Two women's monologues inspired by ancient drama and signed by contemporary Greek writers Yannis Palavos and Aris Alexandris will be presented as part of the Contemporary Ancients Cycle, directed by Yannis Skourletis. The monologues, commissioned by the festival, draw freely from ancient myths and reveal contemporary aspects of them in original works.
Yannis Palavos, author of the short story collections "Funny" (State Short Story Prize 2013) and "The Child" (2019), draws on "Oedipus at Colonus" to examine the archetypal father-daughter relationship through the monologue of a woman who sketches the portrait of her father, a wandering folk organist in the Greek countryside, persecuted and persecuted like the reference hero, with her as his only support.
Aris Alexandris, winner of the 2023 State Prize for Emerging Writers for his novel "How Ignatius Karathodoris Lost Everything", draws inspiration from Lysistrata to create a monologue that examines the decline of sex in the age of digital media and a new, idiosyncratic war using the human body as a battlefield.
In "Right of the Cove", based on Sophocles' "Oedipus at Colonus", Yannis Palavos tells the story of a father and daughter. The father, a folk organist, wanders helplessly, persecuted, with only his daughter to support him. A year after his death, the daughter holds an informal memorial service in his memory, tracing the story of his life.
As part of the Athens - Epidaurus Festival 2025.
