| Saint Bacchus. Uknown History of Greek Theatre 300 BC – 1600 AD |
Title: Saint Bacchus. Uknown History of Greek Theatre 300 BC – 1600 AD Author: Aleksis Solomos Translated by: Joanna Kruczkowska, Rafa³ Lewandowski, Beata Schada- Borzyszkowska Edited by: Maciej Kaziñski Date: Jly 2010 ISBN: 978-83-61835-16-5 Dimensions: 168x238 mm Paperback: 240 pages Price: 10 Euro Fragment ksi±¿ki  I first met Saint Bacchus in the luminous mosaic of the church in Daphni. Among Jewish fishermen, poor monks and other humble residents of the church, Bacchus and Sergius stand out in their white and golden robes like dioskouroi of some noble and ancient culture which, suddenly and unexpectedly, gave way to a simpler, more folkish faith. I was captivated not so much by what the Syrian martyr looked like or his life, but by an allegory that shone through his name, shedding light on an interim and unknown – almost secret – theatre era. This is because the ancient Bacchus has never died; not only as the god of wine and the daimonion of theatrical ecstasy. After the last Menander died and before the first Chortatzis was born – Crete’s New Comedy and Tragedy being boundary markers of our unknown history – the ivy- wreathed Dionysus is still close to us, accepting covert and open offerings. From among one thousand and nine hundred unknown years of the Greek theatre, at least one thousand and seven hundred are creative; the theatre continues on its way amid thousands of changes and transformations, superstitions and laws, deaths and expulsions – sometimes polytheistic, sometimes monotheistic, but always Dionysian. (an excerpt from the book) Aleksis Solomos is a theatre director, actor and playwright born in Athens, Greece, in 1918. He studied at the National Theatre’s Drama School in Athens, at London’s Royal Academy of Arts in London and at Yale University and Piscator Drama School in New York. Prior to his drama studies, Solomos started working for the literary magazine “Neoellinika Grammata”, to which he contributed short stories, translations, interviews and reviews. In 1939, he made his directorial debut with the Anglo-Hellenic Association’s troupe in Checkhov’s Bear. With the Athenian Theatre he played in G. B. Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma in 1942–43 and, at the same time, he designed the costumes for Verdi’s Aida, which was playing at the Olympia Theatre. In 1943, he acted with the Art Theatre and the troupe of Manolidou-Veaki-Pappa-Dendrami. During that time he also wrote plays although the only one to be produced was O Teleftaios Asprokorakas (The Last White Raven), which was staged in 1944 at the Art Theatre. In 1949, in the USA, Solomos directed at the Cherry Lane Theatre as well as at the Province Town Playhouse in New York. That same year he returned to Greece to work exclusively as a stage-director and become one of the greatest forces in modern Greek theatre. He directed mainly at the National Theatre, but also worked at his own Proskinio and the Hellenic Radio and Television (E.R.T.). Solomos has directed many plays by G.B. Shaw, Giraudoux, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Tolstoi, Lorca, Pirandello, Mayakovsky, O’Neill, Kazantzakis, Kafka, Brecht, etc. He is the director who revived Aristophanes by staging ten of his eleven comedies at the ancient theatre of Epidauros. He also directed plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, often translating the plays himself and designing the costumes. |
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