Category: Performances

• Friday, August 5

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Saturday, August 6

  Curium Ancient Theatre

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• Translation

  Nikos A. Panagiotopoulos

• Direction

  Argyris Xafis

• Adaptation

  Aspasia-Maria Alexiou, Argyris Xafis

• Set design

  Maria Panourgia

• Costume design

  Ioanna Tsami

• Music

  Kornilios Selamsis

• Choreography

  Hara Kotsali

• Lighting design

  Alekos Anastasiou

• Assistant director

  Maria Savvidou

• Music coach

  Melina Peonidou

• Vocal preparation

  Apostolos Kitsos

• Dramaturg

  Aspasia-Maria Alexiou

• First directing assistant

  Maya Kyriazi

• Second directing assistant

  Vasiliki Athanasopoulou

• Assistant to the Set designer

  Sofia Theodoraki

Cast (in alphabetical order):

• Menelaus

  Giannis Dalianis

• Agamemnon

  Nikos Hatzopoulos

• Odysseus

  Dimitris Imellos

• Athena

  Despina Kourti

• Eurysaces

  Tassos Mikelis

• Tecmessa

  Evi Saoulidou

• Ajax

  Stathis Stamoulakatos

• Teucer

  Christos Stylianou

• Chorus

  Asimina Anastasopoulou,
  Eirini Boudali,
  Dimitris Georgiadis,
  Erato Karathanasi,
  Afroditi Katsarou,
  Lambros Konstanteas,
  Fanis Kosmas,
  Efstathia Lagiokapa,
  Alkiviadis Maggonas,
  Fotis Stratigos

• Musicians on stage

  Menelaos Moraitis (tuba),
  Manos Ventouras (french horn),
  Spyros Vergis (trombone)

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• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  “How long is forever?”

  The first word of Ajax is “Αεί” meaning “Always”. There is no other work by Sophocles that is so preoccupied by time as a theme. A little later, the chorus sings of time’s therapeutic and revelatory properties. However, Ajax sees the world as a fluid universe without its healing powers. Here only one thing is certain: uncertainty. There is no exception to this law.

  The woman that once was his spoils of war now adores him.

  The Greeks that once were his friends and comrades now hate him.

  Odysseus, whom he hates most of all, now pities him.

  And “by coincidence”, Ajax shares the same destructive fate as his worst enemy, Hector.

  Ajax sees the world as it actually is and, in his attempt, to swim against the tide, he finds himself. He is driven by his inner demon, his “eternal destiny”. In order to remain Ajax he must cease to be. He must take his own life, escaping choice, chance and change. “The rest is to be said to the dead in Hades” are his final words, as he becomes a myth for all eternity, passing from the ephemeral to the everlasting.

  In this production, we aim to take advantage of the countless possibilities that present themselves while exploring what it truly means to have a play unfold in a time of war, and how these possibilities are conveyed in stage poetry beyond a literal description of war’s horrors. This is the core of my thinking in choosing a mixed chorus. Moreover, how should the endlessness and pointlessness of the Trojan War after nine whole years be presented theatrically? A war -much alike many present wars- aiming to over in fifteen days.

  It is a terribly modern play. And by an unfortunately awful coincidence for me, a personal one. I want to dedicate this production to my father, whom I tragically lost a few months ago. And exactly as in Ajax, we had to endure a cruel and interminable wait for his burial. Sophocles captures how the world will be from now on, a world without Ajax. Without heroes. The speeches and dialogues after he is gone are unheroic. Full of cynicism, cheap threats, vindictiveness and shouting. Any sign of lyricism dies with Ajax. There is no greatness. Even death gradually seems more realistic. Though absent, he remains dynamically present in a world full of small people – exactly as the chorus said in the parodos: “The small without the great are an unguarded fortress”. At the same time, we are entering a more democratic era. An era where it is more possible to compromise and interact with each other’s views, in which Ajax would not have been able to endure.

  The burden and responsibility of being a hero must now be shared with everyone. The virtue of aristocracy must now be democratized.

   

  Argyris Xafis

• NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE

  Greece’s first state theatre company was the Royal Theatre, which was founded in 1901 and continued its operations until 1908. It was re-established under the name National Theatre in 1930 and opened for the public in March 1932. During its 90 years of life, the National Theatre of Greece (NTG) has succeeded in creating a powerful theatrical tradition. The NTG Drama School was founded in 1930, and has since operated in tandem with the GNT.

