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Contemporary

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TheaTre

New

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28th International Festival Sarajevo Sarajevo Winter 2012

HellenIc MInIStry oF culture and tourISM

General directorate of administrative Support / directorate of International relations / Bilateral relations department

all rights reserved. the views expressed in this publication are the authors.

Creative people are the voice of Greece today

armed with knowledge, talent, incisiveness, sensitivity and humour, they draw inspiration from contemporary social realities and through their work they inspire us back. We want their voice to become stronger, with the help of the state, and to bring to light a whole generation of people determined to take fate in their own hands and promote the values they believe in. to create something distinctly their own. this mainly concerns theatre practitioners since theatre is a form of art whose roots lie in our country and embodies a valuable element of our cultural heritage. We aim at reviving global interest in Greek theatre, by supporting the outwardlooking productivity of Greek artists and drawing attention to and promoting both ancient and contemporary Greek drama, which presents its own unique dynamics. the presence of Greece in the 28th International Festival Sarajevo Sarajevo Winter, serves precisely this purpose. I would like to thank everyone, whether they are part of the Ministry personnel or not, who has contributed to the organisation of our cultural presence abroad in the best possible way, and I wish that this presence becomes an important point of contact between the Greek and the international theatre community.

Pavlo S yeroulanoS
Minister of Culture and Tourism

The Mist
WrIterS: dIrector:

ANTONIS ANd kONSTANTINOS kOUFALIS

antonios and Konstantinos Koufalis takis tzamargias StaGe and coStuM e Set: Giannis theodorakis MuSIc: dimitris Zavros MoveMent: Zoe chatziantoniou vIdeo PerForMer: com.odd.or aSSIStant dIrector: Smaro Kotsia lIGH tI nG deSIG n: Sofia Alexiadou actorS: Manos Karatzogiannis, alexandros Mavropoulos two young men struggle to survive in a fragmented world. at the nocturnal landscape of a city and a very critical moment in their life, the heroes enter a game of horror and suspense, pleasure and frustration, myth and reality In The Mist [, Pachni], the Koufalis Brothers leave behind the dramatisation of the female, where they had achieved significant inroads, for a more difficult route, that of male adolescent psycho-geography. The youngsters doukas and Stefanos, both burdened by a traumatised childhood, engage in dialogue through intercut and unfinished sentences, beats and pauses. at the heart of the play, there is the need to give voice to those who live in the margins of society. In the process, the writing delves inwards, towards the past of horrific family abuse. the most interesting dramaturgical position here is the use of language. No one can deny the realistic basis of the play, its roots firmly in the genre of social drama. However, diving in the depths of any genre requires its own specialised equipment. It demands a specific and to the limits writing. the writing in The Mist, reaching those limits, moves between monologue and dialogue, between the personal and the public and skilfully avoids the pitfalls that could lead either to literary self-satisfaction or the trap of narcissistic naturalism. Only fragments of the underlying conflict come to the surface. It covers the faces of the characters, like mist, but it does not taint them. underneath, the vertiginous life force, the strong will to survive and the ability of youth to self-heal continue to radiate. taking place in two realities simultaneously and between two moments in time, the past and the future, balancing on the motorbike and their memories, escaping from whatever torments them and with the blow of the wind on their hair, doukas and Stefanos, seek catharsis and a new beginning. and if they want it the wrong way, with lies or revenge, they at least continue to want it, to dream and hope, to walk the streets of the town and assert their own rebellion against its stench.
First Presentation: Readings 2009, National Theatre of Greece, Athens

C o n t e m p o r a r y

G r e e k

T h e a t r e

New WritInG
The kaleidoscope of contemporary Greek dramaturgy
Modern Greek theatre, unlike, say, German and american, is primarily a theatre of dominant trends rather than individuals. Following the trajectory and the various phases of post Second World War Greek drama, one notices that from Iakovos Kambanellis, the acknowledged father of modern Greek theatre, to yiorgos dialegmenos and more recently to Panayiotis Mentis, akis dimou, vassilis Katsikonouris, yiorgos eliopoulos, and leonidas Poursalidis, there is a pattern of expectations of realism that underpins their conceptions of dramatic character and form. through this pattern, modern Greek playwrights have tried to express Greek theatres concern to find a stage metaphor that would capture the average modern Greek wo/man. The reason why a specifically critical, realistic, dramatic literature became necessary during the postwar period becomes self-evident when one contemplates the fairly disastrous political, social and economic history of the second half of twentieth-century Greece. I will dispense with reviewing that history here. It suffices to say that, although it is prudent to be skeptical of extreme contemporary claims that would make obsolete the values, categories and politics of the writers who began writing in the 50s, 60s and even 70s, it must be admitted that significant changes have been taking place in Greece in the last twenty years or so and many of the practices and assumptions of modern Greek theatre can no longer effectively describe contemporary Greek culture and society. With this I am not claiming that there is a radical break and rupture with the recent past; there are, as mentioned earlier, enduring continuities instead and many ideas and phenomena which are claimed to be very contemporary, have their origins and analogues precisely in the modern era. nonetheless, I would suggest that Greece lives between an aging modern era and a new post modern era that remains to be adequately conceptualized, charted and mapped. Greek society, like most western societies, has reached a turning point where the motor of history (class struggle/consciousness) has become more difficult to articulate. this is not to say that Greece has reached the end of ideology; nor is it to say that class struggle or class do not exist. rather, it simply suggests that those concepts are in crisis. the various forms of earlier realism (good as they were) can no longer adequately organize the world of the simulacrum in which there are only appearances and disappearances. the end of the grand narratives, the crossing of generic boundaries and all the postdramatic hybridities that came to replace the fixities of Aristotles poetics, have all contributed to the redirection of local theatre writing, especially by younger artists and ensembles like Blitz, nova Melancholia, Prospecta, Playback, vasistas etc. In the place of unity, order and centered poetics we now have fragmentation, diaspora, non-hierarchy, heterogeneity, intertextuality, dispersion, self-transformation, eclecticism, pluralism, discontinuity, simultaneity, irruptions of the real. now is the time for the aesthetics of undecidability; the time of drama as an open field of (im)possibilities, as an arena of a plethora of performative (re)presentations. a small, yet indicative evidence of what is going on today is the growing attention many playwrights pay to the dynamics and the performative potential of the word itself, its inherent musicality and rhythm. dimitris dimitriadis, Maria efstathiadi, yiorgos veltsos and andreas Staikos, among others, create perplexed and playful textscapes that cater to the ear rather than the eye, a writing style that seems to attract more and more theatre goers, especially among those who frequent the renewed (and renewing) athens Festival. Quite noticeable is also the presence of actors and actresses among Greeces prospective playwrights (i.e. Spilioti, Sotiropoulou, Atheridis, Papadopoulou, Gramsas), as well as fiction writers who no longer hesitate to enter the field now that its rules are more relaxed and welcoming of alternative poetics (Sakis Serefas and vangelis Hatziyiannidis are two good examples). If one takes into account the fact that athens alone hosts well over 400 new productions a year, with a good percentage going to Greek plays, it seems to me pretty futile to clearly mark its trajectory and conventions. What is worth pointing out here is that despite the fact that writing for the theatre does not pay much, Greeks still believe in its potential to express their frustration and anger, expose the corruption of the authorities, dramatize the daily struggle of the average citizen, reflect on the ontology of their medium and, more recently, discuss the problematics of their european identity. By deconstructing fetishized pseudo-images of selfhood, communication and origins into a play of unmapped possibilities, contemporary theatre writing brings us closer to the threshold of an-other aesthetic and an-other ideological understanding of things and of greek-ness/european-ness. those scholars who speak of a theatrical renaissance have reasons to do so. never before had Greece experienced such a creative drive that caters to all tastes, ideological credos and sociopolitical inclinations. It remains to be seen whether this creative euphoria, this opening of the field to the availability of its own historicity and mutability, will produce a radically new kind of dramaturgy, this time closer to its european rather than Greek context. Many things will depend on the outcome of the financial crisis that the country experiences in the last two years. I do not know whether the slogan that says theatre thrives at moments of crisis will prove equally valid this time. let us hope it does.

