| Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus |
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Masters’ Cinema: Theodoros Terzopoulos Wed 28 November, 6pm Cinema Roon Admission free 1,15’, 2010, Old Oil Mill, Elefsina Translation: Eleni Varopoulou, Heiner Müller, Sabahatin Eyuboglou, director: Theodoros Terzopoulos, set design: Jannis Kounellis, music: Panayotis Velianitis, director’s assistants: Savvas Stroumpos, Magda Korpi, actors: Yetkin Dikinciler, Sophia Michopoulou, Götz Argus, Sophia Hill, Kerem Karaboga, Stathis Grapsas, Devrim Nas, Savvas Stroumpos, Antonis Myriagkos, Ismail Deniz, Thanasis Alevras, Maximilian Löwenstein, Umut Kircali, Nazmi Sinan Mihci, Andree Õsten Solvik, Alexandros Tountas Languages: Greek, Turkish and German  Prometheus Bound is a tragedy of defiance and resistance to a tyrant, in this case Zeus. The play shows the emotional and passionate Prometheus defending his beloved ally, man, against the intellectual and tyrannical Zeus. Aeschylus places Prometheus’ passions at the covert of the world, in the Caucasus. Prometheus is bound with chains to the rock and then falls into the abyss of Tartarus. The spectacular descent of Prometheus is followed by thunders and lightings. The performance Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus – directed by Theodoros Terzopoulos, with Greek, Turkish and German actors and sets (installations) by Yannis Kounellis – was shown in summer 2010 in Elefsina, Istanbul and Essen. In each city a different version of the performance was presented, with different sets (installations) adapted to the requirements and historical identity of each location. The performance was a co-production of the Athens Festival, Istanbul Cultural Capital of Europe 2010, Essen Cultural Capital of Europe 2010 and Attis Theatre. • The performance was premiered at the Old Oil Mill in Elefsina (Athens) on 9-10 July 2010. Elefsina (also known as Eleusis), the home town of Aeschylus, is an industrial hub suffused with memories of strikes, work accidents and the Greek Civil War. Kounellis’ installation, featuring a flood of 1,000 rocks, evoked a cataclysm, while the actors incarnated surviving laborers of World War II and the Greek Civil War. The essence of the performance was extremely political. • In Istanbul the performance was presented in the Ottoman fortress of Rumeli Hisari on 26, 27 and 28 July. This time Kounellis covered the stage with 50,000 eyeglasses, and the barefoot actors had walk on them. The eyeglasses reflected hundreds of images – that of snakes, coals, knives, mirrors and many others. The danger of the actors cutting their feet, the sound of prayers issuing from the minarets and the noise of ships passing the Bosphorus created an immense tension felt by both the actors and the audience. • In Essen the performance was presented at the historic industry complex of Zeche Zollverein on 5, 6 and 7 August. Prometheus was played by the Turkish actor Yetkin Dikinciler in Elefsina and Istanbul, and by Götz Argus in Essen. Kounellis’ installation, located in front of the industrial complex, included three trains with their lights on and a small square Brechtian stage. (The industrial complex and the old mine of Zollverein are closely connected to workers’ movements and strikes, as well as to war production during World War II and prison camps. Zollverein was a rail hub for trains carrying coal to factories, Jews and anti-fascists to prison camps, and immigrants in the 1960s). The actors looked as if they had been thrown off the trains and onto the stage like human rags. The performance had the dimension of a pogrom and the Holocaust. |