Written by The Great Dionysian Festival starts on 31st July at Theatro Technis
Reviving the ancient tradition of Dionysian Festival to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics
The concept for “The Great Dionysian Festival in London” came to Theatro Technis’ founder George Eugeniou when London was pronounced the Host City of the Olympics 2012. Since then Theatro Technis has been reviving the five surviving plays in the Oedipus Saga: Oedipus King, Oedipus at Colonus (translated by Don Taylor) and Antigone by Sophocles (adapted by Theatro Technis), Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus and The Phoenician Women by Euripides (both translated by Philip Vellacott) with the goal of presenting them all on stage during the London Olympics 2012.
“In ancient times, the Olympic Games were did not only consist of athletics “ says George Eugeniou, “but they also included dramatic works of writers of the calibre of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes and Theatro Technis would like to remind the world of this.”
The Dionysian festival was held during the Olympic Games in ancient Greece and was considered a vital part of the Olympics. At that time, the contest of Dramatic Works was equally important to the athletic competition. Writers were invited to participate with a trilogy to compete with each other. The audience voted for the first, second and third best trilogy.
During the two weeks of the festival, Theatro Technis will perform the five surviving plays from the three great writers. On Saturdays a theatrical marathon will premier. The cycle of five plays will be shown one after the other from 12:00 am. This truly unique event has never been achieved in modern times.
25 actors will start the festival on Tuesday, 31st of July with Oedipus the King, followed by Oedipus at Colonus on Wednesday, 1st of August, and Seven Against Thebes on Thursday the 2nd of August. Friday the 3rd of August will be dedicated to the Phoenician Women. On Saturday 4th August the theatrical marathon will take place. The last play of the day will be Antigone 2012 related to the current situation in Greece.
Performances will be repeated in the same order the following week from Tuesday the 7th of August until Saturday, the 11th of August.
During the Marathon the true Dionysian spirit will be celebrated with wine and food and the audience will have the chance to vote for the best writer, as was the tradition in ancient times.
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