MECKLENBURG STATE BALLET, GERMANY ANTIGONE AFTER SOPHOCLES WED 1 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON THURS 2 JULY CURIUM ANCIENT THEATRE LIMASSOL FRI 3 JULY MAKARIOS III AMPHITHEATRE NICOSIA Creon, ruler of Thebes, forbids the burial of Polyneices, son of Oedipus, because he attacked Thebes. Whoever disregards his decree will be punished by death. Antigone convinced that divine law is above human law defies Creon’s decree and gives Polyneices’ dead body formal interment. CANTIERI TEATRALI KOREJA, ITALY LA PASSIONE DELLE TROIANE AFTER EURIPIDES TUE 7 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON WED 8 JULY MAKARIOS III AMPHITHEATRE NICOSIA Idea and project: Salvatore Tramacere Direction: Mario Gas Cast: Podeidon: Eduardo Mac Gregor Athena: Ángel Pavlovsky Hecabe: Gloria Muñoz Taltibius: Ricardo Moya Cassandra: Anna Ycobalzeta Andromache: Mia Esteve Astyanax: Luis Jiménez Helen: Clara Sanchis Menelaus: Antonio Valero Chorus: Yaël Belicha, María Cirici, Judith Esteban, Raquel Gribler, Lara Grube, Angels Jiménez, Silvia Martí, Rosa Martín, Mélida Molina, Anabel Moreno, Montse Morillo, Manuela Romero, Marisa Segovia y Macarena Vargas Singers: Javier Cruz, Alberto Antonio Trejo, Álvaro Jiménez, Jaime Fuentes del Río, Juan Álvarez, Jesús Galán, Aitor Miguens y Pablo Menasanch de Tobaruela A room. A dead man. Crying women stress the memory of him; the memory of a missing is the echo in their crying, only in their crying that memory has a sense. The choir makes possibile the creation of sounds and atmospheres which take our mind to so distant, so close places where feelings, voices, words come out together with actions and images. Live music is composed by the same musicians on stage, interpreters of the musical part which is on the same level of texts and actions. So musicians, singers and actors become protagonists of a performance between theatre and music, between concert and theatre performance. And it is extraordinary natural, at the end, finding ourselves coming back to the essence: the human pain of a mother and the sacrifice of the beloved son’s innocence, a tragedy. THESSALIAN THEATRE, GREECE THE LIBATION BEARERS BY AESCHYLUS WED 8 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON THURS 9 JULY CURIUM ANCIENT THEATRE LIMASSOL FRI 10 JULY MAKARIOS III AMPHITHEATRE NICOSIA Translation: Costas Tsianos Director: Costas Tsianos Sets – Costumes: Ioanna Papantoniou Music: Dionysis Tsaknis Choreography: Costas Tsianos Music Instruction: Apostolos Psychramis Assistant Director: Spyros Avgoustatos Electra – Clytaemnestra: Lydia Koniordou Orestes: Nicos Psaras Pylades: Dimitris Kalantzis Cilissa, Orestes’ old nurse: Eleni Ouzounidou Supplicant: Thanasis Chalkias Aegisthus: George Stamos Leader Musician: George Deligiannis Percussions: Giannis Papagiannoulis Orestes and Pylades return to Argos after Agamemnon’s assassination. As he secretly offers libations at his father’s grave, asking for his assistance for his revenge, Electra and the Chorus arrive to ask her father’s assistance as well. As she sees the signs on the grave she suspects that Orestes is there and indeed he appears and they recognize each other. Brother and sister together with the Chorus and then one by one weep for their misfortunes and plea Agamemnon’s spirit for help. They lay out the plan of their revenge and they execute it: they enter the palace, announcing Orestes’ supposed death to Clytemnestra and she calls for Aegisthus. Orestes kills him and then comes face to face with his mother. He hesitates to kill his own mother but after Pylades’ urging he murders her. He then dresses as a supplicant and starts out for the Oracle to conjure the blood from his hands, while the Furies are hunting him. NATIONAL THEATRE MARIN SORESCU CRAIOVA, ROMANIA MEDEA BY EURIPIDES SAT 11 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON SUN 12 JULY CURIUM ANCIENT THEATRE LIMASSOL MON 13 JULY MAKARIOS III AMPHITHEATRE NICOSIA Director: Yiannis Paraskevopoulos Assistant Directors: Mirela Cioabă, Ştefan Cepoi Design: Lia Dogaru Musical Selection: Kosmas Efremides Stage Manager: George Dulămea Prompter: Bogdana Dumitriu Lights: Dodu Ispas, Valentin Maioru, Stefanita Rezeanu, Vilica Ruiu Sound: Sorin Gruia Cast: Medea : Cerasela Iosifescu Creon : Valentin Mihali Jason : Sorin Leoveanu Nurse : Geni Macsim Tutor : Adrian Andone Messengers : Cătălin Băicus, Cosmin Rădescu Aegeus : Dragos Măcesanu Chorus : Gina Călinoiu, Anca Dinu, Corina Druc, Romanita Ionescu, Iulia Lazăr, Adela Minae, Haricleea Nicolau, Raluca Păun, Petra Zurba, Ramona Drăgulescu Medea’s sons : Camen Alexandru, Guran Emi Medea, daughter of Aietes, king of Kolchis, and grand-daughter of the Sun-god, leaves her father and murders her brother to help Jason to take the treasure of her family, the Golden Fleece. To crown all, she has remained a faithful wife to him and has born him two sons. But he betrays her and wrongs her. He decides to abandon her for the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. And as if this was not enough Creon orders her banishment from the country. After an outburst of despair she manages to convince Creon to let her stay in the