  The repertoire of the National Theatre aims at polyphony, promoting a dialogue between tradition, the present and the future. The revival of Ancient Greek Drama remains a key area of interest for the National Theatre as part of its efforts to pay due respect to tradition while also exploring new theatrical trends. In 1938 the National Theatre of Greece performed its first open-air production of ancient drama, Sophocles’ Electra; the first performance after centuries at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. In 1955 the NTG established the Festival of Epidaurus.

  Today, the National Theatre has six stages: two at the Ziller Building, three in the Rex Theatre, as well as at the School of Athens – Irene Papas (open-air theatre). The National Theatre is always open to collaborations with theatres and artists – tours, joint productions with major theatres abroad, participation in international festivals, educational programmes, invitations to important contemporary artists; these are all part of the effort to broaden an already established network. Τhe NTG was a member of the European Theatre’s Union (2009-2020).

  The Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Greece is the director Yannis Moschos.

  www.n-t.gr

• Friday, July 29

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Saturday, July 30

  Curium Ancient Theatre

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• Translation

  Pantelis Boukalas

• Direction

  Vassilis Papavassiliou

• Associate director/Dramaturgy

  Nikoleta Filosoglou

• Set/Costume design

  Aggelos Mentis

• Music

  Aggelos Triantafyllou

• Choreography

  Dimitris Sotiriou

• Lighting design

  Lefteris Pavlopoulos

• Orchestration/Music coaching

  Yorgos Dousos

• Music coaching

  Chrysa Toumanidou

• Assistant to the director

  Anna-Maria Iakovou

• Assistant to the set/costume designer

  Elli Nalbandi

• Assistant to the choreographer

  Sofia Papanikandrou

• Production coordinator

  Athanasia Androni

• Stage manager

  Marina Chatziioannou

• Photographs

  Tasos Thomoglou

Cast:

• Helen

  Emily Koliandri

• Menelaus

  Themis Panou

• Theonoe

  Agoritsa Economou

• Theoclymenus

  Giorgos Kafkas

• Old woman

  Effie Stamouli

• First Messenger

  Dimitris Kolovos

• Second Messenger

  Angelos Bouras

• Teucer

  Dimitris Morfakidis

• Therapon

  Christos Mastrogiannidis

• The Dioscuri

  Nikolas Marangopoulos,
  Orestes Paliadelis

• Chorus

  Nefeli Anthopoulou,
  Stavroula Arabatzoglou,
  Natassa Daliaka,
  Eleni Giannousi,
  Elektra Goniadou ,
  Sofia Kalemkeridou,
  Aigli Katsiki,
  Anna Kyriakidou,
  Katerina Plexida,
  Marianna Pourega,
  Foteini Timotheou ,
  Chrysa Toumanidou,
  Loukia Vasileiou,
  Momo Vlachou,
  Chrysa Zafeiriadou

• Musicians on stage

  Yorgos Dousos (flute, clarinet, saxophone, kaval),
  Danis Koumartzis (double bass),
  Thomas Kostoulas (percussion),
  Pavlos Metsios (trumpet, electric guitar),
  Haris Papathanasiou (violin),
  Manolis Stamatiadis (piano, accordion)

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• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  “a mixed but legitimate genre”

  Theoclymenus, king of Egypt, is with his tailor. It is the final fitting for his wedding suit. Or, if you prefer, he is on the steps in front of the church, like the hero of a Greek film from the 50s, waiting to welcome his bride, bouquet of flowers in hand. It’s just that the wedding isn’t going to happen. He’ll be jilted at the altar, because she has already set sail with a tail wind for home—for Greece, and more specifically for Sparta, since the bride is none other than Helen, the famous, the one and only Helen of Troy, daughter of Tyndareus and hatchling of Zeus and Leda. And the daughter of Homer, too, for it was he who wrapped her in the swaddling clothes of myth, the better to present her as the victim of Paris’ kidnapping and thus the cause of the Trojan War, a war which would unite the disparate elements of the Greek world against a common enemy for the first time; the war that would set its seal on the birth of the confrontation between Europe and Asia—for, as Paul Valéry put it so clearly, “Europe is a peninsula of Asia”.

