Drama buffs are in for a Tripolis treat
Fourteen plays – six of which will be performed for the first time – two Karaghiozis shadow-theater performances and two concerts, compose this year’s Tripolis Festival. A rather new event that is just in its third year, the Tripolis Festival will run from this Friday to July 24 and will take place throughout the city in the central Peloponnese, bringing the arts to its streets, theaters, public squares and parks, as well as to several of its cultural centers. Composer Mimis Plessas’s popular «Odes to the Moon» – a cycle of songs inspired by the moon – will inaugurate the program on Friday evening, while theater follows with Yiannis Ritsos’s «Ismene,» performed by the Kalamata Regional Theater on Saturday, and Peter Weiss’s «Mara Sad,» by the Nostalgia group on Sunday. This will be followed on July 4 by an OMMA Studio production based on Gluck’s «Orpheus and Eurydice,» «The Maids» by Jean Jenet, played by the Iniochos theater group on July 5 and the L’Eclats d’Etat Theater Company in «The String» – a puppet theater performance suitable for children on July 6. Aristophanes’ satire «Lysistrata» by the Tripolis theater group will be performed on July 7, the classic Greek Karaghiozis shadow puppet theater on July 8 and a mime performance titled «Between Dreams» on July 9. Some Shakespeare is also on the schedule, as the Corfu Regional Theater presents «The Merchant of Venice» on July 10, followed on July 12 by «Do You Love Me,» which is based on texts by Ronald D. Leng and adapted by the Noiti Grammi group. A small musical interlude is introduced on July 13 with a piano recital by Costas Mylonas. It’s back to theater on July 14 with Federico Garcia Lorca’s «Blood Wedding,» performed by the Agrinio Regional Theater, more Karaghiozis on July 15 and Sotiris Dimitriou’s «In the Current of Life,» performed by Dytika tis Polis company the following night. The last days of the festival will feature «Wedding Interrupted» on July 18, «Trains Sleep at Night» on July 19 and 20, Stratis Doukas’s «Story of a Prisoner» on July 21 and the charming tale of «The Little Prince» on July 24, the final day of the festival. European Union investment subsidies under the Third Community Support Framework (CSF III) will start being disbursed through banks after mid-October, the Economy and Finance Ministry said. Banks will replace existing intermediary agencies and will initially handle 270 million euros and their role will be expanded if judged successful.
