On the occasion of Frank Castorf’s production and Maria Callas’ 100th birth anniversary, the Epidaurus exhibition hall will be active again after a 22-year hiatus, thanks to the invaluable support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. The Museum’s re-opening will be inaugurated with a periodic exhibition dedicated to Medea, focusing of the presence of the tragic heroine at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus since 1956, when the National Theatre of Greece production of Medea was presented, directed by Minotis with the legendary Katina Paxinou in the title role.
This periodic exhibition, open to the public throughout the performances at the Ancient Theatre, will include prized exhibits from the Festival archive and other cultural organizations and institutions (National Theatre of Greece, Cyprus Theatre Organization, Theatron Athinaion of Tzeni Karezi & Kostas Kazakos, Karolos Koun Greek Art Theatre, Desmoi, Spyros A. Evangelatos Amphitheatre, Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras, Aplo Theatre, to name a few), which have staged Medea in Epidaurus. A special retrospective to productions of Euripides’ tragedy held at the most iconic national landmark of Ancient Drama from the 1950s onwards.
Concept – Supervision Katerina Evangelatos Artistic Director Athens Epidaurus Festival
Academic advisor Panagiotis Michalopoulos Assistant Professor Department of Theatre Studies – NKUA
Research – Documentation Konstantina Nikolopoulou Theatre Researcher
Exhibition design and curation Erato Koutsoudaki Architect
Assistant curators Despina Faridou, Evgenia Efthimiadou, Fey Apostolidi, Chryssa Avouri
Graphic design Vassilis Papadopoulos
English translations Eleftheria Tsitsa, Olga Karyoti
ATHENS EPIDAURUS FESTIVAL
Texts and Programme editor Dimitra Kondylaki
Proofreading Anna Mihopoulou, Haido Papavasiliou
Programme graphic design Eleni Sakelaris
Production manager Olga Mavroeidi
Coordination manager Evropi Thomopoulou
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION Delta Pi
Executive producer Konstantinos Sakkas
Executive production assistants Anna Vakontiou, Angelika Stavropoulou
Constructions FILERGON
Colours Efthymis and Giannis Makarounas
Plexiglass Lazaros Papanikos
Lighting Installation Nikolaos Stamatopoulos
Electrical Installations Evangelos Kollias
Audio-Visual Equipment Omikron Electronics
Digital Printings Whale Graphics SA
Faithful Reproductions FOTOLIO
Artwork Transportation – Safety – Technical support MoveArt
The Archive and Wardrobe of the Athens Epidaurus Festival has been an invaluable resource for the design of this exhibition.
Its realisation, however, would have been impossible without the invaluable partnership of institutions that provided exhibit items, photographs and audiovisual material on the performances of Medea at Epidaurus from 1956 to the present day.
For their kind response, we warmly thank Spyros A. Evangelatos Amphi-Theatre Archive, Kostas Kazakos Archive , Aspasia Papadoperaki Archive, Giorgos Patsas Archive , Attica Cultural Society , Maria Callas Museum Collection / Technopolis – City of Athens, Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre, National Theatre of Greece
Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive / NBG Cultural Foundation, Cyprus Theatre Organisation , Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun , National Theatre of Northern Greece, Greek National Opera Archive, Benaki Museum / Photographic Archives
The exhibition presents excerpts from Euripides’ Medea translated by Minos Volanakis (Βibliothèque, 2014), Yorgis Yatromanolakis (Kardamitsa Publications, 2013), Spyros A. Evangelatos (Amphi-Theatre Performance Programme, 2001), Stratis Paschalis (National Theatre of Greece Performance Programme, 2003) and George Himonas (Kastaniotis Editions, 2001).
The English translations of the excerpts are by Philip Vellacott (Penguin Books, 1963). We warmly thank intellectual property owner(s) for permission of use.
For their generous contribution in archive material, we also thank Panagiotis Alexopoulos, Tzeni Kollia, Niketi Kontouri, Eva Manidaki, Thodoris Economou, Ioanna Papantoniou and Ferdinand Wögerbauer.
We specially thank all those who granted intellectual property and related rights on the exhibits who are hereby mentioned. We also thank all whom we were unable to reach.
For their overall contribution to making this exhibition come true, we express our deep gratitude to Alkisti Papadimitriou (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolis), Vangelis Kazolias (Civil Engineer at the Ministry of Culture/ Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolis), Andreas Antonopoulos, Eleni Gouli, Konstantinos Zamanis, and Giannis Kollias.
The exhibition Medea in Epidaurus is held by the Athens Epidaurus Festival with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
