Theatre of Dionysis | brenda addie

Dear Friends and Followers,
All The Worlds A Stage Theatre Tours went live this week!(www.alltheworldsastagetheatretours.com) It’s been a long journey over the last 18 months and your ongoing feedback and encouragement has really kept me going when it’s got tough. And as a special thank you I now have a special offer for you.

You’ll remember I was in Greece last July and was knocked out by it. Sensational theatre in Athens and the out-of town-ancient ampitheatres, the landscape, hospitality, food, music, how Greek history translates to theatre, the sun, the islands, and also the noticeable Greek resilience and devotion to pleasure and excitement.

Right now, I’m planning on going again this July to tie up some loose ends for the 2015 tour and was wondering if you (or any of your friends) might be interested in taking up this special offer:

How about joining me for 10 days or so to soak up the Mediterranean summer to test out the proposed Greek leg of the 2015 All The World’s A Stage Theatre Tour?

Here’s what you’ll get:

ACT 1 SCENE 1: ANCIENT GREECE – The Birthplace of Western Theatre
THE SETTING: ATHENS/EPIDAVROS FESTIVAL, 2014
AT A GLANCE:
10 DAYS IN GREECE including:

5 nights in Athens
5 theatre productions from the Athens/Epidaurus Festival (including the ancient ampitheatres that you’ll talk about for years!)
5 guided tours to Ancient sites:
the Acropolis (including the Theatre of Dionysis and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus); the Acropolis Museum;
Delphi and the Theatre of Apollo;
Corinth, Mycenae, Nafplio;
the Ancient Theatre at Epidavros,
the Asclepeios Healing Sanctuary and the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidavros.
2 nights of seaside indulgence in rural Epidavros
3 nights of Odyssean intrigue on the Island of Ithaca

+ my knowledge + my 2013 experience (all documented on this blog – brendaaddie.com)
+ you could also check out the proposed 2015 Greek leg of the tour on www.alltheworldsastagetheatretours.com
OR
http://www.alltheworldsastagetheatretours.com/where-we-go/ancient-greece/

As this business is in its infancy, I’d just be asking you to join me at cost – we’d do a land only price and you get yourself to Athens.

There are still some good flights avail but filling fast. Obviously if we were to get 10 people together we’d get some significant reductions.

AND I get to travel with people I like as my case studies, What fun!

Send me an email ‘tell me more!’ to brendaaddie@gmail.com
We’d need to book in the next 10 days! (or use the contact form below…)

With best wishes for front row seats always,
Brenda.

P.S. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.

SEE THE WORLD AND SEE WORLD THEATRE

SCHILLER’S LOVE AND INTRIGUE

Today I explored the Acropolis and despite the heat and the hard the climb, one is humbled by the achievements of the Ancient Greeks and the truly awesome expression of excellence in architecture and religion. For me the highlight was sitting in the Theatre of Dionysis – the birthplace of Western Theatre. Also on the Acropolis, is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which symbolizes the next phase in the development of theatre – that of the Romans. Sadly for me the festival programmes showing at the Odeon while I am here are showcasing contemporary singers and other genres that are not part of my thesis. So instead I went to a production of Schiller’s Love and Intrigue. While this is an 18 century German text, my reservations about the language for a modern audience were totally dispelled by the adaptation of the piece into Greek tragedy. The adaptation was superb and ticked all the boxes for the elements of Greek Tragedy while the delectable sounds of the Greek language translation coupled with Greek emotional sensibilities enlivened the piece significantly.

The setting for the production was a great adventure to an industrial area of Athens where a factory complex was turned into a theatre space. The sparseness of the set and mere suggestion of German period costume were ideally informed. The playing of a complex plot with many characters was executed by just 2 female and 4 male players all of which was handled with perfect suspension of disbelief including a beautiful mime sequence which served as a prologue to the piece as the audience entered the auditorium. For me, a non Greek speaker, I tested out the use of my iPad with an English translation of the German text and page turning as the play went on. It worked marvelously and knowing the plot and the characters, I could quickly skip through the cuts and doubling of characters. In all it was a very worthwhile experience including the festival’s consideration in supplying a bus to return patrons to the Athens city centre. This was followed by a short walk on a balmy evening back to my hotel. Another really great day of seeing the world and seeing world theatre.