EPIDAURUS LYCEUM
International Summer School of Ancient Drama
Theme 2019: Reinventing Ancient Drama on the contemporary stage
July 2- 16, 2019
From neoclassical drama and opera in the era of the Italian Renaissance and the proliferation of ancient mythological narratives in European painting and sculpture to contemporary post-dramatic literature and the stage deconstruction of ancient dramaturgy, the reinvention of ancient drama, both as a literary genre and as a type of performance, has assumed many different forms.
Dating from the 5th century BC, ancient Greek tragedies and comedies were still performed throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods, although they eventually gave way to other forms of popular entertainment. The plays were revived centuries later, during the Renaissance and in the first half of the 19th century, as restored examples of ancient Greek theatre. However, it remained unknown how they were performed in antiquity. In fact, ancient Greek drama was rarely performed until WWII. The plays were treated mostly as material for scholarly research, reflecting ancient Greeks’ way of thinking and living, rather than as actual plays to be performed. Researchers used to focus on how these texts echoed the philosophical, ideological and political content of the time in which they were written.
The treatment of ancient drama as a contemporary performative form has only come about in the last 60 years or so. This treatment focused on how ancient drama could still be performed today, appealing to contemporary audiences while still retaining the genre’s style, ethics and political content, at the same time foregrounding critical questions such as: What is the relationship between the self and the world? Who am I now? Is the question always the same?
It is within this framework that Epidaurus Lyceum lays the groundwork for performers who wish to learn and experientially practice the techniques and knowledge reflecting the interaction of ancient Greek drama as a living form of art with multiple other fields (visual arts, cinema, literature) through the centuries, and how these fields have contributed to its reinvention.
Georgina Kakoudaki, theatre theorist, theatre director, Head of Epidaurus Lyceum
2019 PROGRAMME
Practical Workshops
Lectures/ Masterclasses / Theory Workshops
EPIDAURUS LYCEUM PROGRAMME 2019
PRACTICAL WORKSHOPS (On a daily basis, for Epidaurus Lyceum students only)
- Impossible Antigone – Insane Agave: Approaching them through physical theatre (1st week) with Kamila Klamut, actress, co-founder of Teatr ZAR, Grotowski Institute collaborator
The messenger: From ancient drama to contemporary theatre (2nd week) with Andrea De Rosa, theatre director
- Musical body with Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, composer and collaborator of Ariane Mnouchkine’s Théâtre du Soleil
- The tragic messenger with Christiane Pohle, theatre director and head of programme of the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Wuerttemberg
- Emotions and catharsis: Transforming the contemporary performer’s body with Sine Qua Non ART (Christophe Béranger & Jonathan Pranlas-Descours), dancers, choreographer
- Biomechanics and the emotional gesture in ancient drama: The case of Medea with Maria Shmaevich, actress, director and David Malteze, actor
- The musical rendition of political texts: The case of Aristophanes with Vangelis Theodoropoulos, theatre director, Anastasis Sarakatsanos, composer, music professor and Cecil Μikroutsikou, dancer, choreographer
- Greek tragedy through the eyes of Japanese dance with Japanese dance master, Ichinosuke Umekawa
- Τhe Chorus: The Schiera method and actors’ singing with Gabriele Vacis, theatre director and playwright
ENSEMBLE WORKSHOP (On a daily basis, for Epidaurus Lyceum students only)
Kommos with Sine Qua Non ART (Christophe Béranger & Jonathan Pranlas-Descours), dancers, choreographer
LECTURES / MASTERCLASSES / EVENTS*
FRIDAY JULY 5, 17:30 – 18:30
LYGOURIO HIGH SCHOOL INDOORS BASKETBALL COURT
Stathis Livathinos, theatre director
Q&A on the performance of The Suppliants
SATURDAY JULY 6, 17:30 – 20:30
LYGOURIO CULTURAL CENTRE
Piotr Gruszczyński, dramaturg
Krzysztof Warlikowski, theatre director
A Q&A discussion on their artistic work on ancient drama
MONDAY JULY 8, 17:00 – 20:30
LYGOURIO CULTURAL CENTRE
Georgina Kakoudaki, theatre theorist, director, Head of Epidaurus Lyceum
Chorus: All as one, one for all
Efimia Karakantza, Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature, University of Patras
Revisiting the limits of the tragic discourse in modernity and postmodernity. The adventures of Antigone
WEDNESDAY JULY 10, 10:00 – 12:00**
Maria Mikedaki, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre Studies, University of the Peloponnese
Drama therapy at the Sanctuary of Asclepios in Epidaurus
**For Epidaurus Lyceum students only
FRIDAY JULY 12, 19:00 – 21:00
ANCIENT EPIDAURUS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Anna Tsichli-Boissonnas, theatre director, theatre practitioner, member of the Specialised and Teaching Staff of the Department of Theatre Studies, University of the Peloponnese
Woman and violence: from ancient myths to physical theatre performances
SATURDAY JULY 13, 18:00 – 20:00
ANCIENT EPIDAURUS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
George Sampatakakis, Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre Studies, University of Patras
The ghosts of Epidaurus : Nationisms, ethno-symbolisms and national phobias
SUNDAY JULY 14, 15:00 – 16:00
LYGOURIO HIGH SCHOOL INDOORS BASKETBALL COURT
Konstantinos Markoulakis, theatre director
Q&A on the performance of Oedipus Rex
**For Epidaurus Lyceum students only
*Evening lectures, theory workshops and masterclasses are open to the public and will be conducted in English.