  The myth of Helen myth includes at least three kidnappings and five weddings. An innocent young girl is kidnapped by Theseus, symbolizing the betrothal of Athens and Sparta. Which makes it an entirely Greek affair. The second abduction, however, involves a “foreign element” who goes by the names of Paris and Alexander. It is Paris who takes her to Troy with everything that will ensue— the material, in other words, that Homer will develop in such detail in the Iliad. But we should not forget that something critical happened between Helen’s first and second abductions: her marriage to Menelaus which, following on as it does from the Theseus episode, had restored Peloponnesian unity. However, the myth remains duplicitous: descriptive on the one hand, interpretative on the other. Variants are the fate of myth. And thus, as time passed, a version began to take shape which was proposed two and more centuries after Homer by Stesichorus, Herodotus and Gorgias among others, and was then adopted by Euripides for his own Helen. According to this version, Helen never actually arrived at Troy. She was abducted, certainly, but not by mortal Paris, but rather, it was a god, Hermes himself, who took her, and Hera’s bidding—the goddess had her reasons. And Hermes did not take her to Asia Minor, but to Egypt, to the land of good king Proteas, who was a philhellene to boot. So she spent the ten years of the Trojan War in Egypt, and is still there seven years after its end, as her legal spouse, Menelaus, is lashed by stormy seas which confound his every effort to return home. In the end, he is washed up on an Egyptian shore with a few comrades. He has dragged a Helen along with them, but she’s not real, just an eidolon, a simulacrum of Helen, the phantom look-alike which Hera had deceitfully palmed off on Paris. But Proteas is no longer ruler of Egypt, having died and been succeeded by his son, Theoclymenus. And he, as is only natural given his red-blooded maleness, covets the real, exiled Helen. In fact, he’s madly in love with her. In contrast, the fake Helen, the one Menelaus has brought back with him as the spoils of war, has been burdened with all the curses and anathemas of Greeks and Trojans alike for the war and suffering she has caused. QED, the real Helen is innocent: she has no blood on her conscience.

  In 412 BC, in Athens, Euripides presents her case in the “trial of Helen”. In the litigious “closed city” that is Athens in the aftermath of the destruction of the Athenian fleet off Sicily, the poet engages in a complex bit of demystification and entertainment based on the Sicilian orator and sophist Gorgias’s “In praise of Helen” which had made such an impression on the Athenians fifteen years earlier. And this in a climate of collapse that foretells the twilight of the golden age of Athenian democracy.

  The comic poet Cratinus, a contemporary of Aristophanes and Euripides, once said that both men “had common interests”. He did so, one may surmise, to raise a laugh. But, in fact, both poets trespassed repeatedly on the other’s territory—they did it so often, in fact, that their trespass was immortalized with the gerund “Euripidaristophanizing”. Now let’s take a look at the facts. Helen was presented in 412 BC, and Aristophanes would write his colleague into the Thesmophoriazusae (or Women at the Thesmophoria) the very next year. In it, he has Euripides converse with none other than ‘Helen’ herself through a flurry of quotes.

  So, is it a tragedy or a comedy? The question is important from a literary point of view. Still, the acts of the poets, which is to say their works, stand as proof that, as Emmanuel Roidis put it, comedy isn’t constantly and continuously comic, just as tragedy can be tragic by exception, making tragicomedy “a mixed but legitimate genre”, as Dionysios Solomos might have put it.

  Vassilis Papavassiliou

• NATIONAL THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE

  The National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG) is currently the largest theatrical and cultural organisation in Greece. With 4 indoor stages, 2 open-air theatres, and Greek and international tours, the NTNG has been operating as an active cultural hub since 1961.

  The new institutional framework of the NTNG was enacted in 1994. Pursuant to this, the theatre is run by a seven-member Board of Directors and an Artistic Director.

  The NTNG is supervised and subsidised by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

  The NTNG has been a member of the Union of Theatres of Europe (www.ute-net.org) since May 1996 and served as a member of its Board of Directors until 2013. The NTNG is also a member of the International Theatre Institute.

