{"id":1627,"date":"2017-05-07T12:30:52","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T12:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2017-05-07T12:30:52","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T12:30:52","slug":"aristophanes-through-lysistrata-the-ancient-greek-comedy-on-the-modern-greek-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=1627&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Aristophanes through Lysistrata: the ancient greek comedy on the modern greek stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

N<\/span>otwithstanding the unquestionable popularity of the hybrid and liminal Plutus<\/em> for the survival and revival of Aristophanes in Greece and throughout the world,[1]<\/a> it was another Aristophanic comedy that became associated with the most important and the most profound social, aesthetic and ideological turning points in the reception of Aristophanes by the modern Greek scene up to the present day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

The play in question is Lysistrata<\/em> of 411 BC, a typical \u201cpolitical comedy\u201d of the classical era largely neglected in the scriptorial, publishing and theatrical tradition,[2]<\/a> but also the one which has enjoyed the widest \u2013and continuously increasing\u2013 international appeal since the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century, as women\u2019s emancipation has been constantly gaining ground in a world still ravaged by wars, civil or otherwise. [3]<\/a> If in the politically correct Plutus<\/em> Aristophanes \u201cbecame the most productive and adaptable personality of the classical and recent Greek heritage\u201d [4]<\/a>, in the unorthodox Lysistrata<\/em> \u2013in which profanity, contemporary political satire, and gender relations and reversals abound\u2013 the comic poet tested the adaptability and resilience of his specific idiom in different historical and theatrical settings, inviting artists from every age to give their own answers \u2013well-grounded or not, but always dynamic\u2013 to the challenging questions that recur in the treatment of his work and of its component parts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u0391<\/strong>ristophanes\u2019 exclusion and post-war total recall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Already in the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century the interest of critics and the broad audience was focused on the male-dominated performances of Assemby women<\/em> in the Nea Skini (New Scene) of Constantinos Christomanos (August 1904) and of Lysistrata<\/em> in the Municipal Theatre of Athens (January 1905), both translated by Polyvios Dimitrakopoulos. These performances pushed in new aesthetic and ideological directions the profanity and the convention of all-male casting which had been reintroduced to the theatrical stage in the name of \u201cauthenticity\u201d and \u201cfidelity\u201d to the code of ancient comedy by The Clouds <\/em>that were successfully staged in 1900, translated and directed by Georgios Souris.[5]<\/a> Shortly afterwards, the Athenian and the wider Greek male audience would be increasingly attracted to these \u2013\u201cstrictly unsuitable for married women and young ladies\u201d\u2013 Aristophanic performances, always translated by the popular theatrical writer, novelist, publisher and journalist Polyvios Dimitrakopoulos. Since the start of the 1920s ancient comedy, centred almost exclusively around Lysistrata<\/em> (nine performances from 1923 to 1934),[6]<\/a> would reach new peaks of popularity thanks to the \u201cmimics\u201d or \u201ctransformers\u201d (metamorphotes<\/em>), a special category of male actors with feminine looks and an inclination to cross-dressing, [7]<\/a> who did not just perpetuate the male-dominated settings of production for many years, but also advanced an eminently sexist and antifeminist discourse that reinforced gender stereotypes and combatted the nascent women\u2019s movement in Greece in the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Apart from a few mixed-gender attempts (on both the stage and the auditorium) for an artistic and moral rehabilitation of Aristophanes, whose appeal was far more limited than that of the contemporary \u201ccross-dressed\u201d performances, Aristophanes would remain \u2013precisely due to the above-mentioned highly popular performances\u2013 banished from the official literary and theatrical \u201ccanon\u201d throughout the interwar period until the Greek recovery after the Second World War and the project of Europeanisation that began after the Truman Doctrine of 1947 and the Marshal Plan. The two monumental \u2013both literally and metaphorically\u2013 theatrical venues and institutions that were activated in the 1950s, the Festival of Ancient Drama in the Epidaurus Ancient Theatre and the Athens International Festival in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, would be inextricably associated with Aristophanes and with Alexis Solomos. The latter directed the Assembly women<\/em> in the Athens Festival of 1956 (the first performance of an ancient comedy by the National Theatre in an open-air ancient site) and Lysistrata<\/em> in the Athens Festival of the following year (the first performance of an ancient comedy in the Epidaurus ancient theatre), both in polished translations free from profanity by Thasyvoulos Stavros. These two acts of \u201cconsecration\u201d cleared the way for an enduring revival of ancient Attic comedy and henceforth defined the comic \u201ccanon\u201d of the National Theatre[9]<\/a> which aspired to a new use of Aristophanic comedy for popular consumption and entertainment, combining the old, indispensable ideology of \u201cHellenism\u201d with the more recently forged ideology of the \u201cEuropean identity\u201d of modern Greeks.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

