Category: 2023

• Friday, August 4

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Saturday, August 5

  Curium Ancient Theatre

BOOK YOUR TICKETS

• WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES

• SUITABLE FOR AGES 16+

• DURATION: 100 MINUTES

• Translation

  Kostas Topouzis

• Dramaturgy/Adaptation/Direction

  Katerina Evangelatos

• Set design

  Eva Manidaki

• Costumes

  Eva Goulakou

• Music/Orchestration

  Alexandros-Drakos Ktistakis

• Choreography

  Alexander Stavropoulos

• Video design

  Pantelis Makkas

• Lighting design

  Eliza Alexandropoulou

• Sound design

  Kostas Pavlopoulos

• Dramaturg

  Eva Saraga

• Music coach

  Melina Peonidou

• Assistant to the director

  Giorgos Braoudakis

• Assistant to the set designer

  Katerina Vlachmpei

• Assistant to the costume designer

  Alexandra Ftouli

• Assistant to the lighting designer

  Lampros Papoulias

• Video design assistant

  Anthi Paraskeva Veloudogianni

• Hair design

  Konstantinos Koliousis

Cast (in alphabetical order)

• Servant

  Diamantis Adamantidis

• Hippolytus

  Orestis Chalkias

• Phaedra

  Kora Karvouni

• Messenger

  Dimitris Papanikolaou

• Nurse

  Maria Skoula

• Artemis/Aphrodite

  Elena Topalidou

• Theseus

  Giannis Tsortekis

• Saturday, July 29

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Monday, July 31

  Makarios III Amphitheatre

BOOK YOUR TICKETS

• WITH GREEK AND ENGLISH SURTITLES
• SUITABLE FOR AGES 12+
• DURATION: 90 MINUTES

• Translation

  Gábor Devecseri

• Adaptation/Dramaturgy

  András Kozma

• Direction/Set-Costume design/Lighting design

  Theodoros Terzopoulos

• Musical composition

  Panayiotis Velianitis

• Associate Director

  Savvas Stroumpos

• Assistant to the Director

  Gábor Vida

• Interpreter

  Panagiota Lotsu

• Prompter

  Anikó Sütő

• Stage managers

  István Lencsés, Krisztián Ködmen

• Photography

  Zsolt Eöri-Szabó

Cast:

• Dionysus

  Roland Bordás

• Pentheus

  Péter Herczegh

• Agave

  Nelli Szűcs

• Cadmus

  Ádám Schnell

• Tiresias

  József Szarvas

• First Messenger (Herdsman)

  Martin Mészáros

• Second Messenger (Guard)

  József Varga

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• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  37 years ago, I directed for the first time the Bacchae, the inaugural performance of the Attis Theatre group. It was presented in Delphi, the place where the ancient Greeks envisioned the unification of the two gods, Dionysus and Apollo, instinct and logic, as the pillar of measure and harmony.

  The myth of the Bacchae has not ceased to preoccupy me for these 37 years. I directed Dionysus in Colombia, a synthesis of the Bacchae tragedy and the Indian myth of Yurupari (1998). Then, the Bacchae at the Dusseldorfer Schaupsielhaus, in Germany (2001). In 2015, I directed The Bacchae at the renovated historical Electrotheatre Stanislavski in Moscow and in 2016 at the National Theatre of Taiwan in Taipei.

  37 years have passed and the exiled Dionysus, rejected by the European rationalist tradition, emerges at the National Theatre of Budapest, in the country where great theatrical principles were born, to unite with his magical energy the great Hungarian theatrical tradition with the tradition of ancient tragedy, the mature actors of the National Theatre with the actors of the younger generation.

  The rehearsals of the Bacchae were a wonderful experience, full of dialogue, understanding and love. Through the coexistence of many and different points of view and with the common factor of the Dionysian energy, we tried to create a consistent, universal theatrical form and convey the messages of this tragedy to the modern world: revenge, punishment, conflict and assertion in a world that needs more than ever the arrival of the fertilizer Dionysus.

