A performance that serves as an architectural reconstruction of memory using experiences and scattered pieces of the habitat as structural materials. A story of return, to the childhood home, to the garden of an inner beauty and innocence, as the only way to draw hope and make “new cherry trees”. The last heirs will attempt to reconstruct a lost heaven on earth through the topography of memory. When the house will no longer be here. And when the garden will no longer be here… they will be forced to bloom themselves, the one for the other. A little ode to the lost paradise. The nostalgia of happiness. Life as a possibility, that – if it is sung, danced or confessed – can lead us to redemption. An anecdote, a funny story, a farce for God’s failure to give us a life that will last forever.
Georgia Dakaki, a master of the Cretan lyre and a performer with a great knowledge of Greek music, converses on stage with Takis Chrysikakos in the music theatre performance titled Breathing in Three Strings, where music and singing engage in a dialogue with poetry and prose literature. The two artists join their forces to produce one single voice of awakening to everything that is at stake at the threshold of climate change and its non-reversible effects: along with the sea, the forests and the sky, we also run the risk of losing that great part of our national heritage that is inspired by all these elements, since references to nature, both in music and literature, will become increasingly more unfamiliar to each subsequent generation. We take a stand against this threat with a celebration dedicated to nature and its representation in Greek music and literature.
Behold theatre company presents The Secret of the Tree, a production targeted at youth audiences in an effort to make them explore and take a stand on issues like climate crisis and the co-existence of man with the environment. It turns an industrial monument at Panormos, Rethymnon into a space for playing and experiential learning, by blending different art forms and theatre-pedagogical techniques. The goal is to motivate young audience members to ask questions about the present and the future in a constantly changing world, but also to grasp the relationship developed by man with the other – human and non-human – entities with whom he lives together on the planet.
Starting off on our adventure at an old carob mill that has been turned into a cultural centre, we get to know the history of the monument that is inescapably related to that of the carob tree and its fruit, the island of Crete and the entire Mediterranean region. The carob tree, despite having been discredited by people for a certain period of time, continues to stand and grow even in places where it has not been deliberately planted; it continues to bloom in conditions that are absolutely hostile, selflessly offer its fruits, and look into the future while remaining firmly rooted in the deep past.
An interactive music theatre show, the new work We Know How to Swim is coming to take younger and older audiences by storm. The story goes like this: In 2053 the Earth’s ice sheets have melt and the whole planet has sunk under the water. Only small parts of the land’s surface are spared and one of them is the Minoan Palace of Zakros. A polar bear arrives there looking for food. Artemis, a little girl, runs away from home to find the bear and rescue him. With the help of a bee, the adventure begins!
In this story the bear accuses people for the ecological disaster, the bee is mad at the bears for eating the honey, and Artemis at her parents for not letting her go after the bear. Will our heroes manage to get over their anger and animosity? If we were friends with each other but also with the animals and all of the planet’s living creatures, perhaps the future would be better.
Two performers introduce the audience to an archaeological site, not seen as a field of human activity but as a field of action of non-human beings, the animals that have inhabited it over time. From the animals of the past, those we recognise today on the geological fossils and archaeological material, to the animals that live there today, as well as to their future prospects. A renegotiation of man’s relationship with the world, towards a more wholistic understanding of the past and the present.
The production BESTIARIO is a continuation of the company’s ten-year-long effort to achieve a combination of theatre and archaeology, which they love so much to explore: how can theatrical means be used to approach the archaeological material from a fresh perspective, while strengthening the ties with the local community, and how can archaeological tools (like excavations, the study of findings etc.) contribute to the creation of a site-specific play?
The two-day Τouching Faultlines event is a conversation between modern artistic practices and the Roman Odeon of Gortyna. It explores geological time and movement, with a special focus on ruptures and tensions as points of contact. The relationship between geological and historical past emerges in the present through performance acts, dancing, sculptural and audiovisual installations, texts, and sound interventions. Performers react to the converging and diverging movements of tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions, and seismic vibrations, along with their political and cultural connotations.
Τouching Faultlines aims to provide space for narratives that explore the concepts of perpetual movement, release, rupture, freedom, and reconstruction. Whether regarding language, gender, or their geopolitical implications, friction and confrontation require the existence of a performative zone of contact. Within this zone, tensions are expressed where there is movement. If the points of conflict are seen as surfaces that come into contact with each other, then what can we learn by studying the geological formations and their movements in the Mediterranean Basin?
Programme
23 August 2024 | Opening 17.30 – 21.00
Performances:
18.00 Anna Papathanasiou & Inga Galinytė, Empathetic Bodies
19.00 Ermira Goro, Faultlines
Screening:
20.30 Huniti Goldox, The Dido Problem
24 August 2024 | 08.00 – 20.30
Performances:
19.00 Ermira Goro, Faultlines
Screening:
20.30 Huniti Goldox, The Dido Problem
Vincenzo Cornaro’s romance Erotokritos takes on a fresh, more liberated form in a musical performance that incorporates story-telling and visual elements, allowing the audience to fully grasp its plot. More specifically, the music of the performance emphasizes modern, original musical compositions and a diverse arrangement. These are the outcomes of collaboration, teamwork, and intercultural interaction among the artists – a lasting feature of the Labyrinth Musical Workshop’s work.
Lucrece, the most virtuous wife in the whole of Rome, ignites an illicit passion in Tarquin, the king’s son. After being raped, entrapped in the contradictory ethical demands of her time, she kills herself. Her suicide triggers the expulsion of the kings and the establishment of the Roman Republic. This is the version of the story, as told in one of the most well-known European legends.
William Shakespeare’s narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece highlights the clash between modernity and the earlier, compact, medieval world that is falling apart: it portrays the struggle of the new, independent thinker against the outdated arbitrariness of the lords. The male world of the countryside, wars, and unbridled power is contrasted with the female world of innerness, negotiation, and ethical boundaries. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Lucrece, six musicians, two actors, and a choreographer collaborate to create a music theatre narrative, blending speech and movement with musical improvisations and scores from the late Renaissance, early Baroque, and the 20th century.
The musical performance Mórtissa ki Alánis explores the theme of conflict by portraying the clash between two archetypal characters from rebetikο (Greek urban folk song) mythology: the “mórtissa” and the “alánis”. In an effort to evade stereotypes, the aim is to investigate a profound inner existential conflict, the failure of establishing an “ego” capable of accepting “another” as an equal.
Intercultural influences, the introduction of new morals and behavioural styles in the closed Greek society of the inter-war period, along with the struggle against one’s gender and the self-definition of sexuality that are subtly present in many compositions of the time, inevitably lead to a conflict of interests, which actually originates from a profound, internal, non-dialectic conflict. The solution does not arise by bringing together the antitheses, but by exceeding them, through the acceptance of an authentic “Ego” and the self-defined “other”.
The musical piece SOMNIA PACIS: Dreaming Of Peace is a collective platform, where music and speech come together to expressively interact. Starting from war conflict and moving towards its gradual impact on individuals, communities, and eventually the world, the piece is an artistic search for peaceful coexistence. It combines both classical and traditional timbres, sometimes using complex and other times simple expressive forms. The narration sometimes complements and other times enhances the themes evoked by the music, maintaining a balance between the horror of war and the dream of peace. The collective vocal and rhythmic interplay with the percussion, accompanied by the narration, and complemented by the orchestral ensemble, which both follows the score and improvises, creates a cross-artistic tapestry. This tapestry not only aims to evoke emotions but also to stimulate the audience’s senses, and provoke them by introducing them to an unprecedented musical experience.