Romanian production opens festival of Ancient Greek drama

This month the International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama returns for its new edition. Four productions will be presented in July and August at outdoor theatre venues around the island, bringing acclaimed contemporary productions of Greek tragedies. Opening the 2024 festival is the Euripidean tragedy, Orestes by Romania’s Tony Bulandra Theatre.

Directed by Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, this production focuses on the core element of suspension, where the heroes are constantly caught between two circumstances, two situations, two decisions. Audiences will first get to watch it on July 19 when the festival begins at Paphos Ancient Odeon and then at Nicosia’s Makarios III Amphitheatre on July 21.

The performance’s premise takes place after the murder of Orestes’ mother, Clytemnestra. Hunted by the Furies and condemned to death by the city, Orestes languishes, like a sick savage on a mattress, with Electra at his side. When their uncle Menelaus returns to Argos from Troy, accompanied by Helen, the two siblings hope that he will intervene and persuade the City to overturn the death sentence that has been passed on his nephew.

However, neither Menelaus nor their grandfather, Tyndareus, intend to help them. Orestes then turns to Pylades, who proves his strong friendship by deciding to support him at the risk of his life. The two young men, with the assistance of Electra, set in motion a plan of revenge with Helen and her daughter Hermione as victims, which seems to lead them deeper and deeper into a vicious cycle of violence and blood. Trapped in their actions, they desperately try to save themselves. The final solution comes from the intervention of Apollo as deus ex machina.

Euripides deals with the myth previously dramatised by Aeschylus in Eumenides bringing the myth closer to human standards and raising questions about the relations of generations, genders, social cohesion and the survival of the young in a world defined by insecurity and uncertainty.

Up next will be a National Theatre of Northern Greece production presenting Plutus by Aristophanes at the Curium Ancient Theatre on July 26 and 27. Then the National Theatre of Greece will bring Aeschylus’ Oresteia to the spotlight, again at Curium on August 2 and 3. The final production will be another National Theatre of Greece performance, this time presenting The Bacchae by Euripides on August 9 and 10 at Curium.

International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama

Four productions of Greek drama. July 19-August 10. Ancient Odeon, Paphos, Makarios III Amphitheatre, Nicosia and Curium Ancient Theatre, Limassol. 9pm. €12. With Greek and English surtitles. Tel: 7000-2414, www.greekdramafest.com