Sava S Pat Sal Id IS

Professor of Theatre Studies Aristotle University Thessaloniki

Screenlight
V A N G e L I S

H A T Z I Y A N N I d I S

Blind Spot
Y A N N I S

M A V r I T S A k I S

the play tells the story of a young woman named nicky (in Greek nicky means victory) who stands wavering between a paralyzing depression and the need to go on living, after the death of her husband. Looking for a way out of her suffocating narrow world, she leaves her job at the bank and finds comfort in the noisy indifference of the citys big streets. Her encounter with a woman at the traffic lights reveals another reality Blind Spot [ , Tyflo Simio] is an attempt to move from the silent waiting room to the hall of voices. the play is based on an observation of an epistemological inconsistency. A certain part of our visual field, as biology would have it, remains always invisible to us and is completed by data stored in our brains. our experience, the way we perceive reality, is ultimately a psychological super-structure, a gestalt-creation. the real is not always true. likewise, there is something true in life that remains hidden in the dark aspects of our conscience. It is the presence of death, the sense of the inescapable. life, like experience, needs to be completed by the reassuring mind, in order to be fully realized. Mavritsakis play is attempting to enter that blind spot of conscience. and at the same time it enters the space of universal wondering: wondering about violence, exploitation, loneliness, human fate. nicky, witnesses the truth hidden in this blind spot, through her experience of her husbands death. She lives in a daze in a confused world. Still she seems to possess a rare sharpness and clarity of mind. death has cast his shadow on things but at the same time he has revealed their paradigms. the orbits of nicky, the Woman at the traffic lights, the Butchers young assistant, the Girl, intersect as they all struggle to answer the questions of their own universe. these are urgent, deep-rooted questions that need answers if the very human fabric is not to be irrevocably ruptured. nicky is just as capable of revealing the darkest secret of life as she is of radiating the light of catharsis, of innocence but also of Final Judgement.
First Performance: Poreia Theatre, Athens 2008 Dir. by Martha Frintzila

Screenlight [ , Stin othoni fos] on one level, Hatziyiannidis story refers to the famous closed society of adolescents. a charismatic child, introverted and strange, records (and to a degree directs), camera in hand, the story of his mates, after an accidental revelation of the adulterous relationship of one of their teachers. the scandal will soon escalate and its handling will bring each of them face to face with their own personal and collective responsibilities. It is indeed about the secret world of adolescents and carries all their hidden reality. there is also here, however, something extremely interesting: in an almost naturalistic environment, the writer succeeds in creating a space for the strange, the inexplicable the miraculous. Hatziyiannidis characters are transporting us to a mindscape, beyond naturalism, where the characters exist as if in another reality where they have the right to exist and face real problems. Problems such as loss, sexual attraction and privacy, social behaviour and personal fulfilment and above all self respect and respect for others. Briefly, this whole subject we call ethics. For Hatziyiannidis, ethics is for his adolescents a much bigger issue than just a matter of good behaviour. It transcends the family environment, of how youve been brought up, of friends, of race. Its not something that is offered on a platter, nor is it something that can be imposed. It is instead something that can be developed by each of them. and this is achieved by example and antiexample, through instinct and impulsiveness, through your own internal voice. It is achieved, in other words by taking personal responsibility and at the risk of making mistakes.
First Performance: Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens 2011 Dir. by Sophia Vienopoulou

13

Melted Butter
S A k I S S e r e F A S A girl dumps her fianc in a miserable provincial town of Macedonia and comes to the metropolis of the Greek north, thessaloniki, to start a career as a night club singer. Her fianc tracks her down, treats her wine in a tavern, and a few hours later throttles her in a hotel room, after a passionate embrace. He sits quietly smoking cigarettes next to the dead body, all night, and gives himself up to the police the next morning. In the play, a writer in the present time tries to write a book on this story. He meets with individuals who were connected with the victim. a female friend from her village; a hair-dresser, her roommate at the hotel she stayed in thessaloniki; a waiter who worked in the fatal tavern; a receptionist at the hotel where the murder took place; the medical examiner who performed the post-mortem examination on the victim; the gendarme who attended the murderer in his cell; and, finally, the perpetrator himself, years after he has been released from prison. In their statements each one of them reveals how much they have been scarred by the story either because they had been unable to predict or ward off its fatal ending or because they had been faced with death. the origins of Melted Butter [ , Liomeno Voutiro] are to be found in the poets secret conversations with the mythology of his hometown thessaloniki. the plot is inspired by a real story that shocked the town, in the fifties. We find out from newspaper cuttings of the period about a crime that sounds like an unsung rebetica story, frozen in time, the time where human hope is nullified. Serefas play essentially brings to life this frozen image, which absorbs you into its world. at the same time it shows how the possible salvation of the human soul turns into nothing, melts like butter, when uncontrollable passions take you over. The play captures the stifling atmosphere of post-civil war Greece and is certainly an allusion to the situation in todays Greece, stricken with an economic and consequently a social crisis.
First Performance: National Theatre of Greece, 2008 Dir. by Simos Kakalas

Puerto Grande
M A N O S L A M B r A k I S Puerto Grande (Great Harbour or Great Passage), consisting of twenty four scenes, is a contemporary meta-textual version of Georg Bchners Woyzeck. Placed in a concentration camp, a dantes purgatory, we watch the torture and progressive brutalization of captive Bunker. around him, coldly and methodically, the eerie figures of his executioners invent increasingly sophisticated methods of torture, both mental and physical. this place of business, experimentation and development of the human kind exists at point zero and in reverse time of human conscience. Government, science and Security Forces co-operate for the scientific consolidation of violence and state law. the instruments of law and order seem to possess full awareness of their own absurdity. and while the captives are being transmuted into industrial zombies, the captors seek new guards and torturers. they seek them where else? amongst those captives who still have a certain conscience, a certain resistance that must be eroded. Through associative, elliptical language, the author outlines a suffocating world at the mercy of randomness. lambrakis play explores the alienation process of Bunker, from himself, from the other, from memory. a predetermined process, seemingly inescapable but possibly reversible: as long as even a grain of memory remains alive, resistance is possible.
First Presentation: Analogio Festival, Athens 2005 First Performance: Site of Historical Memory 1941-1944, Korai 4, Athens 2009 Dir. by Roula Pateraki

Tonight we shall dine at Iokastas a pop family story

A k I S d I M O U Tonight we shall dine at Iokastas [ , Apopse trome stis Iokastis] is effectively a sketch that aims to and succeeds in creating a feeling of euphoria, lighntess and sheer entertainment. the central character is Iokasti, widow of romilo Papathima, who employs esthonian yuri as a butler. yuri however has come on behalf of her dead husband in order to ruin the plans of his ex business partner Kosma to usurp the family business under the disguise of moving it to Bulgaria. the plot includes the murder of a Georgian of loose morals, a murder that Iokasti wants to investigate, along with her chef daughter and musician son. the environment of a totally crazy family, characteristic of Greek cinema of the sixties, is now transported to a world of corruption and cynicism and the diaspora of post-dictatorship Greece. However, the episodes of frequent revelations and climactic irrationality lead us from amusing shock to laugh-out loud shock. Dimous inspiration fills the stage with surreal freedom and playfully hints at the hidden innocence of everybody. In this world, everything and everybody, from ghosts to humans, share the high spirits of an unexpected and unproblematic presence of a good-humoured attitude that sublimates guilty secrets into delightful revelations.
First Performance: Peiramatiki Skini of Thessaloniki, 2008 Dir. by Yannis Moschos

