Theatre posters

And Summer in Athens, and indeed all over Greece, means lots of cultural events. (I’m likely to switch back to coming here in winter in future, as less disruptive for work. And there is a lot less of this in winter.)

And there’s lots of music concerts, like in the Anglosphere.

Unlike in the Anglosphere, theatre is a lot more prominent as a summer outing choice. And not just any theatre: overwhelmingly, it’s canonical Classical Greek plays (in translation of course). You can see why that was taken up in the antiquarian 19th century, but it has persisted: the classical canon is the foundation of theatre practice here, just as Shakespeare is in the Anglosphere—even if most theatres most of the time aren’t staging them.

And in Summer, that means staging Ancient Greek plays in Ancient Greek (and Roman) theatres: Herodes Atticus here in Athens, and Epidaurus down near Argos. It’s just bums on stone seats, after all; it’s not like those ancient theatres will ddddddbe ruined.

Of course, just as with Shakespeare, the text is what it is, and the innovation is in the direction. And the posters.

So, middle row, after the Tiger Lillies: Sophocles’ Electra; the Chainides (nouveau Cretan folk); Panos Vlachos (singer); Roberto Alagna & Aleksandr Kurzak (opera snippets, at the Herodes Atticus). Bottom row: Tsiou (theatre revival of a 2005 movie about a drug addict and his random encounters); a multimedia art installation in Eleusis; Euripides’ Bacchae; and the Rockwave Festival, featuring Robbie Williams and Deep Purple.