Cyprus Mail 28 May 2022 - by Eleni Philippou
Five productions make up this year’s programme of the International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama as another summer of international productions brings exquisite Greek drama to the island’s stages.
25 years after the first staging in 1997, the festival is raising the curtain on July 6 and offering the theatre-loving public a month full of powerful and emotional moments. Productions will be presented at the Paphos Ancient Odeon, the Makarios III Amphitheatre in Nicosia and the Curium Ancient Theatre.
A total of 42 proposals for participation in this year’s Festival were submitted by theatre organisations and artists from 20 countries. From these, the seven-member Selection Committee has put together an extremely open and diverse programme of productions.
The festival will open with Oedipus the King by Sophocles, from Bosnia Herzegovina, in a joint production between the National Theatre of Sarajevo and the International MESS Theatre Festival. Through his directorial approach, distinguished Slovenian director Diego de Brea underlines the coldness, suffering, barbarity and evil that emanate from people as if from Pandora’s Box. This tragedy by Sophocles will be presented at Paphos Ancient Odeon on July 6 and at Makarios III Amphitheatre on July 8.
The Poreia Theatre is participating with Aeschylus’ masterpiece Prometheus Bound, translated by Giorgos Blanas and directed by Aris Biniaris, with a distinguished cast. Against the backdrop of a pulsating, live soundscape, the performers bring to life the characters of an age-old but always relevant story in which Prometheus becomes a timeless symbol of resistance. This devastating tragedy by Aeschylus, which was performed with enormous success at the Epidaurus Festival in 2021 and was loved by both critics and the public, will be presented at Curium Ancient Theatre on July 22 and 23.
The National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG) is returning to the festival with Euripides’ Helen, translated by Pantelis Boukalas and directed by Vasilis Papavassiliou, with a large cast of actors and musicians on stage. Through an imaginative directorial approach, the NTNG production highlights the comic elements of Helen, creating a celebratory atmosphere, and an anti-war clash on stage. Helen will be presented at Curium Ancient Theatre on July 29 and 30.
The National Theatre of Greece is presenting the emblematic Ajax by Sophocles, directed by Argyris Xafis with a cast of major leading actors and artists. In Ajax, Sophocles records a seminal moment in human history: when a new world is born and the old collapses, with the old heroes and their ideals crashing with it headlong into the abyss. Ajax, which will be performed at Curium Ancient Theatre on August 5 and 6, will draw a curtain on this year’s festival.
International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama
Annual festival presenting international theatre companies. July 6-August 6. Numerous locations. www.greekdramafest.com
OEDIPUS THE KING BY SOPHOCLES
Wednesday 6 July - Paphos Ancient Odeon
Friday 8 July - Makarios III Amphitheatre, Nicosia
Starts 2100 - please arrive before 2015
The Sarajevo National Theatre and the MESS International Theatre Festival present Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, perhaps the most emblematic ancient Greek drama, directed by the distinguished Slovenian theatre director Diego de Brea.
The city of Thebes has been struck by plague, the citizens are dying, and no one knows how to put an end to it. King Oedipus wants to know why this is the case and he requests the advice of the oracle at Delphi. The oracle predicts that Thebes will be saved as soon as the person responsible for the death of King Laius is found and banished from the city. The king decides to solve the mystery, thus setting in motion a series of horrific revelations. The old prophesy has come to pass. However much Oedipus tried to avoid his fate, his every action led him towards it. The only way open to him now is exile.
Sophocles’ tragedy focuses on the individual in relation to their personal freedom, power, society and divine will. Diego de Brea’s directing approach conveys all the coldness, hardship, brutality and evil that emanate from people just like from Pandora’s Box. Always new, unexpected and more brutal than the one before; because misfortunes never come singly.
ELECTRA.25 based on tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides
Saturday 16 July - Paphos Ancient Odeon
Monday 18 July - Makarios III Amphitheatre, Nicosia
Starts 2100 - please arrive before 2015
Based on the two homonymous tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides, Electra.25 by the Atalaya Teatro of Spain reconstructs the everlasting circle of violence (death-revenge-death) in the House of Atreus and dramatizes one of the darkest parts of the myth: vengeance against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus for the murder of Agamemnon.