  The annual repertoire of the NTNG combines in-house productions, co-productions with other theatre organizations and special tributes. The NTNG also hosts Greek and international guest performances. Its activities expand well into other cultural domains, such as education, literature, fine arts, exhibitions, conferences and international festivals, educational theatre programmes and other social activities.

  Based on the core belief that education and culture are basic necessities and wishing to remain a theatre open to society, the NTNG implements a strategy founded on the following:

  • Wide-ranging repertoire.
  • Low ticketing policy and various classifications of benefits.
  • Corporate social responsibility that focuses on population groups who for various reasons have no access to theatre performances.
  • Emphasis on the production of high-quality performances for children and young people.
  • Awareness-raising social activities.
  • Strengthening bonds and collaborations with cultural organisations, municipal authorities and charities.
  • Reinforcing the theatre’s international presence.

  www.ntng.gr

• Friday, July 22

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Saturday, July 23

  Curium Ancient Theatre

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• Translation

  Giorgos Blanas

• Direction

  Aris Biniaris

• Musical composition

  Fotis Siotas

• Set design

  Magdalini Avgerinou

• Costume design

  Vasiliki Syrma

• Lighting design

  Alekos Anastasiou

• Movement/Choreography

  Evi Economou

• Dramaturgy consultant

  Elena Triantafyllopoulou

• Metrical analysis of the original text

  Kaiti Diamantakou

• Scientific associate

  Katerina Diakoumopoulou

• Assistant to the director

  Dora Xagorari

• Assistant to the set designer

  Xenia Papatriantafyllou

• Assistant to the costume designer

  Alexandros Garnavos

• Assistant to the lighting designer

  Nafsika Christodoulakou

• Props/Sculptures

  Dimitra Kaisari Workshop

• Make-up

  Evi Zafeiropoulou

• Production manager

  Stella Giovani

• Executive producers

  Vasileia Taskou, Anna Pasparaki

• Photographs

  Patroklos Skafidas

Cast:

• Prometheus

  Yannis Stankoglou

• Kratos

   Aris Biniaris

• Bia/Follower of Oceanus & Hermes

  Konstantinos Georgalis

• Hephaestus/Follower of Oceanus & Hermes

  David Malteze

• Oceanus

  Alekos Syssovitis

• Io

  Nancy Boukli

• Hermes

  Ioannis Papazisis

• Followers of Kratos and Bia

  Katerina Dimati, Grigoria Metheniti

• Chorus (in alphabetical order)

  Katerina Dimati,
  Fiona Georgiadi,
  Dafni Kiourktsoglou,
  Grigoria Metheniti,
  Dafni Nikitaki,
  Alexia Sapranidou,
  Thaleia Stamatelou,
  Dimitra Vitta,
  Eleni Vlachou

• Musician on stage

  Stamatis Fousekis (double bass, effects)

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• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  Prometheus’s heart-wrenching and constantly escalating efforts to resist Zeus’s authoritarian system of tyranny is like an arrow that pierces through the heart of the dramatic events, before it finally finds its target at the very end. The figure of the suffering god-prophet rises high, exposed to the bleakness of a desolate land, in the craggy exile of his heinous shackles, a precipice of detention, punishment and dishonour. Prometheus’s impulses are ignited by the culmination of the sovereign’s cruelty and intractability in the face of anyone who dares defy the edicts of the monarchy.

  Like a beacon of unquenchable exultation that refuses to subside or be extinguished, the hero constantly self-combusts, triggering a reflexive awakening. Advocating for self-actualization, emancipation and an ultimate release from the destructive jealousy of cruel leaders, he constantly rebuffs Zeus’s demands for compliance. Using fiery, prophetic, often pointed and sometimes compassionate language, he calls upon us to connect with our inner source of existential grievance, capable of overturning any long-standing tyranny and questioning its God-given status. Zeus’s retort is devastating.

  Through his representatives, he either demands blind faith in his decisions or compulsory collusion in his devious schemes. Every member of the ruling class reveals, through their presence, the dark ways of the sovereign and confirms the heartless nature of the tyrant. Instruments of power, opportunist advisors and subservient volunteers, accompanied by guards or subordinates, communicate ultimatums, intensifying the delineation of a merciless institutional hierarchy.