At exactly the same time as the first performance of Lysistrata<\/em> by the National Theatre, Karolos Koun, after fifteen years of work in the Art Theatre, turned his attention to Aristophanes for the first time in his \u201cprofessional\u201d theatrical career and staged Plutus<\/em>, [11]<\/a> officially articulating the principles of his aesthetic approach to ancient drama: a minimally representational and heterogeneous conjunction of traditional, folk and ethnic (figurative, musical, vocal, choreographic and dramatic) elements, \u201cbeyond extinct forms, historiographical illustrations and classicist calligraphies\u201d, enacted with a view to \u201crestoring ancient comedy as integral theatre\u201d that is capable of communicating with the contemporary audience.[12]<\/a> If the Plutus<\/em> of 1957 established the \u201cpopular-expressionist\u201d Aristophanic idiom of the Art Theatre, the choice of Lysistrata<\/em> in 1969[13]<\/a> succeeded in amplifying and expanding the divergence between the \u201cKoun school\u201d and the \u201cSolomos school\u201d.[14]<\/a> More specificaly, the Lysistrata<\/em> of 1969 initiated a second period of preoccupation with Aristophanes by Karolos Koun[15]<\/a> during which he went on to increasingly experiment with the conventions of the ancient dramatic art. His objective was not, of course, an \u201chistorico-archaeological\u201d rehabilitation of these conventions but a deeper aesthetic, visual and acoustic transplantation into modern popular forms that would be familiar to the contemporary audience,[16]<\/a> such as the traditional Greek shadow puppet theatre which was incorporated in a very dynamic manner after a certain point (in the diptych The Acharnians<\/em> and Peace<\/em> in 1976 and 1977 respectively).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, in the \u201ctragicomic and politically symbolic\u201d Lysistrata<\/em> of 1969 \u2013the only new production of Aristophanic comedy by the Art Theatre during the junta years, which used the translation in demotic, spoken Greek by the leftist poet Costas Varnalis\u2013 the moderation of the grotesque comic elements in view of the ideologically \u201cserious\u201d need to highlight the pacifist nature of the play within the dark national and international political context of that period, offers further evidence of the acute aesthetic and ideological contrast between this particular performance and the broader artistic mindset of the Art Theatre, on the one hand, and \u201cthe happy, innocent mode of the 1957 Lysistrata <\/em>of the National Theatre, which was performed nearly every summer during the junta\u2019s rule\u201d, on the other[17]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Third Way in the post-junta era<\/strong><\/p>\n

Between the modernist, grotesque and semantically prosperous approach of Karolos Koun and the neoclassicist, entertainment-oriented and family-friendly approach of Alexis Solomos, which were the two distinct and prevailing tendencies in approaching Aristophanes at least up to the first years of the post-junta era, a synthesis would be attempted by the young artist Spyros Evangelatos. After the much-discussed \u201cpop art,\u201d sui generis rendition of Assembly women <\/em>that Evangelatos directed in the framework of the National Theatre of Northern Greece in 1969,[18]<\/a> encapsulating all the \u201cEuropean avant-gardist innovations of the 1950s\u201d through a loose combination of any spectacle that could serve the \u201ccreative exploration of the older and current performance potential of comedy at large, Greek as well as international\u201d [19]<\/a>, the Lysistrata<\/em> of \u201cAmphi-Theatron\u201d in 1976 (one year after the foundation of that institution) paved a \u201cthird way\u201d which strived to highlight the lively \u201curban popularity\u201d of Aristophanic comedy and to eliminate any trace of idyll, folklore or exoticism that might have been lurking behind the insistence on the \u201ccontinuity\u201d and \u201cauthenticity\u201d of either the \u201cpopular-rural\u201d or the \u201cbourgeois-Westernised\u201d Greek tradition. [20]<\/a><\/p>\n

