SUPPLIANTS to Start Summer Tour at Epidaurus Ancient Theatre

Euripides' The Suppliants will begin its 2019 Summer tour at Epidaurus Ancient Theatre July 5-6.

Two national theatres, the National Theatre of Greece and the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, join forces to stage an iconic play - a tragedy about war and its dead, but also about existential angst, dignity, faith and endurance - in a new translation by the poet Giorgos Koropoulis.

Forty-three years after the National Theatre of Greece's only production of The Suppliants, directed by Takis Mouzenidis, and 29 years since the Cyprus Theatre Organisation's first production at Epidaurus, directed by Nikos Charalampous, the play is brought to Epidaurus by the Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Stathis Livathinos, in a collaboration between artists from both countries.

Written in 422 BCE, the tragedy is a clear echo of the Battle of Delium, which had taken place two years earlier.

At the beginning of the play, grieving mothers are praying at the altar of Demeter for their late Argive soldier sons. They ask the Athenian king, Theseus, to make the Thebans relinquish the dead so that they can be buried.

As Theseus is sending a message to the king of Thebes, Creon, a messenger comes to tell Theseus that Creon is requesting the expulsion of Adrastus, the king of Argus, as well as the mothers. If Theseus does not follow through, Thebes will attack Athens.

Suppliants features: Katia Dandoulaki as "Aethra," Akis Sakellariou as "Theseus," Christos Sougaris as "Adrastus," Haris Charalambous as "Herald," Andreas Tselepos as "Messenger," Katerina Loura as "Evadne," and Thodoros Katsafados as "Iphis."

For tickets and more information, tap here.