  The coincidence of the present war particularly influenced my new view on this tragedy.

  Theodoros Terzopoulos

• NEMZETI SZÍNHÁZ – HUNGARIAN NATIONAL THEATRE

  Hungarian National Theatre – the theatre of the nation

  The National Theatre, directed by Attila Vidnyánszky, primarily serves Hungarian audiences, but at the same time, it has a fruitful international life.

  Romania’s Silviu Purcărete, Russia’s Viktor Ryzakov and Valery Fokin, Georgia’s David Doiasvili and Avtandil Varsimasvili, Spain’s Ignacio García, Macedonian-born Aleksandar Popovski, Norway’s Eirik Stubø, Greece’s Theodoros Terzopoulos, just as Hungarian artists Sándor Zsótér, István Szabó K., Imre Csiszár, Csaba Kiss, János Szász and Eszter Márkó represent different theatre aesthetics, but the dedication and internationally renowned professionalism of National Theatre’s company is unanimously acknowledged. In the last five years, the National Theatre has played in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, Belgrade, Vienna, Maribor, Brussels and Stockholm.

  Madách International Theatre Meeting (MITEM)
  The Madách International Theatre Meeting (MITEM), founded in 2014, has become a real success story, as it is a unique theatre event in Hungary and has been put on the festival map of European theatre. The success of MITEM is proven by the fact that most of the National Theatre’s guests are happy to return year after year.

  The National Theatre has hosted some of Europe’s most important theatre masters, including Theodoros Terzopoulos, Eugenio Barba, Silviu Purcărete, Thomas Ostermaier, Michael Thalheimer, Robert Wilson, Emma Dante, Antonio Latella, Toni Servillo, Luk Perceval, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Rimas Tuminas, Valery Fokin, Alvis Hermanis, Viktor Ryzakov and Alessandro Serra.

  10th Theatre Olympics
  If the personnel of the National Theatre had not demonstrated their professionalism year after year, we would hardly have had the opportunity that the 10th International Theatre Olympics represents.

  In 2023, Hungary is hosting the International Theatre Olympics (58 countries,  400 companies, 750 performances, and 7500 participants). At the 10th International Theatre Olympics, the National Theatre celebrates the passion for theatre with its guests so that it can build bridges in these difficult times.

  nemzetiszinhaz.hu

• Friday, July 14

  Curium Ancient Theatre

• Saturday, July 15

  Curium Ancient Theatre

BOOK YOUR TICKETS

• WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES

• SUITABLE FOR AGES 16+

• DURATION: 110 MINUTES

• Translation

  Theodoros Stefanopoulos

• Dramaturgy/Direction

  Christos Sougaris

• Music composition

  Stefanos Korkolis

• Set/Costume design

  Eleni Manolopoulou

• Movement

  Ermis Malkotsis

• Lighting design

  Alekos Anastasiou

• Music coaching

  Panagiotis Barlas

• Assistant to the director

  Christoforos Mariadis

• Assistant to the set/costume designer

  Danai Pana

• Production Coordinator

  Marleen Verschuuren

Cast:

• Hecuba

  Roula Pateraki

• Menelaus

  Alexandros Bourdoumis

• Kassandra

  Maria Diakopanagiotou

• Andromache

  Mariza Tsari

• Talthybius

  Dimitris Piatas

• Poseidon

  Antonis Kafetzopoulos

• Athena

  Melina Apostolidou, Loukia Vasileiou, Momo Vlachou, Chara Giota, Ilektra Goniadou, Christina Bakastathi, Kleio-Danai Othonaiou, Polyxeni Spyropoulou, Virginia Tamparopoulou, Theofano Tzalavra, Mara Tsikara

• Helen of Troy

  Loukia Vasileiou, Kleio-Danai Othonaiou

• DIRECTOR’S NOTE

  My relationship with this tragedy by Euripides, began when I was still a student at the drama school of the National Theatre of Greece. 