Without disregarding other important innovations in the Lysistrata<\/em> of 1976 (a pronounced intertextuality, a strongly marked meta-theatricality coupled with an effective use of the metaphor of the world-as-stage, a generous admission of verbal and visual profanity, and a dialectical treatment of the comic element in Aristophanes), [21]<\/a> the most powerful shock and subversion in the hitherto prevailing expectations came through the use of an exclusively all-male casting that became the focus of anxious anticipation and bafflement by the journalists of the time and was widely discussed in the critical response to the play and in interviews with the director. [22]<\/a> Using the presumed performance of Lysistrata<\/em> by a crowd of male actors (\u201ctransformers,\u201d see ultra) in the second decade of the twentieth century as a moral and aesthetic pretext, the convention of all-male casting and the attendant exploration of gender relations and reversals made a vigorous comeback in the post-junta era \u2013an era marked by a much higher level of tolerance and theatrical sophistication than the interwar years\u2013, generating surprise, enthusiasm, occasionally anger and indignation, and especially controversy over the appropriateness of the reintroduction of this particular theatrical convention in the case of ancient comedy.[23]<\/a> Even if Spyros Evangelatos himself did not repeat the use of all-male casting in any of the subsequent performances of Aristophanes\u2019 plays in \u201cAmphi-Theatron\u201d,[24]<\/a> the path that he opened with his alternative Lysistrata <\/em>of 1976 in the symbolically sanctioned Odeon of Herodes Atticus would be followed by other devotees of Aristophanes and of Lysistrata <\/em>in very different ways in the following decades.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a view to the future: Aristophanes reloaded<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of the 20th<\/sup> and in the beginning of the 21st<\/sup> century, the Aristophanic field was already saturated with excessive vulgarity, the use of clich\u00e9s, the facile deployment of cross-dressing and whimsical references to current affairs in the multitude of Aristophanic plays that are performed every summer in the local or national drama festivals.[25]<\/a> This saturation would inevitably bring a healthy reaction on behalf of an artistic sphere of producers and spectators who have been already accustomed and receptive to experimentation on ancient drama, especially since the shift in the orientation of theatrical production towards global modernism that was systematically promoted by Giorgos Loukos, the director of the Athens Festival from 2005 until December 2015. Thus, the second decade of the new millennium already exhibits some critical \u201cdisruptions\u201d in the reception of Aristophanes that have created new active areas for contemporary interchange and for future reflection on the theatrical potential of his work.<\/p>\n