  The Oceanids look upon Prometheus’ painful efforts and the trajectory of the tyrant’s tactics. They seek out the incandescent soul of the prophet in his place of confinement and listen to his ruminations. They wonder whether it is worth fighting for change when the price is so high. They rage over Oceanus’s opportunism and gradually comprehend the arbitrary roar of the sovereign. Lastly, they behold the maiden Io, driven to madness by the gadfly, and they tune into the convulsions of her tragic fate. Her tortured, disposable body, mercilessly ravaged by the tyrant, is the final proof of Zeus’s brutality.

  Hermes’ final commands add insult to injury, irrevocably convincing them of Prometheus’s sound logic. The Oceanids’ final decision to hurl themselves into the bleak depths of Tartarus is a declaration of their emotional shift, a moving show of bravery that transcends fear. The time has come for the flaming arrows of Prometheus’s impulses to finally meet their target. As a vessel of dramatic insight and a visionary of hope, Prometheus prepares to hurl himself into Tartarus. His fall is a lofty provocation, an incessant stimulus that tellingly escalates the clash between the unrelenting prophet and the ruthless, implacable tyrant.    

  Aris Biniaris

• POREIA THEATRE

  ‘Dolichos’ theatre company was established in 1998 by the director, actor and translator Dimitris Tarlow and since 2000 it has been housed at the Poreia Theatre.

  Its wide repertoire includes modern plays from all over the world – some of which were performed for the first time in Greece (The Beast on the Moon, Eurydice, Glengarry Glen Ross, the Woods, Oleanna, Blasted, The Man Who), classical plays from world theatre (and other literary genres) from all periods of history in modern adaptations by important writers, or in original adaptations (Frenapati (Mind–bender) based on Pierre Corneille’s L’ Illusion comique, Miranda –based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Greek plays (Oblivion, Blind Spot, Great Chimera – adaptation, Satisfied – adaptation, Junkerman – adaptation, Heights 731 – composition, Common Glory – composition).

  The stylistic choices of the productions is also characterized by great diversity; Dolichos works with many different directors each of whom brings his or her personal touch (Stathis Livathinos, Yiannis Houvardas, Oskaras Korsunovas, Dimitris Tarlow, Grigoris Karantinakis, Martha Frintzila, Renate Jett, Cezaris Grauzinis, Dimitris Karantzas, Aris Biniaris, Yiannos Perlengas, Maria Manganari, Argyris Pantazaras), with the aim of creating a living theatrical language that expresses the concerns (social and artistic) of the present, while at the same time, focusing on the future. Dolichos has also taken part in joint productions with groups of young artists and has organised multiple parallel activities.

  Productions by Poreia Theatre have won numerous awards from major Greek organisations and have toured in Greece and abroad. Together to its productions, Poreia Theatre offers to its audience activities and events inspired by its repertoire, such as open discussions with the artists, philosophical brunches, meetings with the artists, musical evenings, exhibitions, etc. The theatre’s loyal audience includes theatre lovers of all ages.

  Poreia Theatre is fully accessible and is subsidised by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

  poreiatheatre.com

• Saturday, July 16

  Paphos Ancient Odeon

• Monday, July 18

  Makarios III Amphitheatre

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• WITH GREEK AND ENGLISH SURTITLES

• • SUITABLE FOR AGES 13+

• Direction/Dramaturgy/Set design

  Ricardo Iniesta

• Direction of Chorus

  Marga Reyes

• Music/Orchestration

  Luis Navarro

• Music

  Popular music from the Balkans, Italy and Belarus

• Costume design

  Carmen de Giles, Flores de Giles

• Choreography

  Juana Casado, Lucía You

• Lighting design

  Alejandro Conesa

• Soundscape

  Emilio Morales

• Production coordinator

  Victoria Villalta

• Production

  Francesca Lupo

Cast:

• Electra

  Silvia Garzón

• Clytemnestra

  María Sanz

• Chrysothemis

  Lidia Mauduit

• Aigisthus

  Raúl Vera

• Orestes

  Enmanuel García

• Chorus

  Garazi Aldasoro

• Chorus

  Imasul Rodríguez

• Chorus

  Ángela González

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• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  Having as a starting point the dramaturgic composition by Carlos Iniesta, twenty-five years ago, of the myth of the House of Atreus and the character of Electra, Electra.25 is a new approach to the myth based on the homonymous tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides.