country till the next day. In vain does Jason try to convince her that what he is doing is for her own good and the good of their children. Now she proceeds deliberately to destroy Jason and all who are connected with him: Creon’s daughter, Creon himself and her two children. And when Jason swears vengeance against her and tries to force the doors of the house, Medea suddenly appears above, borne on a fiery car sent by her grandfather, the Sun-god. THEBAID XII, by Statius, based on Sophocles and Euripides. TUE 14 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON Translation, adaptation and direction: Magdalena Zira Choreography: Machi Lindahl Original Music Composition: George Kolias Set and Costume Design: Maya Aggeli Lighting Design: George Lazoglou This dramatization and narration from Book XII of Statius’ epic poem Thebaid starts on the day after Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, follows part of the plot from Euripides’ Suppliants and finally connects this story with the burial of Polynices by Antigone. Statius elaborates on this well-known myth by adding characters and details, as well as a strong divine presence. His version focuses on the heroic acts of women, which are most often part of the off-stage action in tragedy and rarely seen on stage. Plot Summary: While the Thebans bury their dead after the war with Argos, king Kreon orders that no Argive corpse should receive funeral rites. Polynices is also denied burial, as he is considered a traitor and a foreigner. Upon learning this the Argive widows and mothers of the Seven, corresponding to Euripides’ chorus of suppliants, start a long voyage on foot from Argos to Thebes in order to beg for the bodies to be returned to them. At the moment when the suppliants steer their course towards Athens, Statius focuses on the character of Polynices’ wife, called Argia, thus giving the Euripidean plot a different twist. Separating herself from the troop of women, she decides to head to Thebes alone and bury Polynices herself. Her course will inevitably bring her to a meeting with Antigone, and from that moment on the plots from the two plays merge to bring the Thebaid to a climax and an end. The timeless subject of the rights of foreigners and immigrants, including the right for burial by one’s family, are at the heart of Statius’ treatment of the myth. In this adaptation we used excerpts from Euripides’ Suppliants and Sophocles’ Antigone. CYPRUS THEATRE ORGANIZATION CLOUDS BY ARISTOPHANES THURS 16 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON Translation: K. H. Myris Direction: Varnavas Kyriazis Strepsiades, a simple old countryman married to an aristocratic wife, discovers that he is up to his eyes in debt because of his son, Phedippides, who has been spending lavishly at the race-course. Strepsiades, wishing to get rid of his debts, which he was unable to pay, decides to send his son to Socrates’ School, the ‘Phrontisterion’ to learn the art of sophistic rhetoric so as to enable himself to confute his creditors in court. Pheidippides refuses to go and the old man decides to go himself. He is initiated into the mysteries of the ‘Phrontisterion’ and studies there for a while, until Socrates expels him for his stupidity. After this, he manages to persuade his son to go. At the ‘Phrontisterion’ Pheidippides listens to a debate between the Just and the Unjust Case and in a short time he learns the ways of the latter so well that his father has no doubt that he can now face his creditors effectively. But Pheidippides does not stop here. He chooses to use his new skills to revile his father’s old-fashioned ideas. In the end he gives him a good beating, while using sophistic arguments to justify himself for so doing. The play ends with Strepsiades and his slaves burning the ‘Phrontisterion’. NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE ALCESTIS BY EURIPIDES SAT 25 JULY PAPHOS ANCIENT ODEON MON 27 JULY MAKARIOS III AMPHITHEATRE NICOSIA Adaptation - direction: Thomas Moshopoulos Sets – costumes: Elli Papageorgakopoulou Lighting: Lefteris Pavlopoulos Music: Kornilios Selamsis Movement: Martha Kloukina Video design: Nansy Mpiniadaki, Sebastian Pourfourst Music instruction: Melina Peonidou Assistant Director: Tasos Aggelopoulos Assistant choreographer: Vangelis Telonis Cast: Alcestis: Maria Skoula Admetus: Christos Loulis Heracles: Argiris Xafis Maidservant: Maria Protopapa Pheres: Costas Mperikopoulos Servant: Socrates Patsikas Chorus Ioanna Papa, Anna Kalaitzidou, Eliana Gaitani, Thanos Tokakis, Elias Panagiotakopoulos, Christos Nicolaou, Elina Malama, Daphni David, Vangelis Telonis, Lefteris Vasilakis, Angelos Triantafyllou, Arian Lampent, Vangelis Hatzinikolaou. Solist: Nicos Spanos, Thanasis Deligiannis Musicians: Clarinet: Spyros Tzekos Admetus, King of Pheres, has been offered a gift from God Apollo for his devoutness. Although it is time for him to die he can evade his destiny if someone else accepts to die in his place. Although his old parents deny to die for him, his wife Alcestis offered herself. The play takes place on the day of Alcestis’ descent to the Under World and her return with the help of Heracles.