theater
ACTION: ALEXANDER’S PALIMPSEST AS A WORK IN PROGRESS
November 2015
The historic Alexander (Arrianos, Plutarch) meets the mythical one (of East and West)
EPISODES: The discovery of oil, Alexander’s Bacchic course through Gedrosia, Alexander’s imaginary travels, his meeting with ancient Greek philosophers, Alexander and the Koran, Alexander and the Christian world in the Mediterranean, music competitions under his supervision in Persian epic poems etc
SOURCES: Alexander the Great Booklet , the Persian epic poems of 11th and 13th century, the Byzantine “Poem”, Heintel’s scenic cantata “Alexander’s Feast”, chosen chapters by Arian and Plutarch.
ACTION: WONDERS ARE MANY
Octomber 2015
Sophocles’s Antigone is the source of many different scenic and poetic versions universally through the ages. With respect to the archaic myth we follow its steps till nowadays through a dialogue with the ancient script, translations in Greek and other languages and interpretive suggestions for its heroes, the opposing forces and chorus as a part or as the vehicle of political , religious, and social consciousness. The play intends to answer the Sphinx’s question through Antigone’s tragedy and specially through its chorales: “Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man….”
ACTION: AESCHYLUS’S SEVEN AGAINST THEBES
November 2015
It is a special presentation of Aeschylus’s play, exclusively performed in the conference room in the form of a talk-show (reading – oral elaboration and theatrical action during the flow of the words.)
A political approach with the same cast, the use of microphones and projection of movie scenes, in the classic translation by Gryparis.
ACTION: THE TRAVELER’S MYTH
Octomber 2015
The whole world fits on a magic square…
In front of the traveler’s eyes fairytales, songs and myths come into life. The actors on a platform of limited space, depending on the theatrical body technique “platform”, with no scenery and costumes, only with their own body and voice travel into tradition.
An educational performance which aims to the awakening of children and adults imagination.
ACTION: EPEA PTEROENDA
July 2015
The play epea pteroenda is the result of a long quest by Aris Retsos. Through acoustics and vocalization of today’s speech in ancient tragedy, the actor uses invisible elements to show us how different voices and the heroes’s or chorus’s feelings, with speech, rhythm and music, express a new but classical relation to ancient drama in an unprecedented way.
ACTION: HOLY DRAMA
19 July 2015
The play is called HOLY DRAMA. Twelve actors, dancers and singers and three musicians participate. The play is by unknown writer and is traditionally called “Christ Suffering”. It’s the only play that survived from the Byzantine period. As a play of great significance for the development of ancient drama, it consists an important study material for the relation between religious drama and ancient Greek drama and the way the writer perceives the ‘divine’. The main point of our performing suggestion is the chorus function. Our goal is to trail the remains of whatever dramatic – tragic elements from ancient times to the present through the Byzantine hymns, the traditional funeral songs (dirges), the emigration songs.