Gorkys Wife
e L e N A P e N G A a play about fake biographies, old world ideals and new world fantasies. In Gorkys Wife [ , Gyneka tou Gorky], veronica, a young woman from the Balkans, lands in los angeles as an air stewardess and decides to stay there and start a new life, totally disconnected from her origins and past. this play written after the fall of the Wall in Berlin, and by the end of the Cold War, uses american and russian symbols. But it also has to do with Greece. The starting point of the play was a bohemian bar in L.A., full of red flags with hammer and sickle and pictures of Gorky, open 24 hours a day. It was in downtown los angeles, a very desolate area, a ghetto for the poor and the homeless during the riots in los angeles, in the early nineties. the dark spots of history, the failures, the ghosts of the past, the part Gorky played in the Soviet Union. You see him again in L.A. in a totally different climate. You wonder whether any progress has been made. now we live again a time of riots, crisis and unrest. the author grounded the text on Greek reality and the result is a discreet performance with humour and a high dose of realism. there is the sense now of a city in upheaval: the point is can there be a real uprising and what would that mean? does art become more important in times like this? you certainly feel the need to be with others, a sense of community, to feel you are not alone. Its easy to become self-obsessed during affluent times. crisis brings people together. the same applies to artists. you become more direct, grounded, succinct. you are less inclined to want to entertain. on the other hand, there is a need for a certain smart lightness. the play embodies both responses and brings up the question of whether we can start over again. can we even invent a fake new identity? can we vanish? this question concerns individual lives but also countries, entire cultures. How do the dark spots of history, the ghosts of the past still influence us? How can we transcend them?
First Presentation: Analogio Festival, Athens 2005 First Performance: Kinitiras Studio, Athens 2011 Dir. by Elena Penga

Unshaven Chins
Y A N N I S T S I r O S late at night, the body of a foreign strip-tease dancer is being taken to the unknown section of a public hospital. She is not unknown, however, to two men working at the morgue and a young, male nurse. during the process of bringing the body in, registering its details and moving it to the freezer, the dark emotions, nationalistic and phallocratic prejudices as well as the kind of relationships the men had with her, leading her to her death, are revealed, with feverish and guilty confrontations. The body in the Unknown or rather the Unclassifiable section does not claim any origin in homeland or memory. However, this body will be vindicated only when its nakedness strips naked the hypocrisy of the gaze that sees somebodys exterior but not the person underneath. not at all by accident, the performance of Unshaven Chins [ , Axyrista Pigounia] starts with the uncovering of the female body and ends with the unmasking of the guilty males. In this slice of life play, Tsiros manages to fit in practically everything. the play boasts interesting characters, economy, tight plot development and robust dialogues. Further, in a rare display of naturalistic craftsmanship, the play brings alive the bad breath of the exhausted morgue attendants, the unpleasant smells of the mortuary, as well as the intensity of the erotic body.
First Performance: Porta Theatre, Athens 2006 Dir. by Thanassis Papageorgiou

The Milk
V A S S I L I S

k A T S I k O N O U r I S

Rina and her two sons, Antonis and Lefteris, Greek-Russian immigrants from Tyflis (Georgia), repatriate and settle in Athens. There begins a struggle for survival and cultural assimilation. Lefteris, the younger brother, lost somewhere between childhood and adolescence, though he is around twenty, is obstinately and irredeemably homesick. His pathologic nostalgia, resulting from or maybe in a serious mental illness - schizophrenia - turns him gradually into a social misfit. Meanwhile, Antonis, the elder, stronger and more ambitious brother, finds a good job in another Greek town and gets engaged with his boss` daughter natasha. He seems to have fully adjusted to the new homeland, being now absolutely respectable and accepted by the wider social milieu. However, his engagement will be a turning point for everybodys life Milk [To , To gala] attempts to deal with the feeling that everything inside us softens and warms up, when we cease crying and suffering. When we get our food from Mother and all she represents. When we are loved...and if we are not, then, we are all strangers, like the immigrants, who have been left hanging between two foreign homelands. this play is at its core an excellent social commentary. the writer has approached the subject of immigrants with love and he seems to have realized a truth pervading every immigration policy: Woe betide the state that makes its immigrants reject instead of honouring their origin. It is worth watching Katsikonouris play, not as it might be thought, because of the strong feelings it evokes; rather because of the strong, incisive, entirely political questions he poses, informing those feelings. the failure of the european model of coexistence lies in the fact that the suburban immigrants have been caught within the something of their new identity which they love to hate and hate to love. this schizophrenia is in danger of taking over all immigrants, everywhere. Who do we really prefer between the two brothers of the play? The misfit, schizophrenic young brother or maybe the assimilated, well adjusted but effectively lobotomised older brother?
First Presentation: National Theatre of Greece, Athens 2006 Dir. by Nikos Mastorakis

PLAYwrIGHTS

BIOGraPhIeS

winner of the national theatre awards & shortlisted for the Karolos Koun award; The saintly poor, adaptation of five short stories by Papadiamantis 1999; Performance of Free Under Siege, an adaptation of the self-titled text by dionysios Solomos, 1998. their plays have also participated in the Festivals of tinos and Fillipon Festival. MaNOS LaMBraKIS was born in 1978 in the southern edge of the Aegean Sea, Crete. After graduating with an archaelogy and art History degree from athens university, he studied cultural Policy and theatre Studies at Warrick university. He has worked as an assistant theatre director with the legendary Lefteris Voyadzis, and dimitris Papaioannou during the opening ceremony of the 2004 athens olympic Games. His plays deal with themes of war, fascism, sexual desire, pain, physical and psychological torture, love and death. they are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language and exploration of theatrical form. His earlier work was also marked by the use of extreme and violent stage action (Puerto Grande). His plays are: Pferdetanz (2010); Puerto Grande (2005, directed by roula Pateraki; Best Performance award, national theatre & Karolos Koun award); Maimed, a monologue (2003); Happy Birthday (2002). YaNNIS MaVrITSaKIS is a Greek playwright who was born in Montreal in 1964 and has lived in athens since 1970. He studied acting at the drama School of national theatre in athens. He graduated in 1986 and worked as an actor until 2003. He has written the plays: Vitriol (2010); Fucking Job (2008); Wolfgang (2007); The Blind Spot (2006). all his plays have been performed in athens (Poreia theatre, national theatre, athens Festival) and have been translated into French (editions theatrales, Maison antoine vitez) and other languages. For The Blind Spot he won the Karolos Koun award (Best Play 2008) and for Wolfgang he won the prizes Georgios Hortatsis (Best Play 2008-10) and Palmares 2010 (commission nationale de laide a la creation de textes dramatiques, Paris). His latest play Vitriol will be performed next year at the national theatre in athens (season 2012-13) under the direction of olivier Py.

aKIS DIMOU was born in Greece. He studied at the aristotelian university, thessaloniki, where he obtained his Phd in Penal Code and Criminology. His first theatre work, produced in 1995, was the monologue and Juliet. Since then, twenty three of his plays have been performed in the funded and private theatre sector. His plays have been translated into english, French, Spanish and Portuguese and presented in england and Spain, as well as Greece. He lives in thessaloniki. VaNGeLIS haTZIYaNNIDIS, novelist and playwright, was born in Serres, north Greece, in 1967. He has studied law at the university of athens and drama at the veakis acting School. He worked as an actor for a few years . He lives in Athens. His first novel, titled Four Walls, was published in 2000 (to rodakio Publications) and has been awarded the Diavazo Prize 2001 for First-time Author. Four Walls has also been published in Italian (crocetti), in Spanish (tempora), in French (albin Michel), in english (Marion Boyars) and in Portugese (Babel). In France the book won the laure Bataillon Prize for Best translated novel. In the english translation it was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His second novel The Guest was published in 2004 (to rodakio Publications). It was also published in english (Marion Boyars), in Italian (crocetti) and in Spanish (tempora). His third book, Natural Histories, a collection of short stories, was published recently. (to rodakio). He has also written the plays Disguise; Mud; La Poupee; Air; Light off the Screen, which have been published and staged in Greece.

