The Greek Art Theatre – Karolos Koun & Municipal Regional  Theatre of Volos - Diagoras Chronopoulos
“God-fearing and just” but poor, Chremylos the farmer is surrounded by unscrupulous, sacrilegious men, corrupt politicians and sycophants intent on enriching themselves in an Athens ravaged by war. In Aristophanes’ final play (338 BC) the only way out lies in a [...]

Schaubühne am lehniner platz – Thomas Ostermeier
The ancient theatre of Epidaurus may prove an ideal venue for Othello (1604), a play that has been described as “Man’s tragedy enacted beneath an empty sky”.
Thomas Ostermeier, director of the celebrated Schaubühne, tackles the tale of Othello, Desdemona and the diabolical puppeteer, Iago, frantically yanking the strings of [...]

CHoROS Theatre Company – Simos Kakalas
Erofili: “I would not declare Panaretos’ passion unbefitting of me, nor reject his treaties, as long as I shall live”
Erotokritos: “Have you heard the news,
your Lord and Master has exiled me to foreign parts?”
illustration of the unique manuscript of Erotokritos (1710)
(Library of the British Museum)
From Erophile, by the “learned [...]

National Theatre of Greece – Yannis Houvardas
Blame the oracles of Phoebus”. Tormented by guilt, Orestes lays the blame on Apollo, the god who pushed him into committing an unholy act: the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra.
Debunking the gods and mocking the demagogues, Euripides’ tragedy – written in 408 BC, half a [...]

CHoROS Theatre Company – Simos Kakalas
Yet Erofili’s love led Panareton to love her so much [...] that, unbeknown to her father,
he set the preparations for their wedding in motion and slept with her. That would be the cause of great evil…”Simos Kakalas and the Choros theatre company continue to bring talent, daring and [...]

National Theatre of Northern Greece – Sotiris Hadzakis

As the Peloponnesian War rages for the sixth consecutive year and Athens
is slowly dying,Dikaiopolis decides to enlist in the fight for peace.
Having negotiated a private truce with Sparta,he persuades the largest
Athenian demos (municipality)—the Acharnians: battle-hardened
veterans of Marathon—to agree to it, and opens up the market
where the [...]

Two nights of great Portuguese music combining improvisation with Fado and tradition with the avant-garde. Two different, but inter-related, aspects of Portugal—the unique voice of Maria João and the jazz quintet led by the pianist and composer Mário Laginha share the stage with the most convincing fadista of the new [...]

National Theatre of Greece – Yiannis Kakleas
“With neither husband nor adulterer”: Lysistrata of Athens undertakes to “undo the army” by stirring every Greek woman to rebel against the war that is devouring their menfolk. Swearing an oath of abstinence and withholding their sexual favours, they will force their husbands to [...]

Prometheus in Athens

Dissolving the boundaries between reality and myth, the pioneering documentary theatre group Rimini Protokoll explores here the effects ancient tragedy has on contemporary life: Who identifies with Prometheus and who with Io? Who with Hermes and who with Oceanus?

Nefés
Pina Bausch’s Istanbul: another stop-off point along her poetic wanderings, another inkling of what it feels like to be human. Nefés was inspired in 2003 by the war in Iraq. It means ‘breath’ in Turkish, and though it sketches a dark city, it never ceases to sing of life. The ancient [...]