CULTURE

National Theater spreads out

The stunning but aging building of the Greek National Theater on Aghiou Constantinou Street in Omonia is finally set for conservation, as scaffolding is expected to go up in December and work is scheduled to take some five years. Temporarily homeless, the company will be presenting its program for the 2005-2006 season at five different theaters around the capital: the Central Stage will be at the Kappa Theater on Kypselis Street, the New Stage will be at the Hora Theater on Amorgou Street in Patissia and the Experimental Stage has moved to the Apo Michanis Theater in Metaxourgeio, while the Rex Theater on Panepistimiou will lend its Kotopouli and Paxinou venues, the latter of which is for the Children’s Stage. The program is as follows: Kappa: The theater is staging last year’s box office hit «The Caucasian Chalk Circle,» by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Costas Tsianos with Lydia Koniordou. The next production, opening on January 1, is Michalis Hourmouzis’s «Clerk,» also directed by Tsianos, and starring Dimitris Piatas and Sotiris Tzevelekos. The sets and costumes are by Rena Georgiadou, music is by Yuri Stupel, the choreography is by Fokas Evangelinos and the lighting designed by Spyros Kardaris. Kotopouli, Rex: Shakespeare’s «King Lear» opens on November 25, in a production directed by Slobodan Unkovsky and starring Dimitris Kataleifos in the title role. Paxinou, Rex: The Children’s Stage of the National Theater will present Cervantes’s «Don Quixote,» adapted and directed by Stavros Tsakiris and featuring a cast of 30 actors and dancers. Apo Michanis: Two stages are being given to the National Theater’s Experimental Stage (as always under the direction of Stathis Livathinos), the big and small stage. The big stage opens the season on November 11 with August Strindberg’s «Dream Play» (starring Dimitris Imellos, Nikos Kardonis, Stathis Grapsas and Maria Savvidou), followed by Bruce Myers’s «A Dubbuk for Two People» on January 13, directed by Sotiris Hadzakis and starring Despina Kourti and Dimitris Papanikolaou. Spring will see a March 7 opening of Ignacio del Moral’s «Dark Man’s Gaze,» translated by Manos Hadziemmanouil and starring Grapsas, Savvidou and Andinoos Albanis. The small stage will open on October 31 with three modern Greek plays combined in one performance: «Constant Crying» by Ilias Polatos, «Versus» by Christos Strepkos and «Trust» by Nikos Lambropoulos. On January 6, Ariel Dorfman’s «Death of the Maiden» will be presented in a production translated by Christos Karchadakis and directed by Giorgos Sachinis, followed by Moliere’s «Tartuffe» on March 10, starring Kardoni and Grapsas. Hora: The New Stage and its new artistic director, Dimitris Lignadis, will present Christopher Marlowe’s «Doctor Faustus» (November 18), directed by and starring Lignadis, along with Giorgos Pyrpassopoulos; Sophocles’ «Electra» (November 29), directed by Efi Theodorou and starring Alexia Kaltsiki, Yiannos Perlengas and Myrto Rigou; Vassilis Katsikonouris’s «Milk» (February 2), directed by Nikos Mastorakis and starring Mania Papadimitriou and Constantinos Papachronis; and lastly, Shakespeare’s «Julius Caesar» (February 2), directed by Nikos Karathanou.

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