VaSSILIS KaTSIKONOUrIS lives in athens and works as a teacher of english in secondary schools. He has written the plays California Dreaming; Absolutely Undignified; Milk; The Missing An Interesting Life; Harley Jacket; The Football Sweater; She Took Her Life in Her Hands (currently running in athens.) He has won awards for Absolutely Undignified (International Playwriting competition, onassis Foundation, 2001) California Dreaming and The Football Sweater (Greek Ministry of culture.) His plays have been staged all over Greece, including the national theatre, Germany (International Festival of european Playwrights, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, 2006), in Serbia - Belgrade (Belgrade drama theatre, 2008/9/10), in Warsaw, Poland (Kamienica theatre, 2009/10) and in nicosia, cyprus. currently, Milk, distinguished as Best Play in several polls among viewers and critics, is running in athens for its 7th year. It is also to be staged in new york this year. Further, the plays film version (screenplay by the playwright) was released in athens last october and will be released in europe with the title Burning Heads. aNTONIS aND KONSTaNTINOS KOUFaLIS have been writing for the theatre professionally for 13 years. their plays are: Ekti Karyatitha, 2012; Forgive me, analogio 2011, national theatre of Greece, published in anagnosis 2011, egokeros Publications; The small dictionary of abnormal verbs, 2011; The Mist, 2010, shortlisted for the Karolos Koun award; Dont scratch the sand, 2009, winner of the national theatre awards, published in analogio 2, aegokeros Publications; Women in snow, 2006; Sotirias Army, 2005; The House with the Presents, 2002,

eLeNa PeNGa was born in thessaloniki, Greece and studied Philosophy & theater at Wesleyan university, ct (Ba), and Screen/ Playwriting at the university of Southern california (Ma). She has been guest at numerous international events, including the International Monodrama Festival Fujairah in uae (2005); verse Waar Festival, Holland (2003); Belgrade International theatre Festival (1998). She teaches playwrighting at the university of Patra, and ItI, athens. She is currently working on Superheroes, a collaboration with Patrick Morris (Menagerie theatre company, uK) and Steffi Mueller (Hoipolloi Theatre Co., UK), a project funded by the arts council, uK and the British council. Her previous plays are: Narcissus, International Festival of athens, 2011, published by Queich-verlag, Berlin. Gorkys Wife, Kinitiras Studio, athens, 2011, published in analogio Publications, athens, 2005; also produced in nyc, 1999. o ; (Who are our new friends?), national theatre of northern Greece; Staged reading, tristan Bates theatre, london 2009; published by nefeli Publications, 2006 and translated in French and Italian. Phaedra or Alcestis love stories, commissioned by the european cultural center for Greek Drama in Delfi, presented in Delfi outdoor theatre, 2007, translated in German and english. H N (Nellys takes her dog for a walk), Municipal theatre of thessaloniki, 2003; published by nefeli Publications, translated in english and Italian; official entry at Fujairah Festival in uae. go-go dancers (When the go-go dancers dance), produced in athens, thessaloniki, Komotini; also toured Holland; published in nIeuWe euroPeSe eenaKtarS (2005) International theatre & Film Books, Holland; and nefeli Publications, 2002; official entry at Verse Waar Festival, Breda, Holland. (3-0-1 Metafores), commissioned and produced by the national theatre of Greece, published by nefeli Publications, 2000. SaKIS SereFaS was born in thessaloniki in 1960. He has published forty six books consisting of poetry, prose, drama, studies on cities, on landscapes and on poets, translations and anthologies. He was shortlisted by the european theatre convention (etc) among the top one hundred and twenty

contemporary european plays, for his play The road will take you. His plays are: A dinosaur on my balcony, avlea theatre (thessaloniki), 2012. A fury with dental forceps, Synergio theatre (athens), 2011. Killer monsters, Anagnosis 2011, national theatre of Greece. Mission to planet earth, State theatre of northern Greece, Peiramatiki Skene, 2011; awarded the 2007 Hellenic Ministry of culture Prize. The road will take you, Peiramatiki Skini tis technis, 2010; and art theatre Karolos Koun, 2010. What do you reckon, babi? Municipal & regional theatre of Kavala, Philippi-Kavala theatre, 2010. A taste for human lives (twelve one-act plays), excelsior Hotel Bistrot (thessaloniki), 2010. 15 minutes, cacoyiannis Foundation (athens), 2010; Sofouli theatre (thessaloniki), 2011; tristan Bates theatre (london), 2009 (translated as Food); amore theatre (athens), 2006; the play won the 2007 Karolos Koun new Playwrights award. Seminar on foolishness, athens-epidaurus Festival (staged at Scholion) & other venues, 2009. Thessaloniki in direct speech, Peiramatiki Skini tis technis (thessaloniki), 2008 and 2007. Melted butter, national theatre of Greece, 2008 and on national tour 2010-2012 in Greece and cyprus. the play is currently revived in theseion theatre, athens. Shes single, Analogio 2009, national theatre of Greece. YaNNIS TSIrOS was born in Messinia and grew up in athens. He studied design, photography, music and drama. He has worked for radio and national television as well as a musician and photo-reporter. He has written numerous film scripts and won multiple awards - most recently his film Dead Calm () won the International critics award (FIPreScI), at thessaloniki Film Festival, 2010; while his film The Light that Switches off ( ), won various awards at the International Film Festivals of Kairo, cologne, lecce in Italy & Moscow, 2001 & 2002. His plays include: Canons and Trumpets (in the process of being produced); Invisible Olga (national theatre of Greece commission), 20112012; On Alert ( M T) winner of Karolos Koun award 2010; Who is Killing the Children; Press (one act play); Unshaven Chins, winner of Ministry of culture new Playwrights award 2004.

exPeriMeNTAL ensembles
Systemic anarchism: New Greek Theatre
theatre in Greece today takes many forms, where Western rules and examples, great or small, triumph. Post-modern techniques of parodying the classics have been adopted zealously by some directors as a via negativa confrontation with the european tradition, while at the same time lesser performative forms confront - equally effectively - the great rules of realism, dominant on Greek stages for a long time.
PerFOrMaNCe

Performance as a sub-genre has claimed the end of representation and the return of theatre to ritualization. Performance has gained contemporary relevance in Greece partly due to its inherent functionality in comparison to the stage realization of a big play, and also probably because this phenomenon took the form of a mass artistic movement, displaying its modernity. Performance is based morphologically on the actualization of a performing plan with a very specific aim (e.g. widening the limits of space). Within the given performance conditions, the presence of the performer is rather anti-typically theatrical, presenting an action programme in front of spectators or participants. a characteristic example is the work of nova Melancholia who are not only interested in stage disorder, but also in a very particular way they are investing creatively in the kitsch aesthetic of (Greek) everyday reality: the white plastic chair, the neighbours colourful overall, the blown up swimming pool. Further, the dissolving landscape they use facilitates references to a cultural crisis. the recent interest of the group in the stage exposition of theoretical texts (Benjamin, Freud, descartes) and the thematically corresponding installation of a performative action, relates on the one hand to the critical re-evaluation of classic sources of doubt and on the other to a deep faith in every kind of crisis of certainty. In those performances, the theoretical narrative functions as a rhematic background against which simulated compensations of the mental landscape are presented as stage actions. However what always features is the ironic melancholy for the failures of supposed truths.
The TheaTre OF SUBJeCTIVe TrUTh