  Its main innovation is the introduction of the character of Orestes from the beginning of the play –just like in the classical versions– so that he has a longer, not physical but emotional, presence on stage for the audience. This creates more tension and empathy in the audience in contrast with the leading characters of Electra, Chrysothemis and Clytemnestra who are unaware of his presence. Orestes, however, also appears in the end after he has taken his revenge as suggested by Aeschylus in Choephori (The Libation Bearers) pursued by the Furies, not only to become a hero for killing his father but also to be morally reproached. At the same time, a new Chorus is introduced that appears in more than one occasion and is composed of the young women of the palace who are in their majority suspicious of Electra.

  This is another factor of tension that was added to the first version of the play and is based on Electra by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. All these innovations increase the complexity of the plot which is extremely simple in the first version of the play. The dramaturgy of Electra.25 reinforces the leading role of the Chorus in its various forms: Narrator-Chorus, Chorus of Mycenaean women, Chorus of Clytemnestra’s Maids, Chorus of the Palace Girls, Chorus of Furies, and Chorus of the People of Mycenae.

  Ricardo Iniesta

• ΑTALAYA THEATRE

  Critics agree that Atalaya Theatre has managed to develop a unique personal style characterized by the energy of the actors and actresses, expressed both through the body and the voice, the contemporary reading of great universal texts, the expressionist force of the images and the poetic treatment of space, music and objects. 

  The continuity of its permanent team allows for extensive research processes for each staging. In the middle of 2022, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary and the fact that it has become one of the most solid points of reference in Spanish theatre.

  Atalaya Theatre has participated in more than 170 national and international festivals in 40 countries across six continents and has received over 50 awards, including the National Theatre Award in 2008. In the same year, the International Centre for Theatrical Research (TNT), began its operation. The Centre is now a permanent laboratory-school and boasts the largest private theatre in Andalusia. TNT has regularly taken part in cultural projects implemented by the European Union. 

  Atalaya Theatre’s language is characterized by live choral singing, images full of visual strength, intense rhythm and acting based on energy. This led most festivals to avoid the use of surtitles in performances, like for example in Russia. Atalaya Theatre has produced 22 shows in almost 40 years. Some of them are King Lear, Marat/Sade, Mother Courage, Celestina the tragicomedy and with Ariadne and Medea has left an indelible mark on the company’s theatrical language. 

  It should be noted that most of the cast of Elektra.25 -and the rest of the artistic team- are actors and actresses trained in the first edition of the TNT Theatrical Research Laboratory, now in its 24th edition. 

  More than a hundred educators from over 30 countries, representing theatre traditions from all over the world, have participated as teachers and passed on their rich experience to both the members of Atalaya Theatre, who very often attend the Laboratory workshops, but also to the company’s director himself, who has participated on numerous occasions.   

  www.atalaya-tnt.com

• Wednesday, July 6

  Paphos Ancient Odeon

• Friday, July 8

  Makarios III Amphitheatre

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• WITH GREEK AND ENGLISH SURTITLES

• • SUITABLE FOR AGES 17+

• Translation

  Bratoljub Klaić

• Adaptation/Direction/Set design

  Diego de Brea

• Dramaturgy

  Džejna Hodžić

• Costume design

  Blagoj Micevski

• Lighting design

  Moamer Šaković

• Sound design

  Danko Bevanda

Cast:

• Oedipus

  Dino Bajrović

• Jokasta

  Mediha Musliović

• Creon/Herdsman

  Damir Čobo

• Tiresias

  Izudin Bajrović

• Priest/Chiorman/Herdsman

  Damir Mašić

• Messenger

  Emir Fejzić

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• DRAMATURGE’S NOTE

  Oedipus the King is a Greek tragedy by one of the three great Greek tragedians, Sophocles, in which the tragic hero Oedipus attempts to flee the fate the gods have laid out before him and avoid the evil that shall befall on him.

  Unaware of his origins as an adopted son and not the son of his parents, he unknowingly places himself upon a path that will lead to the prophecy coming true: Oedipus murders his father, takes his mother as his own wife and fathers children with her.

  All this happened before the play even began and the tragedy unfolds with the revelation of the truth.

