With two long-awaited events, the curtain opens on this year’s Epidavria. At July 7 and 8 at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus will be presented “Hippolytus” by Euripides directed by Katerina Evagelatos, with Orestis Chalkias in the title role, while on July 8, one of the greatest and most beloved Greek artists, Psarantonis, will be at the Little Theater of Ancient Epidaurus for a unique concert.

“Hippolytos”, who informally inaugurated the Epidaurion institution in 1954, rises here in a bold performance from the National Theater with a dynamic 24-member troupe of actors and musicians (Kora Karvounis, Dimitris Papanikolaou, Maria Skoulas, Elena Topalidou, Yiannis Tsortekis, etc. .a.) which highlights the wild universe of Euripides’ work, the catalytic power of passion in people’s lives, the nakedness of existence, the destructive consequences of intransigence but also the transgression of natural laws and human limits.

Hippolytus, illegitimate son of Theseus and faithful follower of Artemis, is obsessed with chastity, devalues ​​love, insults the female sex. The goddess of love, Aphrodite, wanting revenge on him for disrespecting her, organizes a plan to exterminate him, inspiring intense love for him in his stepmother Phaedra. The show focuses on the figure of Aphrodite who sets up a game of revenge and watches with a voyeuristic eye as the human species becomes the gateway to her desires.

“Who is to blame for the tragedy?” Euripides seems to be wondering. “God or man?” In Euripides’ hands the mythic motif of a woman’s sexual desire for a younger man is elevated to an inexorable conflict between human will and divine power. At the core of this dilemma dives the direction of Katerina Evagelatos who accurately and sensitively explores all the dipoles, thus highlighting the complexity of the psychological and moral issues that are touched upon. On one hand temperance and on the other lust, on one hand the sacred and on the other the profane, on the one hand revenge and on the other sacrifice, on the one hand speech and on the other silence.

The setting of the show, a swampy dystopian landscape of grassy plants and water, reflects the desolation of human existence. In the performance, Aphrodite holding a camera, and amidst evocative music, films and broadcasts live in monoplane all the action, presenting aspects and details to the audience without editing. The troupe moves across the length of the ancient theater, in, around and behind the orchestra, between dream and reality, tracing the obstacle course between purity and lust, ignorance and knowledge, between the very fall of man and his atonement.

Hippolytus was presented for the first time at the National Theater in 1937, directed by Dimitris Rodiris, with Alexis Minotis as Hippolytus and Katina Paxinou as Phaedra. In 1953, it was staged again by the National Theater at the Herodes of Atticus Conservatory, again directed by Dimitris Rodiris, and the following summer in Epidaurus, with Hippolytus by Alekos Alexandrakis and Phaedra by Elsa Vergis, informally inaugurating the institution of the Epidaurians that the following year ( 1955) was officially established with the same performance.

The “first lyre player of Greece” in a unique concert

The “first lyre player of Greece”, as Manos Hadjidakis has characterized him, this year at the age of 85 will take the Festival audience on a journey to his special musical universe.

Born in Anogeia, Crete in 1942, Psarantonis (Antonis Xylouris) was only 5 years old when he first held in his hands the lyre of his older brother, the legendary Nikos Xylouris. Before turning 13, he started playing at a Cretan festival, while his first record was completed in 1974.

“I’ve been playing the lyre since I was a little kid. I was listening to my brother, Nikos, and learning. I learned to read notes, but music is in the heart. Music is an emotion,” he says.

Psarantonis decided to take his own artistic path and through a journey of about 60 years, he managed to become a living legend, enriching the Cretan, Mediterranean and world cultural heritage with his music. Eerie, timeless and deeply grounded in every concert, he enchants with his unparalleled skill in the Cretan lyre and shocks with his interpretation. Whether it’s small music stages or international festivals, Psarantoni’s performances are mystifying experiences for the public.

Psarantonis, as a deep connoisseur and lover of tradition, with his special ability to improvise, comes to bring myths to life and narrate primordial and at the same time modern stories. To revive the primordial sound of Crete and create a new tradition. He describes in a few words his relationship with music and the role it plays in his life: “I am captivated by music. It is something magical and powerful. I can’t do without music. He’s a partner. I have her company. It takes me to infinity.”

Ticket information: http://aefestival.gr/plirofories-eisitirion/