Electra keeps the memory of her father’s killing alive and implores the gods to help her punish his killers. The return of her exiled brother, Orestes, rekindles her desire for vengeance and sets in motion the act of punishment that culminates in matricide. This act of revenge became and continues to this day to be the source of multiple conflicts throughout the history of Mankind.
Electra.25 creates a bridge between Electra of the ancient Greek tragedians and the contemporary dramatists that adapted it to the 20th century: Hofmannsthal and Sartre. Ricardo Iniesta approaches and stages the myth in an innovative manner by reinforcing the Chorus in its various forms and using traditional music to underline the human and universal dimension of the characters.
PROMETHEUS BOUND by Aeschylus
Friday 22 July and Saturday 23 July - Curium Ancient Theatre
Starts 2100 - please arrive before 2000
Poreia Theatre participates in this year’s Festival with Aeschylus’ masterpiece, Prometheus Bound, translated by Giorgos Blanas and directed by Aris Biniaris, with a select cast and Yannis Stankoglou in the titular part.
In this tragedy, Aeschylus deals with Prometheus’ resistance, who while chained on the rocks of Caucasus still refuses to succumb to the will of “ruthless” Zeus, thus setting the stage for multiple conflicts. Prometheus rises, defending man against the authoritarian mechanism of a divine tyranny and awakens the race of men to critical thinking, passion for freedom and personal autonomy.
Aris Biniaris, drawing inspiration from the rhythmical qualities of the text, continues his study on ancient tragedies leading his actors to transform the sounds and rhythms of the poetic text into stage action using their bodies and voices. Against the backdrop of a pulsating, live soundscape, the performers bring to life the characters of an age-old but invariably timely story where Prometheus becomes a timeless symbol of resistance. “A story that can be perceived as a bleak commentary on the present or as a bright hope for the future”, in the director’s own words.
HELEN by Euripides
Friday 29 July and Saturday 30 July - Curium Ancient Theatre
Starts 2100 - please arrive before 2000
The National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG) returns to the Festival three years later and presents Helen by Euripides, translated by Pantelis Boukalas and directed by Vassilis Papavassiliou, featuring an ensemble of actors and musicians on stage.
Written in the aftermath of the Athenians’ crushing defeat in the Sicilian Expedition, Euripides’ Helen is noted both for its anti-war qualities and its focus on virtues such as the power of an oath and intelligence, both personified in the form of the titular heroine. Drawing on the version of the myth created by the lyric poet Stesichorus instead of Homer’s best-known version, Euripides portrays the Trojan War as a massacre committed for a phantom rather than a real woman.
Helen that is almost unduly classified as a “tragedy” is also characterized by its comic elements. NTNG’s production highlights these elements through an imaginative directional approach, creating a festive atmosphere, an anti-war conflict on stage.
AJAX by Sophocles
Friday 5 August and Saturday 6 August - Curium Ancient Theatre
Starts 2100 - please arrive before 2000
Sophocles’ tragedy Ajax is presented by the National Theatre of Greece, under the direction of Argyris Xafis and featuring an outstanding cast and crew.
In this tragedy, which was presented around 440 BC and is set during the tenth year of the Trojan War, Ajax, the greatest warrior of the Greek camp, following the death of Achilles, lays claim to the dead hero’s armour, but the Greek leaders decide to award it to Odysseus. Deeply offended by this terrible injustice, he takes his sword and goes out into the night to wreak revenge, but Athena makes him go mad, turning his anger into a wild rage which he unleashes onto the flocks of the Greeks, slaughtering them. When he realizes what he has done, his dignity cannot bear the humiliation and he commits suicide.
Ajax, central among Sophocles’ surviving tragedies, was written in peaceful times. However, the stage for the Peloponnesian War was already being set. Once an admired warrior on a par with Achilles, Ajax ends up becoming a deadly enemy of the army leaders and a pawn in the hands of gods, unable to grasp the spirit of a newly emerging era. This ancient tragedy does not recount the fall of the hero but his unique, posthumous redemption and glorification.