  The plague is ravaging Thebes and the reason for this is an evil that happened many years ago. Oedipus, who has already once saved the city by solving the Sphinx riddle, launches an investigation and tries to solve the problem. The hunter becomes the prey. He realizes that he is to be blamed for all the evil because he killed his own father and married his own mother. And now as a punishment for this atrocity, the city is plagued.

  At first glance, we cannot identify with this situation nowadays, as fortunately incestuous relationships are rare. However, this dramatic text communicates with the present time in such a way that for everything that is happening to us now we must look for its cause in our past. At this moment the world is plagued by corona virus –and we are like Oedipus trying to understand how and where this evil has come from. Every action has a reaction and we have produced all the evil ourselves, consciously or unconsciously. Now, nature takes vengeance for the pollution and the destruction caused by physical actions as well as our greed, malice and hatred. The world is more polluted than ever and to solve these problems, we must go far back in time to find the causes of our misery. Or, to be more precise, we have not yet launched an investigation and set out to solve problems. We are still, as the character of the blind prophet Tiresias says: “Blind, though we have sight”.

  Through this mythical story, Diego de Brea, in his own way, conveys with his directing means 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.

  Džejna Hodžić

• SARAJEVO NATIONAL THEATRE

  The National Theatre of Sarajevo is the most prominent theatre house in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It offers drama, opera and ballet performances and also houses the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra. This large and beautiful building on Obala Kulina Bana is not only home to the theatre but is also listed as a Protected National Monument of BiH. It was designed by architect Karl Paržik and built during the Austro-Hungarian period and it originally served as a social facility which officially opened on January 2, 1899. With the founding of the National Theatre on November 17, 1919, the building underwent a thorough reconstruction and the first performances were staged here in this building on Obala Kulina Bana in October 1921. The famous Serbian playwright, Branislav Nušič, served as one of the theatre’s first directors. Up until the time immediately following the Second World War, the National Theatre worked exclusively as a theatre, but then it formed its own opera and ballet ensembles in 1946.   100 years since the National Theatre was founded in Sarajevo, more than 1,000 plays have been staged here and a few hundred opera and ballet performances. The National Theatre ensembles have made numerous guest appearances and received many national and international awards, including the greatest recognition offered by the City of Sarajevo, the April 6^th Award, on three separate occasions.

  This year, the Sarajevo National Theatre is celebrating its 100^th anniversary and is presenting numerous drama, opera and ballet performances.

  www.nps.ba

• MESS INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL

  The MESS International Theatre Festival was founded in 1960 under the name “The Festival of Small and Experimental Stages of Yugoslavia” which gave it the widely known acronym MESS. The Festival was established upon the initiative of Jurislav Korenić, and is one of the oldest festivals in East and Southeast Europe.

  MESS was stopped when the war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Festival’s administration, led by one of the most distinctive theatre directors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Pašović, renamed the festival into the International Theatre and Film Festival MESS Sarajevo and launched a cultural resistance against the siege in Sarajevo. The International Theatre and Film Festival MESS organized the first film festival in the besieged Sarajevo in 1993, “After the end of the world”, which was the predecessor of today’s Sarajevo Film Festival. At that time MESS produced performances by local artists, but also those directed by Peter Schumann or Susan Sontag. As a result of all the cultural activities during wartime that were largely initiated or realized with the help of MESS, Sarajevo was nominated as a cultural centre of Europe.

  At the end of the siege in 1997 the institution was taken over by young theatre workers led by director Dino Mustafić. The Festival was renewed with a high aim of organizing an international theatre muster of the most significant plays in the world. The first Festival included names such as Giorgio Strehler, Peter Schumann, Jozef Nadj and Frank Castorf. The Festival, organized with enthusiasm and devotion with the aim of attracting new generations to the theatre acquired a completely new audience but at the same time retained the old one as well.

  The MESS International Theatre Festival has been innovative from the very beginning; all the previous leaderships throughout its history organised it in such a way that even under unbelievable circumstances in Sarajevo, it has become a cultural refuge for all generations, risking and investing in the bravest and most interesting art projects. That is precisely why the MESS International Theatre Festival is one of the leading festivals of this part of Europe.

  www.mess.ba