carrying his/her subjective identity. By developing, reassessing and reshaping the material each member of the collective has contributed, this kind of theatre is above all a group process of devising and aims to offer an image of the world processed through oppositional personal experiences (however aesthetically distorted). this kind of conceptualization of performance reveals theatre as not only a cultural product but also as a self-contained one, very much like a realistic documentary (Cinemascope, 2010) or a galaxy of multi-viewing (Galaxias, 2011). consequently, the viewers co-presence makes him/her not simply a spectator but a witness of a revealingly new materiality. another kind of relativism (of a moral nature this time) is also supported by many new artists in Greece, with the same emphasis on self-reference. The co-existence of different opinions, positions, moral stances and body expressions on the same subject (e.g. phobia in the show Phobia by Vasistas, 2010) confirms the final acceptance of otherness, if not the ultimate embracing of uncertainty, in a country that has been subjected to many moral certainties.
DIreCTING

the new meta-dramatic forms of theatre defend mainly subjectivities. Simultaneously, the old distinctions between high and low dramatic arts are dangerously abandoned, given that each text is not considered as a static reflection of an existing reality but a dynamic producer of a new one. an example of this mental relativism is the theatre of blitz, where the text resulting from traditional techniques of devising becomes realizable as a codecision (as is performance itself), and the actor is perceived as a social subject,

the stage interpretations of ancient drama in the last few years have been extremely aggressive with clear contempt for the authentic text intentions using scenic means pointing towards the Ancient Greek world. This flexibility of interpretations is concerned more with the transference of theatricality towards a modern anti-tradition form (which would prefer to have a dialogue with Artauds cruelty as the destroyer of the aesthetic field) and even more with substituting (and no longer making contemporary) the aesthetics of classic texts. The overpowering of the text by directing often leads to: Shifting the plays concepts, even to the degree of distortion, through an interpretative transformation of its ideological core. A tearing away of tragedy from its traditional aesthetic context and the deconstruction of the holiness of ancient theatre, by viewing it as material open to interpretation. anesti azas work is moving around this axis and represents hopeful developments in the Greek cultural landscape. His directing of the narratively anti-theatrical Seven against Thebes by aeschylus (2011), as a performative exploration of the rhythm patterns of power, is widely influenced by German modernity and enriches Greek stage efforts. the new Greek theatre is going through its most productive post-traditional period. We must not forget how much this new period owes to the inroads made by Theodoros Terzopoulos. The old establishment has been weakened, fixities have been removed, rules have lost their power. In the end, the future of this self-wronged country belongs to a new culture.
GeorGe SaMPataKaKIS Lecturer of Theatre Studies University of Patra

Kanigunda
C i t y - S t a t e
draMaturG y: dIrector:

Kanigunda theatre company yannis leontaris Set & StylInG : thalia Istikopoulou aSSIStant dIrector: Marianna tzanni lIGH tI nG deSIG ner: Maria Gozadinou aSSIStant Set deSIGner: Georgia Bourda cHoreoG raPHy/Move Ment: Haris Pehlivanidis caSt: Maria Kehagioglou, yiorgos Frintzilas, Maria Maganari, Rebecca Tsiligaridou, Efthimis Theou, Anthi Efstratiadou the company Kanigunda was founded by the director yannis leontaris and the actors Maria Kechagioglou, Maria Maganari, Giorgos Frintzilas and rebecca tsiligaridou, in 2005. Kanigunda is not a theatre group in the conventional sense; it is rather an open convergence of collaborators whenever the need and the possibility of staging a performance occur. the companys work focuses on the comprehension of texts, speech articulation and the quest for new methods of communication during rehearsals and performances. In 2007 the company broadened to include the actors anthi efstratiadou, Petros Malamas, Efthimis Theou, Marianna Tzani as well as the director Korina vasileiadou. Stage and costume designer thalia Istikopoulou, as well as stage and costume designer Georgia Bourda are among the regular collaborators of the company. In april 2011 the company commenced its collaboration with onassis cultural centre of athens, with the performance of City-State, based on a text written by the members of the company.

blitz
d Ir e c to r : d r a M at u r Gy:

G a l a x y
blitz theatre group blitz theatre group, ikos Flessas S ta Ge d eS I Gn e r : eva Manidaki l I G Ht In G d eS I Gn e r : tassos Palaioroutas P e r F o r M e r S: thanassis demiris, nikos Flessas, thalia Ioannidou, eleni Karagiorgi, elina loukou, Michalis Mathioudakis, aggeliki Papoulia, christos Passalis, Giorgos valais P H o toG r a P H y: Giorgos Makkas blitz theatre group was formed by yiorgos valais, angeliki Papoulia and christos Passalis, october 2004, in athens. till then, the team members had studied drama and had worked in various ensembles. our goal, orientation and vision is towards a form that could possibly renovate theatre. our works invite spectators to share an experience with us, challenging them to free themselves from the conventional role of a passive voyeur. To a degree, the definition of post-dramatic theatre as Lehman has put it, also applies to us: Presence rather than enactment, sharing rather than ready-made experiences, procedure rather than result and stimulus rather than information, a motto from the venice Biennale, more ethics, less aesthetics and the phrase aesthetics vs. anaesthetics. blitz theatre group is a candidate for the XIII new theatrical realities award.

E x p e r i m e n t a l

E n s e m b l e s

Opera
draMaturG y:

Merchants of Nations
by Alexandros Papadiamantis

elsa andrianou dIrector: theo abazis StaGe & coStu Me deSIG ner: eleni Manolopoulou coMP oSer: theo abazis vIdeo: Stathis athanasiou cHoreoG raPHer: Zoe chatziantoniou lIGH tI nG deSIG ner: alekos anastasiou aSSIStant dIrector: nefeli Maistrali Product Ion ManaG er: eugenia Somara actorS: Konstantinos avarikiotis, Georgina daliani, Kostis Kalivrettakis, nestor Kopsidas, Maria Parasiri, danai Saridaki MuSIcI anS: Percussion instruments: Iakovos Pavlopoulos cello: Sophia efklidi

Nova Melancholia
Text: Ren Descartes (1641) evangelos vandarakis d Ir e c to r : vassilis noulas I n c o l l aB o r atI o n WIt H: Manolis tsipos S E T S- CO S T U M E S: dora economou l I G Ht d eS I Gn : thodoris Mihopoulos P e r F o r M a n c e : vicky Kyriakoulakou l Iv e S o u n d : tasos Stamou
d r a M at u rG y: t r a n S l atIo n :

Meditation I : Concerning Those Things that Can Be Called into doubt

the theatre group Nova Melancholia was founded in 2006 in athens by M. tsipos, v. noulas and v. Kyriakoulakou. Group productions have been presented, among other places, at the athens Festival (2011 and 2009), at the national theatre of Greece (2011), at the 2nd Biennial of athens (2009), at the Philippi Festival (2010 and 2009) and in various theatres in athens. the group has produced (in collaboration with the Greek Film Center) a short film movie (Drama Festival 2009). the codes of physical theater and performance art, the actors body as sculpture and the use of non-theatrical texts (descartes, Benjamin, Freud, Pentzikis, Heimonas) are the pillars of the work of the group. the resulting performance aims to stimulate the intellectual, emotional and aesthetic enjoyment of the viewer. the group participated in the athens System 2008 and was sponsored by the Greek Ministry of culture in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. In the 2010-2011 season, nova Melancholia presented the productions: The Ward theatre performance on texts by Greek writer Giorgos Heimonas which was co-directed by filmmaker and visual artist Eva Stefani (athens, nov.-dec. 2010) The Temptation of St. Anthony: A performance for the Nation work in progress (Greek national theatre, Jan. 2011) Meditation I: Concerning Those Things That Can Be Called into Doubt, performance on text by Rene Descartes, first presented at Six d.o.g.s. venue (april 2011)

