2005 version of classic Cervantes masterpiece ‘Don Quixote’ on stage
Four hundred years after the first edition of Miguel Cervantes’s world-famous novel «Don Quixote,» the Greek National Theater is staging the masterpiece at its Children’s Stage (Katina Paxinou Stage), hence participating in the International Cervantes Year. Stavros Tsakiris, who adapted and directed the play, as well as the actors and almost all other participating artists were present at the recent press conference. Tsakiris summed up the meaning of the play as «everyone’s obligation to listen to themselves and back their personal choices, even if they contradict the prevailing mentality.» In the National Theater’s play, Cervantes appears not to have settled all scores from the very first edition of his novel to this day, so two lawyers visit his 10th-in-line grandson, who is a wandering circus actor, and demand the money. Under the circus tent, all the adventures from «Don Quixote» come to life – the magical forests, the knights of the mirrors, love and the heavenly creatures. Actor Costas Zacharakis seemed particularly emotional about the part of Don Quixote, which he is playing. «When I started out in theater, I used to go to Manos Katrakis’s office and he would read to me extracts from ‘Don Quixote’ that he himself had staged. He had wished for me to play this part. Today, I dedicate it to him,» said Zacharakis and added that the National Theater has staged «Don Quixote» in the past, under the direction of Katrakis. Valeria Christodoulidou plays the part of Dulcinea and Zafeiris Katramadas that of the innkeeper. The sets and costumes were designed by Eleni Manolopoulou and the choreography is by Apostolia Papadamaki; the music, which can be heard for almost the entire duration of the play, was written by Stefanos Korkolis. National Theater Children’s Stage, 48 Panepistimiou, tel 210.330.1881.