In 2010 Lysistrata<\/em> marked the first collaboration in ancient drama between the National Theatre and Yannis Kakleas, an experimental director of the 1980s and 1990s. After a \u201crock\u201d version of The Birds<\/em> that he directed in 1991 with the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kalamata,[26]<\/a> Yannis Kakleas returned to Aristophanes \u201ccarrying in his luggage that famous style of controlled rebellion that had made him a legend several years ago among the young\u201d [27]<\/a>. In the following years Kakleas would stick to Aristophanes with three new performances of comedies, [28]<\/a> developing his own specific approach \u2013interventionist with regard to the original text, richly intertextual, figurative and allegorical\u2013 which strives to highlight the \u201cdeeply poetic nature of Aristophanes\u2019 writing\u201d through a theatrical \u201ctext that marries social commentary with comedy and drama with satire\u201d [29]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Theatre critics recognised in Yannis Kakleas a \u201cseriousness quite removed from the cheap style of variety shows \u2013due also to translations full of liberties taken under the pretext of modernisation\u2013 peddled by competing commercial groups or even by some serious directors\u201d [30]<\/a>. The same seriousness would be more recently displayed by Michael Marmarinos who adapted it for his own, completely unmistakable theatrical idiom. In his first attempt as director of ancient comedy[31]<\/a> Michael Marmarinos engaged with Lysistrata <\/em>for the National Theatre and the Athens Festival 2016, accompanied by the poet and writer Dimitris Dimitriadis who also embarked on his first attempt as translator of ancient comic drama.[32]<\/a> Being a lifelong experimental director with a polyphonic aesthetic style and an international orientation, a distinctive use of irony, parody and humor as well as a special concentration on the \u201cpoetic\u201d entelechy of theatrical texts[33]<\/a> Marmarinos commissioned and followed a philologically faithful and poetically beautiful translation that took no modernizing liberties and exhibited an equal regard for both the \u201cvulgar\u201d and the \u201csublime\u201d. His performance intentionally vacillated between the poetry of the translated text and the contribution of para-textuality, between fiction and reality, between the dramatic and the post-dramatic, between the modern and the post-modern,[34]<\/a> \u201cbetween the clothed and the naked, the whole and the part, the prototype and the adaptation, the original and the simulacrum, the face and the mask, the past and the present\u201d [35]<\/a>. It was a project of \u201ccounter-revival\u201d that broke away from both \u201cthe bankrupt, made-to-order logic of hitherto established practice\u201d [36]<\/a> and the \u201cmonumentalized revival of traditional scenic approaches to ancient comedy and ancient drama in general, converting its heterochronism and its heterotopology into the material of its presentation\u201d [37]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The artistic project and \u201ctheoretical reflection\u201d of Lysistrata<\/em> by M. Marmarinos[38]<\/a> coincided with the widely discussed first participation of the Onassis Cultural Centre in the Epidaurus Festival through The Birds<\/em> directed by Nikos Karathanos, a performance rich in innovations and audiovisual lyricism, structurally adapted and centered primarily around the notions of \u201cutopia\u201d and \u201cotherness.\u201d Notwithstanding any reservations for this or that particular performance, in the final assessment it has to be acknowledged that, at the very least, \u201cthis year\u2019s harvest in Aristophanes was particularly rich and could become the starting point for a new substantial proposition in the future\u201d [39]<\/a>. In a more optimistic note, things look even more hopeful: \u201cThis year Epidaurus set a standard that will impact on us in the future. This is not just because we saw a different Lysistrata or a different Pisthetaerus in that theatre, but also because it became clear that their new impression, language, voice, and disposition were received with so much seriousness, thoughtfulness, appreciation, and with a warm applause\u201d[40]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the onset of the new millennium, we seem to be experiencing a new beginning in our dialogue with ancient comedy as well as in our dialogue with ancient drama, with ancient culture, and with culture at large. After a long period of cross-fertilization between different directors with wide-ranging theatrical perspectives and with multiple national and international influences conducted mainly under the framework of the central theatrical institutions, Aristophanes is now handed down by a generation of well-established, middle-age directors to a younger generation who may still have a lot to process, to discover and to contribute in the theatrical scene of the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0For the survival and the revival of Aristophanes\u2019 work through and thanks to Plutus <\/em>see S\u00fcss 1911: 213, n. 22; Plugg\u00e9 1938: 2; Boas 1966: 16; Highet 1967: 121, 597, n. 25; Van Steen 2000: 50-63; Diamantakou-Agathou 2007; Pappas 2016: 99-103.