Opera theatre Group was founded in 2000 by a group of Greek theatre practitioners (director, actors, stage designers etc), most of whom are graduates of the drama School empros (In Front), and share common artistic backgrounds and future goals. leader of the group is the composer and director theo abazis. theatre Group Opera members are: Georgina daliani (actor), danae Saridaki (actor), Fanny Panagiotidou (actor), aspasia Papaiosif (actor), alekos anastasiou (lighting designer), eleni Manolopoulou (stage designer), Stavroula Siamou (choreographer), theo abazis (composer-director), Irene tsakiris (soloist), costas Koroneos (actor). Permanent partners of the group are: nestor Kopsidas (actor), elsa andrianou (theatre researcher/dramaturg), Stathis Athanasiou (filmmaker), Stavros Gasparatos (musician), Vassilis Bramis (assistant director), Alexander Tsilfidis (musician). the special feature of the Group is using the individual elements of a performance such as speech, music, song and movement not in abeyance of a given hierarchy but structured each time in a different way: sometimes in terms of a musical score, sometimes in terms of theatre movement etc. the constant interpenetration of these elements creates new images of expression, rich in form and content. conclusively, Opera s work extends to many research areas trying to evolve theatre language. It is worth mentioning that all the works by Opera were well-received by audiences and theatre critics alike.

E x p e r i m e n t a l

E n s e m b l e s

Projector
eteocleS: SPy:

Seven Against Thebes

by eschylus

thanassis dovris yannis lazaris cHoruS: Syrmo Keke, rosa Prodromou tran Slat Ion: Ioannis Gryparis dIrector: anestis azas Set & coStu Me deSIGn: Giorgos Kolios draMaturG : Katerina Konstantinakou P HySIcal traInIn G: anna tzakou aSSIStant dIrector: Georgia Psychogiou lIGH t deSIG n: dimitris Koutas Product Ion: Projector- cultural department city of athens Projector is a newly established theater company based in athens. Founding members are the director anestis azas, the actor Stathis Kokkori, the actress adriana alexiou, the set designer George Kolios. the aims of the group are: seeking new methods of moving away from classic narratives and a drama based on psychological identification; the expansion of the performative into non-theatrical texts; experimenting with drama documentary and electronic media, redefining classic texts. Projector explores the body of the word through ideologically charged and theatrically pioneering texts. Its interested in music, a flexible treatment of speech, confrontation with texts. Projector puts forward ideas from texts, dreams and illusions, shows behaviours and avoids verisimilitude.

Pequod
w o r k i n g
d Ir e c to r :

h y p o t h e s i s

E n s e m b l e s

dimitris Xanthopoulos d r a M at u r Gy: Pequod S ta Ge S e t: Mayou trikerioti M ov eM e n t: Zoe Hatziantoniou l I G Ht n In G: tasos Paleoroutas M u S Ic : Pequod c a St: (alphabetical order) angelopoulos yiorgos, Georgalas dimitris, Klinis yiannis, Mathiouthakis Michalis, Marinou angeliki, drizi nicole, Papathemeli angeliki, Papakonstantinou Kostas, talamboukas Fidel Pequod theatre company was founded by the actors dimitris Xanthopoulos and angeliki Papathemeli and the writer vangelis Hatzigiannidis, in 2009. (the companys name is borrowed by the legendary whaleship in Herman Melvilles novel Moby Dck). the company has presented a production of anton chekhovs The Seagull (at the Knot Gallery, in collaboration with Bob theatre Festival and in a tour of Greece); a stage adaptation of dimitris Hatziss From Fifty-fifty to Love in collaboration with the 1st low Budget Festival as well as the devised performance Working Hypothesis in collaboration with the athens Festival 2011.

E x p e r i m e n t a l

Vasistas
a r t I St: d Ir e c to r :

S p e c t a c l e
vasistas argyro chioti vasistas eva Manidaki c oS t uM e d eS I Gn : Paul thanopoulos l I G Ht d e S I Gn : tasos Palaioroutas a S S I Sta n t dI r e c to r : lida dalla WI tH : ariane labed, naima carbajal, Petros Stathakopoulos, Efthimis Theou, Argyro Chioti P r o d u c tIo n / M a n aG eM ent: alexandros vrettos P H o toS : yorgos lanthimos (color), caroline Pelletti (black & white), christos voudouris (black & white, color)
S ta Ge de S I Gn : c o n c eP t / d r aM at u r Gy/ Mu SI c :

E n s e m b l e s

Towards the research of a non-identified stage form. The company was created by artists of different nationalities (Greek, French, Mexican), in 2005. Based in athens, we create theatre performances that encounter contemporary life, searching for what it means to be part of a society now and always. We aim to research and experiment with stage action.
VasIstas prInCIples. We like dramaturgies that are not defined by a logic based on text or a linear story telling. We orchestrate moving images in detail, creating a rhythm for our experience, like a music choreography in present time. We long for a stage language that we call sensitive body language. Some axes of our working method: little use of technical means, placing the emphasis on the actor/actress. the performances are made to adapt to all sorts of unusual places (garages, roof terraces, interior courtyards, caves), as well as theatre venues. they are conceived with an international public in mind: we organize the space in a way that favours intimate proximity with the public, through the use of several spoken languages and live instantaneous translation; and using several disciplines and our own music.

E x p e r i m e n t a l

anCient drama, CONTeMPOrArY INTerPreTATiONS

This fire that never goes out
theatre lovers as well as theatre makers watching Greek theatre in the last twenty five years, remember the wounds of some of the major scandals of this period. The first scandal was that of Alkistis at the national theatre of northern Greece, directed by yiannis Houvarthas in 1984; the second one that of Ekklisiazouses at the national theatre directed by yiannis Margaritis in 1987; and of course the most striking of them all, the production of Electra by the Georgian director robert Sturua with Karezi-Kazakou theatre company in 1987; and finally that cigarette the actress Anna Makraki lit in the performance of Oedipus Rex in epidaurus in august 1989. Since 1990, the attacks against disrespectful productions have become all the more frequent and intense. In fact, theatre makers know that they have to work within certain limits and that if they exceed them, they are in danger of losing their future in the theatre. In other words, they know that they risk positioning their plays into a hostage situation. Since 1990, the impression that the performance of ancient Greek drama is a matter of serious national concern, has been gaining ground. Each performance is situated in a space that either confirms or tries to inflict wounds on stereotypes, which shape contemporary Greek conscience: if the performance flatters or at least does not question the stereotypes thus reproducing the same old model, often as a discounted version of a glorious and idealized stage past, it is accepted. If, on the other hand, the performance criticises existing models of production, it is accused of ignorance, bad taste and disrespect. criticism starts from an aesthetic point of view, linked to the use of the ancient text, and gradually widens to include a sensibility connected with national identity. In the end, the performances are not being critiqued as selfcontained artistic interpretations presented to a modern audience but as indicators of respect towards our comforting certainties. The ancient texts, according to this dominant view, have specific criteria that exempt them from the rest of human artistic endeavours, as if international dramaturgy does not have its own specific criteria. This view is underpinned by the conviction that this superior civilization belongs only to us, Greeks, we are the ideal expression of it, as if these texts do not in fact belong to the whole of humanity. However, are these texts really sacred? and if so, are they ultimately to be preserved intact in production? theatre history itself has responded to this question. The texts are not in danger of annihilation due to different interpretations as they will always be preserved in libraries. these libraries however cannot protect them from oblivion. the performances allow the text to exist in the present and thus attract new audiences and readers. the history of international theatre directing has been based precisely on this rebellion against the inflexibility of the text and on a critical evaluation of the past, thus creating new interpretations, opening up dialogue and fostering development. After all, theatre has always been the indicator of the degree of maturity in a society and of the relationship spectators have with democracy, that is with dialogue itself.
* this text is an extract from an article published in the magazine Contemporary Issues ( ), Issue 97, april-July 2007.

