A modern parable with a strong political tone. A dual work. A continuous hovering between life and death, between game and nightmare, between crushing tragedy and unexpected comedy. Admetus will be saved from death, only if someone else accepts to die in his place. Alcestis, his wife, offers herself as an “exchange”. Her sacrifice unfolds publicly, before the eyes of the citizens, as a premeditated murder – an act that today is inevitably read as a femicide, legitimized by the social and political order. “ALCESTIS” is orchestrated by Dimitris Karantzas as a stage experiment, where music, sound, movement, and the acrobatics of theatrical style interweave organically, creating a fluid, liminal, constantly changing world. The stage space is transformed into a dark field of the subconscious —where everything falters, trying to avoid the fall—, into a guillotine for Alcestis, and finally into a musical instrument of mourning.
Rendering – Direction: Dimitris Karantzas, Dramaturgy Advisor: Gely Kalampaka, Set Design: Konstantinos Skourletis, Costume Design: Ioanna Tsami, Music – Sound Structures: Panagiotis Manouilidis, Movement Direction: Tasos Karachalios, Lighting Design: Eliza Alexandropoulou, Sound Design: Aggelos Kontaxis
Musical Instruction: Melina Paionidou, Production Dramaturg: Eri Kyrgia Assistant Director: Konstantina Kaltsiou, Assistant Lighting Designer: Marietta Pavlaki, Assistant Costume Designer: Dimitra Stavridou
Cast (in alphabetical order): Konstantinos Avarikiotis Pheres, Dimitra Vlagkopoulou Maid, Giorgos Zygouris Heracles, Iro Bezou Alcestis, Giannis Niarros Admetus, Kostas Nikouli Apollo, Aineias Tsamatis Servant, Theodora Tzimou Death
Chorus (in alphabetical order): Antonis Antonopoulos, Elissaios Vlachos, Dimitris Kafkas, Giota Kouitzoglou, Katerina Latta, Ioannis Bastas, Maria Moschouri, Aggelos–Prokopis Nerantzis, Giorgos Skarlatos
Photography – Video: Gely Kalampaka
The National Theatre of Greece is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture