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Lord 1963: 104-105; Van Steen 2000: 77; eadem 2002: 409; Pappas 2016: 109.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0A simple navigation and search in the Productions Database of the Archive of Performances of Ancient Greek and Roman Drama (http:\/\/www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk\/), per play and per period of performance, prove the point.<\/em><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Van Steen 2000: 75.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Van Steen 2000: 102-106; Mavrogeni 2006: 74-79 and 97-104.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0Karanastasis 1994: 160-166.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Van Steen 2000: 76-123; \u039c\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7 2006: 118-126.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0Van Steen 2000: 80.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0A comic canon which was absolutely based on the directorial vision of Alexis Solomos, who directed (and sometimes translated), in the frame of the National Theatre of Greece, the ten of the eleven extant Aristophanic comedies.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Cf. Tsatsoulis\u2019 reasoning and argumentation 2015: 309-311.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0 Karolos Koun had also staged Plutus <\/em>in the educational frame of \u0391thens American College as well as in the semi-professional frame of the Popular Scene, in 1936. See \u039cavromoustakos 2008: 52; Georgopoulou 2008, 203-204.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0Varopoulou 2011: 294-295. Cf. Mavromoustakos 2008: 28-29.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>\u00a0Which succeeds the thoroughly lyric Birds<\/em> of 1959 and 1962 and the thoroughly ritual Frogs <\/em>of 1966.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0Cf. Grammatas 2002, 39-41; idem 2004: 109-110; Mavromoustakos 2008, 26-29; \u0391rvaniti 2011: 276-278; Chatzipantazis 2014, 517-525.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a>\u00a0Which included Acharnians<\/em>1976, Peace <\/em>1977 and Women at the Thesmophoria <\/em>1985.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a>\u00a0Mavrogeni 2006: 260-265<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a>\u00a0Van Steen 2000: 139-140.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a>\u00a0\u0395van gelatos 2012: 130.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a>\u00a0Van Steen 2000: 216.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a>\u00a0 On Evangelatos\u2019 continuous concern to locate the Aristophanic action in an urban milieu and to disconnect the notion of \u201cpopular\u201d from the notion of \u201crural\u201d see Mavrogeni 2006: 289-298.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a>\u00a0See extensively Van Steen 2000: 215-218<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>\u00a0Indicative journalistic titles: \u00abA Lysistrata different from the others\u00bb (I Vradini<\/em> 8.6.1976)\u2219 \u00abAnd the women will become men\u00bb (\u03a4<\/em>achidromos<\/em> 3.6.1976)\u2219 \u00abMen will incarnate women in Lysistrata<\/em>\u00bb (\u0395<\/em>thnikos Kirix <\/em>14.5.1976)\u2219 \u00abLysistrata with a \u2026 beard!\u00bb (Gynaika<\/em> 21.7.1976)\u2219 \u00abPopular com\u00e9diens of 1919 stage Lysistrata<\/em>. A revolutionary performance, tomorrow in Odeon of Herodus Atticus, by the Amphi-Theatron\u00bb (To Vima<\/em> 2.6.1976).<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a>\u00a0On the short- and long-term influence of that performance see Diamantakou-Agathou 2016.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a>\u00a0Frogs<\/em>1977, Plutus<\/em> 1978, Peace<\/em> 1984, Clouds<\/em> 1989, Assembly Women <\/em>1998, Wasps<\/em> 2006. Nonetheless, Spyros Evangelatos would re-activate the all-male casting in his staging of \u0395uripides\u2019 Medea <\/em>in 2013.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a>\u00a0See, by way of example, two of the recurrent critical observations of Patsalidis 2010 and 2016.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a>\u00a0Kakleas 2012.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>\u00a0\u0399oannidis 2010.<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a>\u00a0Birds, <\/em>Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kalamata 2012; Frogs, <\/em>National Theatre 2014; \u0391<\/em>charnians, <\/em>Society \u00abPhilotheaton\u00bb – Festival of Athens 2015.<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a>\u00a0Kakleas 2012.<\/p>\n

[30]<\/a>\u00a0\u03a4satsoulis 2014.<\/p>\n

[31]<\/a>\u00a0On Marmarinos\u2019 directorial approach to ancient Greek tragedy see \u03a4satsoulis 2007: 71-70; Ioannidou 2011: 121-145; Arvaniti 2011: 295-296\u2219 Manteli, 2014: 67-84.<\/p>\n

[32]<\/a>\u00a0On Dimitriadis\u2019 contribution to the translation of ancient Greek tragedy see Diamantakou-Agathou 2015.<\/p>\n

[33]<\/a>\u00a0\u039canteli, 2011.<\/p>\n

[34]<\/a>\u00a0Sidiropoulou 2016: 123. Cf. Arfara 2010.<\/p>\n

[35]<\/a>\u00a0Patsalidis 2016<\/p>\n

[36]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid.<\/p>\n

[37]<\/a>\u00a0\u03a4satsoulis 2016.<\/p>\n

[38]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid.<\/p>\n

[39]<\/a>\u00a0Mountraki 2016.<\/p>\n

[40]<\/a>\u00a0\u0399oannidis 2016.
\nREFERENCES<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u0395vangelatos, S.\u0391. (2012). Leda Tassopoulou\u2026 towards the ultimate light\u2026 <\/em>[in Greek]. Ed. Ergo: \u0391thens.<\/p>\n

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\u0399oannidis, Gr. (2016). \u201cThe Birds left the ground\u201d [in Greek]. Ephimerida ton syntakton <\/em>22.8.2016.<\/p>\n

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\u039aaranastasis, N. (1994). \u201cPerformances\u2019 recording\u201d [in Greek]. In: Aristophanes Lysistrata. <\/em>Traslated in modern Greek by \u039a. \u03a4opouzis. \u0395d. Epikerotita: Athens, 157-198.<\/p>\n

Lord, Louis E. (1963). Aristophanes<\/em>. <\/em>His<\/em> P<\/em>lays<\/em> and<\/em> his<\/em> Influence<\/em>. Cooper Square Publishers Inc.: New York.<\/p>\n

\u039canteli, V. (2011). \u201cHumour and\u2026 Stalin in a National Theatre of Greece postmodern production Stalin: A Discussion about Greek Theatre\u201d. In: V. Tsakona & E. Popa (eds). Studies in Political Humour: In between political critique and public entertainment<\/em>. John Benjamins Publishing, 243-270.<\/p>\n

Manteli, V. (2014). \u201cShattered Icons and Fragmented Narrative in a World of Crisis: Herakles Mainomenos<\/em> by the National Theatre of Greece at the Epidaurus Festival 2011\u201d. New Voices in Classical Reception Studies<\/em>, 9, 67-84.<\/p>\n

Mavrogeni, M. (2006). Aristophanes on Modern Greek Stage <\/em>[in Greek]. <\/em>Phd diss., University of Grete \u2013 Department of Letters: Rethymno.<\/p>\n

\u039cavromoustakos, Pl. (2008). \u201cKarolos Koun and the Theatre of Art \u039a\u03ac\u03c1\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u039a\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd\u201d [in Greek]. In idem (ed.). Karolos Koun \u2013 The Performances. <\/em>Benaki Museum: Athens, 17-33.<\/p>\n

\u039countraki, \u0395. (2016). \u201cAristophanes\u2019 Birds<\/em>, directed by Nikos Karathanos\u201d [in Greek], the Greek Play Project, <\/em>28.9.2016, http:\/\/www.greek-theatre.gr\/public\/gr\/greekplay\/index\/pointviewview\/849<\/a> [9.11.2016]<\/p>\n

Pappas, Th. (2016). Aristophanes. The Poet and his Work <\/em>[in Greek]. <\/em>Gutenberg, \u0391thens.<\/p>\n

Patsalidis, S. (2016). \u201cOn Aristophanic performances\u201d [in Greek]. Parallaxi <\/em>18.9.2016, http:\/\/parallaximag.gr\/author\/patsalidisparallaxi<\/a> [9.11.2016]<\/p>\n

Patsalidis, S. (2016). \u201cThe promises and the contradictions of the naked Lysistrata<\/em>\u201d [in Greek]. Parallaxi <\/em>26.9.2016, http:\/\/parallaximag.gr\/agenda\/theatro\/iposchesis-ke-antifasis-tis-gimnis-lisistratis [10.11.2016]<\/p>\n

Plugg\u00e9, D. E. (1938). History<\/em> of<\/em> Greek<\/em> Play<\/em> Production<\/em> in<\/em> American<\/em> Colleges<\/em> and<\/em> Universities<\/em> from<\/em> 1881 <\/em>to<\/em> 1936<\/em>. Bureau of Publications: New York.<\/p>\n

Sideris, G. (1976). Ancient Drama on Modern Greek Stage <\/em>1817-1972 <\/em>[in Greek]. Vol. I (1817-1932). Ed. Ikaros: \u0391thens<\/p>\n

Sidiropoulou, A. (2016). \u201cDirector\u2019s Theatre in Greece: Stages of Authorship in the Work of Michael Marmarinos, Yiannis Houvardas and Theodoros Terzopoulos\u201d. Gramma Journal of Theory and Criticism<\/em> 22\/ 2, 121-133,<\/p>\n

S\u00fcss, W. (1911). Aristophanes<\/em> und<\/em> die<\/em> Nachwelt<\/em>. Theodor Weicher: Leipzig.<\/p>\n

Tsatsoulis, D. (2007). Signs of the Writing \u2013 Codes of the Scene <\/em>[in Greek]. Ed. Nefeli: Athens.<\/p>\n

\u03a4satsoulis, D. (2014). \u201cAristophanes of the poetry and the emotion\u201d [in Greek]. Eleftherotypia <\/em>11.9.2014.<\/p>\n

Tsatsoulis, D. (2015). \u201cOccidental imperialism and aspects of interculturalism in the scenic reception of ancient drama in Greece\u201d [in Greek]. Logeion <\/em>5, 305-354.<\/p>\n

\u03a4satsoulis, D. (2016). \u201cRe-approaching the monuments of the ancestors\u201d [in Greek]. Imerodromos <\/em>20.9.2016, http:\/\/www.imerodromos.gr\/marmarinos-lusistrath\/<\/a> [2.11.2016]<\/p>\n

Van Steen, G. A. H. (2000). Venom<\/em> in<\/em> Verse<\/em>. <\/em>Aristophanes<\/em> in<\/em> modern<\/em> Greece<\/em>, Princeton University Press: Princeton\/New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Van Steen, G. A. H. (2002). \u201cTrying (on) Gender: Modern Greek Productions of Aristophanes\u2019 Thesmophoriazusae<\/em>\u201d. AJPh<\/em> 123\/3, 407-427.<\/p>\n

Chatzipantazis, Th. (2014). An Outline of Modern Greek Theatre <\/em>[in Greek].<\/em> Crete University Press: Heraklion.<\/p>\n

Kaiti Diamantakou \u2013 Agathou – Associate Professor University of Athens<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

