Racine’s ‘Andromache’ at the Herod Atticus Theater
The story is set in the first weeks after the Trojan War. Andromache, the widow of Hector, is in Epirus with her son Astyanax, as a slave of Pyros, the son of Achilles. Orestes arrives intending to take away the young Astyanax on behalf of the Greeks, who fear that the youth will seek revenge for the events in Troy. The story unfolds with a series of tragic developments, murders, and paranoia, in a classic French fashion, as told by Jean Racine. The French dramatist’s version of «Andromache,» will be staged on Saturday at the Herod Atticus Theater. Written in 1687, the work established Racine as one of his period’s leading writers. «The objective of this performance is not the revival of French classicism,» noted its director, Dimitris Mavrikios, «but to honor, along with Racine, the patriarch of European theater. In serving its basic objective, the performance takes from Euripides freely, as is the case in Racine’s work.» Stage and costume design is by Eleni Manolopoulou; music by Nikos Kypourgos; lights by Vassilis Papaconstantinou. The production’s cast features Lydia Fotopoulou, Nikos Karathanos, Christos Loulis, Maria Kehayoglou, Dimitris Daskas, Eugenia Apostolou, Tatiana Papamoschou, and, in the children’s roles, Christos Thalassinos, Iason Santixis and Constantinos-Fragiskos Psyllakis.
