The production of ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus’ tragedy ‘Iketides’ is set to star in Greece with a series of performances organised all across the country that will conclude in Athens.
The tragedy is being presented this summer by the Art Theatre “Karolos Koun” and the Neos Kosmos Theatre under the direction of Marianna Kalbari, and it has already had major success after a packed-out production at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.
The play marked its return to Epidaurus 60 years on from its first production at the famous site with performances on 23 and 24 August as part of the 2024 Athens Epidaurus Festival, with further shows organised for Thessaloniki, Lycabettus and Athens.
The show explores the deep roots of patriarchy and how it has defined the position of women in society from ancient times to present day.
The performances organised at Lycabettus (Λυκαβηττός) on 31 August and at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Ηρώδειο) in Athens on 12 September have almost completely sold out, with the pre-sale now open for the remaining shows of the tour.
In the performances of Epidaurus, Lycabettus and Herodeion, Marina Satti appears as a soloist, together with the choristers from her own female choir CHÓRES, who take part in the impressive fifty-member group.
“Iketides” is famous for being the only surviving work from Aeschylus’ Danaid Tetralogy, with the other works all being lost.
The play centres around the fifty daughters of Danaus (the Danaids) who, together with their father, seek asylum in Argos – the place their ancestor Io once abandoned – to escape a forced marriage to their cousins, the fifty sons of Egypt.
It poses the question of the identity and position of women in society, while simultaneously chronicling the migration and the predominance of the Greeks in the land of the Pelasgians, the so-called “Pre-Greeks”.
“Iketides” talks about the needs that lead people to uprooted from their land, the brutal fate of the refugee, the value of justice, the principles of democracy but, above all, it speaks to women’s struggle against the patriarchy.
Reintroducing the play to audiences, the show talks about coming of age and every human’s longing for freedom and justice, touching on issues relevant today like refugees and gender violence.
The shows in Athens will be held up in September at Papagou (1-2/9), Veakio Theatre in Piraeus 3/9, Petras Theatre (4/9), Lavrio (6/9), Illioupoli (8-9/9), Nikaia (10/9), Petra Theatre (Θέατρο Βράχων, 13/9), Vrilissia (14/9) and Chalandri (18/9).