  The Trojan Women was our year’s graduation project and along with Vassilis Papavassiliou’s Ajax, Antoine Vitez’s Electra and Matthias Langhoff’s The Bacchae, it marked the start of an intense personal quest into, and love for, this theatrical genre and the different ways it can be performed on stage; a quest which remains ongoing today.

  Which is to say I’m one of those theatre-goers who will take in every production they can of works by the three great tragedians and pay close attention to the different on-stage readings of these masterworks. 

  What I enjoy most of all is the diversity -when it exists- in the aesthetic approaches the different productions take to the narrative. And that’s because many of us make the mistake of thinking there’s only one version of Antigone, Oedipus, or Hercules, and that there can, therefore, be only one aesthetic approach to their narratives. 

  What really makes an impression on me, is that our tragic poets, as well as the audiences who attended stagings of ancient tragedies during its 20th-century heyday, liked to discuss them in terms of the well-known myths, but mainly on the basis of their personal interpretations. 

  Sophocles’ Electra is not the same as Euripides’ Electra. And would they hold any interest for us if they were?

  The verbalistic version of narrative came to the fore aesthetically in the mid-20th century, and its last vestiges plague us still. That is because, as the unfortunate inheritors of the directors and stars of Greece’s glorious theatrical past, we have had to protect, preserve and disseminate their only arguably interesting stagings. Unfortunately, even today, we still bother our heads with questions like ”how is tragedy performed?”, whether it is appropriate to ”tread the thymele” of the Argolic theatre, if it is disrespectful (to whom?) to use microphones in performances of the genre, and whether it is “permitted” to interpret the genre in a manner which diverges from the archetypal near-ritualistic style which has been revealed to us in various ways and interpretations by the indubitably useful and important research of archaeologists, philologists and theatre professionals alike.

  I have always had the feeling, which sometimes amounts to faith, that you can be respectful of the genre even as you attempt to engage meaningfully through it with your contemporary audience, in the context of a sincere effort which begins with a personal, private performance before ending up before the public. I dare say that the louder we are, the less we can hear what we’re saying. 

  The genre is not at risk from performances that may come across as “modernistic”. Like any other, the genre is only at risk from indifferent, sloppy and ultimately weak performances.

  So, continuing our on-stage study of the tragic genre, this production of The Trojan Women will provide my excellent collaborators and me with yet another opportunity to present audiences with our highly personal reading of a narrative by a truly innovative tragedian which tells its heart-breaking tale with quiet sincerity.

  Christos Sougaris

• NATIONAL THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE

  The National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG) is one of the country’s largest theatre institutions. With its five indoor and two outdoor stages, plus the appearances it makes on tour and at festivals both in Greece and internationally, it has been a driving force on the cultural scene since 1961.

  The NTNG is a private legal non-profit entity and is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors along with the Artistic Director. It is supervised and funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport.

  As a public theatre which repays citizens for the funding it receives through the art, education and entertainment it provides, and which seeks to remain open and accessible to society at large, the National Theatre of Northern Greece has forged a strategy which revolves around the following axes:

  • a wide-ranging repertory
  • high-quality productions for children and young people
  • a focus on theatre education and educational activities
  • strong ties and partnerships with cultural institutions, municipal authorities, bodies and social institutions
  • An emphasis on social policy
  • social activities which raise public awareness
  • low ticket prices with a wide range of concessions
  • a powerful international presence.

  The NTNG’s annual programme brings together its own in-house theatre productions with co-productions with other theatre organizations, stagings of productions from Greece and abroad, and a wide range of cultural events. The Theatre also stages long summer tours around Greece and winter tours of Northern Greece and organizes the annual Forest Festival, a major cultural event for Thessaloniki which includes concerts, theatre and dance.

  The NTNG Drama School provides a full theatrical education free of charge and has been a nursery for young actors since 1973.

  In addition, taking its social role seriously and doing all it can to make theatre accessible to people of all ages, including those without easy access to live theatre, the NTNG engages in activities provided free of charge to special social groups.

  It is a member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe and the International Theatre Institute.

  www.ntng.gr