Platon MavroMouStaKoS Professor of Theatre Studies University of Athens

tHeatro domatIoU

agamemnon
d i r. b y a nG e l a
tran Slat Ion: DIRECTOR COSTUME DESIGNER:

by aeschylus

B r o uS Ko u

athens and epidaurus Festival 2008, ancient theatre of epidaurus nikoletta Frintzila angela Brouskou MuSIc: nikos veliotis lIGH t deSIG n: Lefteris Pavlopoulos Set deSIGn: Guy Stefanou Body traIn InG : Markella Manoliadis, dimitris Kaminaris SInGI nG traInI nG: anry Kergomar aSSIStant dIrector: Konstandina aggelopoulou FotoGraPH er: Maria athanassopoulou actorS: Clytemnestra amalia Moutoussi, Agamemnon Minas Hatzissavas, Cassandra Parthenopi Bouzouri, Messenger Konstandinos avarikiotis Aegisthus Maximos Moumouris, chorus of thirteen people angela Brouskou is developing her own distinct approach to ancient drama, focusing on a contemporary context of cultural and political decay. this transposition includes an aggressive deconstruction of the text that leads to a dissection of the material and an opening up of possibilities. Instead of taking ready-made heroes from tradition and then blowing them up with words and ethos, she attempts to conquer new territory: she looks for words, spaces and layers of meaning in the texts, where the panoply of the actors role allows the vulnerable body of the hero to emerge.

nea sKInI odos CyCladon tHeatre

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s

antigone
d i r. b y le F t e rI S
t r a n Sl at Io n : S E T C O S T U M E DESIGN:

by Sophocles
voyatZ I S

athens and epidaurus Festival 2006, ancient theatre of epidaurus nikos Panagiotopoulos chloe obolenski vo c a lS : Spiros Sakkas M ov eM e n t: ermis Malkotsis l I G Ht d e S I Gn : Lefteris Pavlopoulos a c to rS : Antigone amalia Moutoussi, Kreon Lefteris Voyatzis, Emon nikos Kouris, Guard dimitris Imellos, Ismini evi Saoulidou, Chorus: athanasios vlavianos, alexia Kaltsiki, yannis Klinis, Kostas Koroneos, Stefania Gouliotou, Stratos Menoutis, Konstantinos Giannakopoulos, christos nikolaou, nikolas Papagiannis, Spiros Perdiou, thanasis dovris, nikos tournakis, Sotiris tsakomidis, Menelaos chazarakis, athanasios chalkias, charalampos charalampous, Konstantinos chatzidimitriou, rinio Kiriazi the strongest element of this performance stems from its inner warmth, undoubtedly. a community of people living from the land and staying close to that land, plays, feels deeply and sings, is excitable but also compassionate and visionary - this is the world of voyiatzis Antigone. the play sounds like a mourning elegy, which however celebrates the joy and innocent boldness of adolescence, death and the kind of eros that springs from the earth, as the polar opposite of death. It is indeed difficult to understand and Voyiatzis seems to have understood deeply how a small plot of land full of ancient stones, thyme and miracles can create so much love and at the same time so much destruction, arising from that love.

A n c i e n t

d r a m a ,

c o n t e m p o r a r y

natIonal tHeatre of GreeCe

Orestis by euripides
d i r. b y YA N N I S
tran Slat Ion:

H O U VA r dA S

athens and epidaurus Festival 2010, ancient theatre of epidaurus Stratis Paschalis Johannes Schutz MuSIc: Manolis Kalomoiris lIGH tI nG : Lefteris Pavlopoulos draMaturG : elena Karakouli aSSIStant to tHe dIrector: Natasa Triantafilli aSSIStant Set and coStu Me deSIG ner: Marialena lapata lIGH tI nG aSSIStant: Sofia Alexiadou actorS: Orestes nikos Kouris, Electra Stefania Goulioti, Menelaus akyllas Karazisis, Phrygian nikos Karathanos, Helen: tania tripi, Hermione Georgianna dalara, Tyndareus christos Stergioglou, Messenger Manolis Mavromatakis, Pylades Kostas vasardanis, Apollo yorgos Glastras, Chorus Polyxeni aklidi, lambrini angelidou, Iro Bezou, Iro chioti, Konstantinos Gavalas, anna Kalaitzidou, Kora Karvouni, yannis Klinis, Zoe Kyriakidou, rinio Kyriazi, lena Papaligoura, virginia tamparopoulou, thanos tokakis, Giorgos tzavaras, eleni vergeti
Set and coStuM e deSIGn:

attIs tHeatre

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s

Promitheas Bound by aeschylus

d i r. b y

tHeodoroS terZoPouloS

In yannis Houvardas approach, a tragedy about the characters fate connects to a political comment. this Orestis represents youth itself in the sense of having lost its sense of purpose, as well as tending to resort to irrational violence as a means of gaining revenge and self-definition. This Orestis is not of course a positive hero but when did youth follow positive heroes? What attract them are refuseniks.

co-production of attis theatre, Hellenic Festival, Instabul cultural capital of europe 2011, essen cultural capital of europe 2010 Greek Premire: July 9, 2010, elefsis eleni varopoulou, chainer Myller, Sampachatin egioumpoglou D I R E C TO R - D R A M AT U R G: theodoros terzopoulos S ta Ge I nS ta l l atI o n : yannis Kounellis M u S Ic : takis vellianitis a c to rS : Yetkin Dikinciler, Sofia Michopoulou, Gtz Argus, Sofia Chill, Kerem Karaboga, Stathis Grapsas, Devrim Nas, Savvas Stroumpos, antonis Myriagkos, Ismail deniz, Thanasis Alevras, Maximilian Lwenstein, Umut Kircali, Nazmi Sinan Mihci, Andree sten Solvik, Alexandros Tountas
t r a n S l atIo n :

c o n t e m p o r a r y

A n c i e n t

terzopoulos Prometheus in Elefsina was an aggressive manifesto against the regulators of power. on the outskirts of the bright civilizations with the ruthless stones pending over their heads, the victims of history are washed up already dead, in order to revise the discourse of tragedy. the dehumanized male chorus of ghosts, like a sweeping human tractor, officiates the cosmic Pogrom against Power with the permanent Fall installed on the background. the center of this scenic construct was bound by Prometheus, the controller of order. accordingly, the multinational chorus was presented as a wave of denial constantly lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their back and the tragic mask on their face. Prometheus revolt is a historic paradigm that should be rethought dialectically. We eItHer rISe or all Fall doWn.

