Cast: Manos Vavadakis, Eva Vlassopoulos, Giorgos Ziakas, Konstantinos Zografos, Giorgos Iliopoulos, Vicky Kyriakoulakou, Ektoras Lygizos, Flomaria Papadaki, Katerina Patsiani, Nancy Sideri, Jason Stasinos, Thanos Tokakis

DOME

Dates of Performances: June 28, 29, 30 & July 03, 04
Start Time: 20.30

The 30/06 show will feature Greek Sign Language interpretation.

A discussion with the contributors will follow.

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.