PERFORMANCES
Ichinosuke Umekawa
Oedipus Rex – A Japanese perspective
TUESDAY JULY 2 – LYGOURIO HIGH SCHOOL INDOORS BASKETBALL COURT – 22:00
Τhrough minimal movement and agility, Nihon buyō, a Japanese classical dance with 400 years of history, can move and touch audiences profoundly, as performers can portray female characters, animals or any other part, displaying seasonality, a sense of time, and inner feeling. The less information one has and fewer unnecessary moves one makes, the more room one has for imagination, opening up infinite possibilities for depth of expression. The archetypal Greek myth of Oedipus and the inner beauty of Nihon buyō and Japan itself will produce an intercultural stage effect of content and form
FREE ADMISSION
Enrico Bonavera & Francesco Origo
Arlecchin dell’onda & BLU
SATURDAY JULY 13 – PORT OF ANCIENT EPIDAURUS – 22:30
A theatre company of sailing rhapsodes who fare along the same ancient commercial routes, but have replaced the silk and spices of the old Mediterranean merchants with fantastic stories, myths and legends. The boat docks and offloads its goods, gathered together, or dreamed of during its journeys: old tales which become contemporary, and present-day stories with a quaint flavour. The boat itself becomes a mythical ‘place’, stage and ‘bartering counter’ at the same time: it sails wandering over the waves, sliding through the dense fibre of time. Here the audience becomes part of the show, which takes place on the boat and the quay, where an ancient sailor’s soup gets cooked, and two servants of Dionysus give out inebriating goblets of wine. Vakhtangov used to say “rid theatre of theatre”, and go back to a narration which is both accessible and recognisable. Arlecchin dell’onda and BLU are made of those elements of traditional Italian and Mediterranean theatre that used to belong to the people, able as it was to turn an outright lie into magic.
FREE ADMISSION
With the support of the Municipality of Epidaurus, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Atene and the Italian Ministry of Culture
Epidaurus Lyceum front stage
Since its inauguration in 2017, the Epidaurus Lyceum – International summer school of ancient drama has brought together over 600 young artists and renowned teachers and scholars from all over the world in Epidaurus, the location of the best-preserved theatre of the ancient Greek world.
It was in this very theatre that the Epidaurus Festival was launched in 1954, marking a more systematic approach to the staging of ancient drama in the 20th century and inspiring theatre professionals to visit and perform at this space of unique vibe and natural beauty.
A long-standing need to connect the artistic process in Epidaurus with education and research in the discipline of performing arts gave birth to the Epidaurus Lyceum, an original idea of Vangelis Theodoropoulos, artistic director of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, thus creating a ‘triangle’ between the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus, where more experimental performances of ancient drama take place, and the Epidaurus Lyceum educational programme.
The first three-year cycle of the curriculum of the Epidaurus Lyceum was inspired by complementary thematic axes. In 2017, with “The Arrival of the Outsider”, we explored the ritual and religious origins of ancient drama. In 2018, with the “City (Polis) and the Citizen”, we looked into how ancient drama emerged and developed within the context of democracy.
In 2019, we conclude our first three-year cycle with “Reinventing ancient drama on the contemporary stage”, examining how this form of art has developed through the centuries and interacted with other forms and how this interaction has contributed to its reinvention on today’s theatre stage.
During these three years, the Epidaurus Lyceum has explored the relationship between the contemporary theatre world and ancient drama: where it comes from, what it means and how traditional and contemporary acting and movement techniques can help us approach and understand its multiple readings.
The Lyceum’s main goal is to open up a discussion on how ancient drama can be staged by revisiting a wide range of acting techniques and discussing 20th-century aesthetic approaches to the genre. This dialogue provides artists who are usually confined to preconceived ideas of ‘dos and don’ts’ with creative freedom and a more optimistic and less dogmatic approach to ancient drama. The programme is a multicultural platform of ideas, a democratic vessel of artistic narration that stands as a source of inspiration, expanding the ways in which we deal with ancient drama, resist dominant trends and acquire invaluable expertise and knowledge.
The Epidaurus Lyceum experience allows our students to understand ancient drama, both as artists and as audience members, working with archetypal performative forms ranging from the Indian martial art kalarippayattu and the Khon traditional Thai dance to the Chinese practice of Tai Chi and the Japanese Kabuki theatre. The Mediterranean basin, a hub of ancient civilisations, is also a useful source where traditional Greek dances or acting techniques like Commedia dell’arte, which encapsulates elements of the Greco- Roman art and civilisation, offer a better understanding of how the past has survived all the way to the present. A variety of acting approaches including method acting, biomechanics, post-dramatic performances, director-driven methods like those of Suzuki and Grotowski, or other, more distinctive, like Sanjoy Ganguly’s community theatre, offer students an opportunity to explore these techniques in the open space and use them for their own benefit as contemporary performers. Finally, a programme of lectures, masterclasses and theory workshops, supporting the practical work, enriches students’ perception of the programme’s content and goals.
Our young artists have shared a remarkable communal experience in nature, where the private becomes public, a whisper is transformed into a scream, all that is small is also grand, and the starry sky turns into theatre roof and lights. In just 15 days, we ‘ve seen them grow, rediscover their limits, strengthen their creative abilities, gain knowledge that they can fully utilise as future professionals, stand barefoot next to the ancient ruins, sweat under the summer sun, dance together amidst clouds of soil.
Epidaurus Lyceum has laid the foundation for a well-needed artistic dialogue with ancient drama, this rare cultural asset and unique treasure of human thinking, placing it front stage.
Georgina Kakoudaki, Head of Epidaurus Lyceum