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dIreCTOrS

BIOGraPhIeS

Alice in Wonderland, Shakespeares Titus Andronicus (national theatre of Greece), Clytemnestra (Hellenic festival) and others. She lives and works in athens. YaNNIS hOUVarDaS Graduate of londons royal academy of dramatic art (1975). directorial apprenticeship at the Wrtemberg State theatre (1980). actor at: the open Space theatre, london (1975), Karolos Koun art theatre, athens (1975-77), theatriki Syntechnia, athens (19971980). co - founder, director and actor of theatriki Syntechnia (1977-1980), touring to a number of festivals in Greece and abroad. Freelance director from 1977 to 1990, yannis Houvardas collaborates with national theatres in Greece and abroad, directing more than 80 plays by - among others -euripides, Sophocles, Herodas, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, tirso de Molina, Webster, Fernando de rojas, Moliere, racine, Kleist, Goethe, lessing, Strindberg, Ibsen, chekhov, Horvat, Wedekind, Brecht, Genet, Williams, Zola, Sternheim, Kawabata, coward, Fosse. these productions were staged at theatres such as the national theatre of Greece, the national theatre of northern Greece, the royal dramatic theatre of Sweden, the national theatre of norway, the norwegian theatre of oslo, the State theatre of trondheim (norway), the Municipal theatre of Stockholm, the State theatre of Wiesbaden, the lilla teatern (Helsinki), and the tribune theatre (Stuttgart). Since 1999, he has been directing operas, working among others at the Gothengurg opera and the royal opera of copenhagen. Founder and artistic director of notos theatre company, a company dedicated to producing new work and pursuing international collaborations (1991-2007). artistic director of the national theatre of Greece, since 2007. MIChaeL MarMarINOS Born in athens. Studied Biology (majoring in neurobiology), acting and theater directing. He founded diplous eros theatre company in 1983/4 subsidized by the Ministry of culture since its second production. After a number of internal transformations and transfigurations, the group was renamed theseum ensemble (te). His work is ruled by two persisting principles: a) theater is the art of the

natIonal tHeatre of GreeCe

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s

The Madness of heracles by euripides

dir. by MIcHael MarMarInoS

athens and epidaurus Festival 2011, ancient theatre of epidaurus eleni Manolopoulou Kenny Maclellan cH o r e oG r a P H y: Konstantinos rigos M u S Ic : dimitris Kamarotos l I G Ht In G: thomas Walgrave d r a M at u rG : elena Karakouli a S S I Sta n t S to tH e dIrector: Myrto Pervolaraki, Xenia themeli a c to rS : Prokopis agathokleous, Konstantinos aspiotis, thodoris atheridis, Giorgos Biniaris, youla Boundali, Giorgos Gallos, Stefania Goulioti, Minas Hatzisavvas, Karyofyllia Karabeti, nikos Karathanos, Kostas Korakis, dimitris Makalias, dennis Makris, alexandros Mavropoulos, argyris Pantazaras, yannis Papadopoulos, theodora tzimou, yiannis voyiatzis, Giorgos Ziovas
S e t d eS I Gn : c oS t uM e d eS I Gn :

aTTIS attis theatre was founded in 1985 in delphi by theodoros terzopoulos. Its basic aim is research in ancient Greek tragedy and significant plays of international dramaturgy. attis theatre has presented 1850 performances all over the world, in 27 years. It collaborates with international festivals and foreign theatres as a co-producer of multilingual and multicultural performances. It promotes t. terzopoulos working method and it has organised 300 workshops and 50 theoretical conferences, most of them in conjunction with the most important international drama academies. Books about attis theatre have been published and translated in many languages (Greek, english, German, chinese, turkish, russian, Polish) and many articles and essays have been published in theatre journals. attis theatre performances of ancient tragedy, which are considered to be exemplary, are being taught in 30 international universities. attis theatre organises artistic exhibitions (by e.g. Kounellis, Psychopaidis, tziotis, Meimaroglou, chrisikopoulos) and it has hosted foreign performances (e.g. electra by Suzuki company of toga). aNGeLa BrOUSKOU Born in athens. Founding member of theatro domatiou, subsidized by the Ministry of culture. She has long experience in acting, directing and researching in the domains of both classic and modern dramaturgy. She has acted and directed in many productions with theatro domatiou, since its inception in 1994, such as Molieres Misanthrope, Jean Genets The Maids, Strindbergs Miss Julie, euripidess Medea, Karapanous Yes, Sarah Kanes Blasted, Georg Buchners Woyzeck, Waiting something about hunger, based on Samuels Becketts play Waiting for Godot, Sophocless Electra (Hellenic Festival), aeschylus Agamemnon, tennessee Williams A street car named Desire, the performance Wonderland, based on lewis carrolls

humble history of people. b) there is no moment in daily life that cannot become theater, if looked at the right way. three main issues are highlighted in his latest works: I. He is always attracted by assemblies...this tendency of people to gather together prompts him to work on the chorus of ancient Greek drama as an ancient structure that produces contemporary forms, both in theater and in every-day life: a structure with unique qualities, a structure capable of producing theater, text, chaos, history, politics. a structure / device for a contemporary gaze. II. the possible paths that can urge an actors body to become a performance document. (Biology and his encounter with Bioenergetics and a. lowen are a crucial contribution here). III. Moments, insignificant or coincidental, violently inserted into dramaturgy, pushing it towards a documental poetics. this kind of writing tactics, capable of producing text, is what he usually names directing as Playwriting. LeFTerIS VOYaTZIS Born in athens (1945). He studied english literature at the university of athens, and drama at the reinhardt Seminar in vienna. First stage appearence in 1972, as an actor. He collaborated with other theatre companies and played leading roles from the classical repertoire, for ten years. In 1982, he created the actors company Skini, (the Stage), and in 1987 its successor, nea Skini (the new Stage), at the theatre odou Kykladon. He has received three Best director awards: Karolos Koun (1987, 1997) and Fotos Politis (1997). He founded the classical drama Workshop in 1989 and also directed it 1989-1991. He first staged Sophocles Antigone in 1992, with the group of actors working at the workshop (theatre odou Kykladon). Years after that, and with a totally new approach, he produced Antigone again at the ancient theatre of epidaurus (athens Festival, 2006 and 2007). With momentous productions of classical masterpieces (by, for example, H. von Kleist, carlo Goldoni, alexander Griboyedov, anton chechov, Moliere, H. Pinter, F. dostoyevsky, etc), new contemporary Greek plays and modern classics (by writers such as thomas Bernhard and Sarah Kane), Lefteris voyatzis has come to occupy a leading position in the world of Greek theatre.

c o n t e m p o r a r y

Marmarinos has been seriously engaged with critical elements of public and personal experience, in the last few years. one of these elements is collective conscience, as constituted by (and not simply as an accumulation of) private views. Another related field of research leads him to the juxtaposition of history and memory, the first as the official distortion of the second. the most important contribution in Marmarinos Heracles is the presence of the chorus. Half of the chorus is immersed in the weariness of old age and the other half in the intensity of youth. This Chorus defines moments of the drama with both the experience of age and a youthful pulse. It acts as a social mechanism, as the transmitter of knowledge from one pole of this dynamic to the other.

A n c i e n t

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Contemporary

Greek
TheaTre

New

Visions

Parallel Events Play readings, exhibition of Greek theatre Materials, video Installation of Performances, Panel discussion
curator

Sissy Papathanassiou, History and Civilization Historian / Head of Bilateral Department, Directorate of International Relations, Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Tourism
Play readInGS

Lydia Koniordou, Efi Venianaki, Manos Karatzogiannis, alexandros Mavropoulos, Actors

Panel dIScuSSIon

antonis & Konstantinos Koufalis, Playwrights Sissy Papathanassiou elena Penga, Playwright / Theatre Director nina rapi, Playwright / Translator George Sampatakakis, Lecturer of Theatre Studies, University of Patra Sakis Serefas, Playwright yannis Soldatos, Playwright / Director / Editor takis tzamargias, Director
eXHIBItIon deSIGner

assi dimitrolopoulou, Architect-Set Designer / Teaching Staff of Theatre Studies, University of Peloponnese
ProductIon Secretary

neofytos Panagiotou, Hellenic centre of the I.T.I., UNESCO

Programme
edItor

Grigoris Ioannidis, Associated Professor of Theatre Studies, University of Athens

tranSlator and SuBedItor

nina rapi
deSIGner

vasso avramopoulou, a4_artdesign

the project is funded and supported by the Hellenic Ministry of culture & tourism with the co-operation of I.t.I., International theatre Institute, uneSco.

the work by the playwrights, experimental ensembles and directors presented here, lauded by critics and audiences alike, made considerable inroads into the Greek cultural landscape of the last five years or so, and signify the richness and diversity of contemporary Greek theatre.

Contemporary

Greek
TheaTre

New

Visions

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