otwithstanding the unquestionable popularity of the hybrid and liminal Plutus for the survival and revival of Aristophanes in Greece and throughout the world,1 it was another Aristophanic comedy that became associated with the most important and the most profound social, aesthetic and ideological turning points in the reception of Aristophanes by the modern Greek scene up to the present day.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124],"tags":[594,592,590],"class_list":["post-1627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ancient-drama","tag-ancient-greek-comedy","tag-aristophanes","tag-lysistrata"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2c87b14c8e3f93b17f11ff8ae615cc0c.jpg?fit=1000%2C700&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2653,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2653&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":0},"title":"Drama and Theatre in ancient Greece. A database and a spectators\u2019 school.","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"November 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Abstract Drama always consisted of an invaluable \u201cdatabase\u201d for the culture and education of the ancient Greek spectators, who used to watch it as a performance that derived from the already existing literary types and forms (epic and lyric poetry) on which it was based and which included up to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ancient Drama"","block_context":{"text":"Ancient Drama","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?cat=124&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9366fa7c6158d5780d3c2d34c3643dd8.jpg?fit=768%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9366fa7c6158d5780d3c2d34c3643dd8.jpg?fit=768%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9366fa7c6158d5780d3c2d34c3643dd8.jpg?fit=768%2C601&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/9366fa7c6158d5780d3c2d34c3643dd8.jpg?fit=768%2C601&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2459,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2459&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":1},"title":"Cultural Consciousness and Theatrical Creation in Postwar Modern Greek Theatre: The “Hellenism Syndrom” phase","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"May 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The search for cultural identity is an ever-lasting demand for the Greek dramatology. During the post-war years the presence of this search is intensive, and the variety of its forms and versions depends each time on the specific historical and social conditions. On the basis of this quest for theatrical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Greek Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Greek Theatre","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?cat=126&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sevastikoglou","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/4f428854bee71dd5a29e3952aa77fe84.jpg?fit=985%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/4f428854bee71dd5a29e3952aa77fe84.jpg?fit=985%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/4f428854bee71dd5a29e3952aa77fe84.jpg?fit=985%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/4f428854bee71dd5a29e3952aa77fe84.jpg?fit=985%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2377,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2377&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":2},"title":"European Program Horizon 2020","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"January 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Proposal Title : Values Across Space and Time Proposal acronym: VAST National and Kapodistrian University of Athens: CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROGRAMM Scientific Director : Theodore Grammatas, Emeritus Professor PILOT 1: VALUES IN GREEK TRAGEDIES AND THEIR MODERN ADAPTATIONS Theoretical background In the era of postmodernity, the general belief in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?cat=116&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/9b916d16e0fcb2fc3b26fa19a7f54004.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/9b916d16e0fcb2fc3b26fa19a7f54004.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/9b916d16e0fcb2fc3b26fa19a7f54004.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/9b916d16e0fcb2fc3b26fa19a7f54004.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/9b916d16e0fcb2fc3b26fa19a7f54004.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2506,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2506&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":3},"title":"International Theatre Conference “Values of Ancient Greek Theatre Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory”","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"October 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) will be hosting the International Conference named\u00a0Values of Ancient Greek Theatre Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory. The conference will take place on 6 & 7 November 2021 and will focus on the lasting and, at the same time, ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?cat=116&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/921f920b3e6dabfa229e7f83311770a8-1.png?fit=703%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/921f920b3e6dabfa229e7f83311770a8-1.png?fit=703%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/921f920b3e6dabfa229e7f83311770a8-1.png?fit=703%2C410&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/921f920b3e6dabfa229e7f83311770a8-1.png?fit=703%2C410&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2344,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2344&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":4},"title":"European Program Horizon 2020","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations in the Context of The Fourth Industrial Revolution \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Proposal Title : Values Across Space and Time \u00a0Proposal acronym: VAST Consortium NO.Participant organization nameCountry1 (CO)NCSR-D \u2013 NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH \u201cDemokritos\u201dEL2UMIL \u2013UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANOIT3UoA \u2013 National and Kapodistrian University of AthensEL4NOVA \u2013 UNIVERSIDADE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ancient Drama"","block_context":{"text":"Ancient Drama","link":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?cat=124&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/740c891ae83c527e3f88e032abbd1bba-1.jpg?fit=708%2C549&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/740c891ae83c527e3f88e032abbd1bba-1.jpg?fit=708%2C549&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/740c891ae83c527e3f88e032abbd1bba-1.jpg?fit=708%2C549&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theodoregrammatas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/740c891ae83c527e3f88e032abbd1bba-1.jpg?fit=708%2C549&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2660,"url":"https:\/\/theodoregrammatas.com\/?p=2660&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":1627,"position":5},"title":"The Transmission and Reception of the Values of the Ancient Greek Culture in Theater via “Digital Dialogue”","author":"Theodore Grammatas","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Abstract[1] Our age is characterized by the instantaneous transmission of information and the redefinition of distances and boundaries of human relationships and communication. Theater, as a \"sensitive indicator of reality\", does not remain unaffected, but seeks new ways of expressing the \"timelessness\" and \"universality\" which brings viewer\u2019s consciousness. 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