National Theatre of Northern Greece - Cyprus Theatre Organisation - Michail Marmarinos
ζ – η – θ The stranger
A return to the sources: a visit to three Odyssey rhapsodies
“Alcinous, majesty, shining among your island people,
what a fine thing it is to listen to such a bard
as we have here—the man sings like a god.
The crown of life, I’d say. There’s nothing better
than when deep joy holds sway throughout the realm
and banqueters up and down the palace sit in ranks,
enthralled to hear the bard, and before them all, the tables
heaped with bread and meats, and drawing wine from a mixing bowl
the steward makes his rounds and keeps the winecups flowing.
This, to my mind, is the best that life can offer.
(Rhapsody ι’ 2-11, translated by Robert Fagles)
In the afterglow of two performances that were destined to linger in memory, NEKYIA—presented with the Japanese theatre troupe NOH in 2015—and Sophocles’ Trackers in 2021, Michail Marmarinos revisits the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus with yet another riveting dramaturgical proposal. Ηere, he orchestrates a return to the sources through a journey to three rhapsodies of the Homeric epic, confirming once more that the endless mystery of oral Storytelling (the cavernous mystery of Theatre itself) can still thrillingly propel us “to where history still happens”.
