This year's Epidaurus Festival at the famous ancient theater opens with "Hippolytus" by Euripides, presented by the National Theatre, on July 7th and 8th 2023, directed by Mrs. Katerina Evangelatos. It features a great team of collaborators and a dynamic troop of 24 actors and four musicians, who will constantly be on stage.
Hippolytus, which was performed at the first ever (unofficial) Epidaurus Festival in 1954, is presented here in a daring production that highlights the brutality of Euripides’ world, the crucial power of passion in our lives, the barrenness of existence, the catastrophic consequences of obduracy, and the transcendence of natural laws and human limits. Mrs. Katerina Evangelatos, distinguished stage director and Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, returns to Epidaurus with a National Theatre of Greece production following Alcestis (2017), a performance which had caused a sensation.
Aphrodite plots a game of revenge and watches, as a voyeur, how humankind turns into a plaything for her whims. We see through her own set of eyes, as the characters are laid bare. The naked bodies are charged with outbursts, desire, lust, but also the innocence of the human race. A directorial perspective that delves into the savage world of Euripides’ play, approaching it as a contemporary nightmare amid a poetic scenery, where characters struggle with their weaknesses and where love is so mad it can’t help but be fatal.
The performance contains nudity and is recommended for ages fifteen and above.
Artists - Contributors
Translated by Kostas Topouzis
Dramaturgy – Adaptation – Directing Katerina Evangelatos
Set design Eva Manidaki
Music Alexandros-Drakos Ktistakis
Video Pantelis Makkas
Choreography Alexander Stavropoulos
Costume design Eva Goulakou
Lighting design Eliza Alexandropoulou
Sound design Kostas Pavlopoulos
Dramaturg Eva Saraga
Musical coaching Melina Paionidou
Assistant to the director Giorgos Braoudakis
Assistant to the set designer Katerina Vlachmpei
Assistant to the costume designer Alexandra-Anastasia Ftouli
Assistant to the lighting designer Lampros Papoulias
Assistant to the video designer Anthi Paraskeva Veloudogianni
Hairstyling Konstantinos Koliousis
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Diamantis Adamantidis Servant, Orestis Chalkias Hippolytus, Kora Karvouni Phaedra, Dimitris Papanikolaou Messenger, Maria Skoula Nurse, Elena Topalidou Aphrodite/Artemis, Giannis Tsortekis Theseus
Chorus of women
Iro Chalkidi, Dafni Kiourktsoglou, Anastasia-Rafaela Konidi, Ioanna Lekka, Amalia Ninou
Chorus of hunters
Diamantis Adiamantidis, Marios Chatziantoni, Nikolas Chatzivasiliadis, Christos Diamantoudis, Konstantinos Georgalis, Nikos Gonidis, Nikos Grigoriadis, Iraklis Kostakis, Marios Kritikopoulos, Alexandros Piechowiak, Melina Polyzoni, Alexandros Tomadakis, Georgios Vassilopoulos
Tips
All performances are played with Greek and English surtitles.
For any inconvenience and delay to be avoided, you are advised to arrive 60 minutes before the performance's starting time.
The theater's car park has plenty of spaces for cars and coaches.
For intercity bus services to the Ancient Theater especially for the performances, see timetables and tickets Here.
Audience buses to and from the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus are available.
Ticketing - Box Office info
Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus - box office operates Monday to Thursday 10:00-14:00 and on performance days (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays) 10:30-21:00.
Τ. +30 210-7234567 (Monday to Sunday 09:00-21:00). Purchase online: aefestival.gr
E-mail: tickets@greekfestival.gr
More information here
Not permitted
Entry into the theatre after the start of a performance, except during an interval.
The attendance of children under the age of six.
Smoking, and the consumption of food and drink inside the theater.
The use of mobile phones during performances.
Entry into the theater in high heels.
Photography, with or without flash, and sound or video recording during a performance.
The tipping of staff.
Did you know that?
Hippolytus was staged for the first time at the National Theatre of Greece in 1937, in a production directed by Dimitris Rondiris, starring Alexis Minotis as Hippolytus and Katina Paxinou as Phaedra. In 1953, Rondiris again directed the play for the NTG, this time at the Herodes Atticus in Athens, with Alekos Alexandrakis as Hippolytus and Elsa Vergi as Phaedra. The production was performed at Epidaurus the following summer, which gave the impetus for the official inauguration of the Epidaurus Festival in 1955, where it was staged once again.
The famous ancient Τheater of Epidaurus is located within the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Asklepios, in the Argolis prefecture of Peloponnese. It is a half-hour drive from Nafplio and approximately two hours from Athens.
