On the occasion of the preparation for his new production, to be presented at the 2020 Athens & Epidaurus Festival, the internationally acclaimed Polish theatre director Krzysztof Warlikowski will run a workshop on Odyssey for young directors and dramaturgs, held on Monday, July 8 in Athens.

The goal of this workshop is to exchange ideas about the Odyssey and its possible contemporary meanings and references.

Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new show will be based on many different texts. However, the starting point will be Homer’s Odyssey. As the director notes: “The fact that an adaptation of Homer is impossible and probably useless raises a lot of questions: What was the war Odysseus is coming back from? Who are the characters he met on his way? What is the secret of immortality? What do Gods have to do with us? Which texts express Homer’s thoughts better than Homer himself? Even if the last question seems to be provocative it gives a total freedom for the creative process. And this is the proper attitude to start thinking about Odyssey today.”

Applicants can send their CV at the following email address: seminars@greekfestival.gr
For limited number of participants (up to 15 persons)
Deadline for applications: July 3

Krzysztof Warlikowski and his collaborator and dramaturg Piotr Gruszczyński will also visit Epidaurus in the context of the Epidaurus Lyceum educational programme and will meet Lyceum students to discuss their artistic work on ancient drama. The event will be open to the public and conducted in English on Saturday July 6, at 17:30 at the Lygourio Cultural Centre.

 

KRZYSZTOF WARLIKOWSKI

Born in Poland in 1962. Οne of the most prominent European theatre and opera directors, Warlikowski has created a new way of staging Shakespeare. His body of work contains subversive interpretations of Greek tragedies. He is also well-known for his staging of modern authors.

Since 2008 he has been the Artistic Director of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, where he has so far directed six performances: (A)pollonia (2009), The End (2010), African Tales by Shakespeare (2011), Kabaret warszawski (2013), The French (2015), We Are Leaving (2018). He directed two performances at Odéon Théâtre de l’Europe, namely Paris: Streetcar (2011) and Phaedra(s) (2016) with Isabelle Hupert in the leading role.

Warlikowski’s theatre productions has been presented at the most prestigious festivals: Festival d’Avignon, Festival de Otoño in Madrid, Edinburgh International Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Next Wave Festival BAM in New York, Athens & Epidaurus Festival, International Theatre Festival Santiago a Mil In Chile, Seoul Performing Arts Festival in South Korea.

Krzysztof Warlikowski’s work also involves opera. Warlikowski’s productions have been presented at the greatest opera houses in Europea, including La Monnaie in Brussels, the Paris National Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Royal Opera House in London. In his attempt to achieve a “retheatralisation” of opera he is perceived as one of the most groundbreaking contemporary opera directors.

Krzysztof Warlikowski has won numerous awards, including the Award of the French Theatre Critics’ Union and the prestigious Meyerhold Award in Moscow, as well as the X Europe Prize “New Theatrical Realities” in Thessaloniki, Greece. In May 2008, New York’s Village Voice gave Krzysztof Warlikowski an Obie Award for his production of Hanoch Levin’s Krum. He was also awarded the Golden Mask prize for the best foreign performance in Russia in 2011 for the Nowy Teatr production (A)pollonia.