With a fascinating original composition by Giannis Houvardas makes its premiere this year Athens & Epidaurus Festival at Piraeus 260, on Wednesday 1 June 2022 and for a total of seven performances. The Shakespearean “Storm” meets the “Golden Age” Hollywood and the genius creator Orson Welles and the audience is invited to a magical journey into both the world of theater and cinema.
Indeed, the text signed by Giannis Houvardaswith Title “The Other Side of the Storm”transfers the poetry of the original to a mythical, but also close to us environment, a film studio, drawing its inspiration from two swan songs: the last theatrical work of the English playwright, “The Tempest”, which is very often found in Greek as “Storm”, and the last, incomplete film by Orson Welles “The Other Side of the Wind”.
“Wales and Shakespeare are related names”, notes Giannis Houvardas. «Wells worked extensively on Shakespeare, directing his plays in theater and film. Shakespeare wrote this divine work, his Storm, which in its theme, plot and characters is, in many respects, surprisingly identified with the life and work of Wells. It was fatal that one day this kinship would give birth to an illegitimate, but with a special personality, child».
The whole play, after all, is a spectacular mix of theater and cinema, with a brilliant ensemble of actors from all generations of Greek theater – Pygmalion Dadakaridis, Hector Lygizos, Aris Balis, Eleni Boukli, Alexandros Mylonas, Alexandros Mylonas, , Dimitris Passas, Dimitris Piatas, Alkistis Poulopoulou, Haris Frangoulis and the veteran Giannis Vogiatzis.
Prospero’s world, his “magic island”, is also Orson Welles’s world. The rest of Shakespeare’s characters, however, refer to recognizable legendary Hollywood movie characters – from Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart, to the duo Thick and Lignos, but also Vincent Price, Pierre Lorret, and Peter Pierre Lerick. Ginger Rogers. All kinds of contemporary cinema (noir, romantic comedy, horror, musical, etc.) also pass through the show.
Magic is a central theme in “Storm”, as it is the element that binds the plot. Her denial is linked to Shakespeare’s withdrawal from theatrical writing. Magic, however, is another element that connects Shakespeare’s swan song with the life and work of the magician, among his other qualities, Orson Welles, emitting an aura of matter that struggles to become a spirit.
The reality of the theater and its illusions, as well as the moments captured by the camera, are intertwined with real life in a play / performance that leaves the poet wondering if magic is ultimately the material from which dreams are made.
A few words about Shakespeare’s “Storm”
Prospero, Duke of Milan, engaged in mystical studies, loses his throne as his brother Antonio, with the help of King Alonso of Naples, usurps his property and power. So he ends up on a desert island with his little daughter, Miranda. Twelve years later, Prospero has evolved into a great magician, who controls elements of nature and elves, such as the good spirit ‘Ariel. With them on the island and servant of Prospero and Miranda, the native Caliban.
However, fate favors Prospero and those who conspired against him for the throne of Milan will be shipwrecked on his island after a severe storm caused by himself with his magical powers. There they are seduced by the illusions it causes them, until they discover that the reason they are tortured is because they wronged Prosperos in the past, to whom they now want to return the Duchy to forgive them. Meanwhile, Miranda is engaged to Ferdinando, Alonso’s son, and Prospero will return as Duke to Milan, after first denouncing the high art of magic and freeing Ariel.
Shakespeare’s meeting with Wells is not new. During his artistic career, the latter confronts Shakespeare several times, either as a director or as an actor, starring among others in the film “Macbeth” (1947), but also in the theatrical “Othello” (London, 1951) and in “King Lear” (New York, 1956).
“The Other Side of the Wind” is his last film, which began shooting in 1970 and was never completed until 1985, when the director died. Instead it was sealed thanks to a Welsh dispute with its sponsors until 2018 when Netflix bought the rights and released the film along with a documentary about Welsh life entitled “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”.
The online presale of tickets it has started. Ticket prices: from 5 to 30 euros. Buy tickets: aefestival.gr, viva.gr and public.gr.
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