Big names booked for theater festival
With names like Robert Wilson, Steven Berkoff and John Malkovich, the list of performances at this year’s upcoming Theater Beyond Borders festival appears very promising. The Theater Beyond Borders festival, organized by the Attiki Cultural Company, has brought to Athens many high-caliber theater performances and acclaimed actors since it appeared for the first time as an institution in 2005. Now, five years on, it is getting ready to once again host productions and premieres that have either just opened or are scheduled to travel on to Europe and the United States. On May 8 and 9, at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center’s Theatron venue (254 Pireos, Tavros, tel 212.254.0315), America’s avant-garde master Robert Wilson will appear for the first time in Greece in his capacity as an actor – an additional performance, meaning two shows on the day, has been scheduled for May 9. Wilson is scheduled to present Samuel Beckett’s «Krapp’s Last Tape,» which he also directs and for which he designed the lighting. It should be noted that the last time Wilson performed on stage was in 2000, with his take on «Hamlet.» Just a few days later, May 18-20, Steven Berkoff will follow suit with «Shakespeare’s Villains,» which he will stage at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation’s theater (206 Pireos, Tavros, tel 210.341.8550). The award-winning actor, director and playwright will make his Greek debut with a one-man show that provides insight into Shakespeare’s villainous characters and is based on original texts that Berkoff will interpret as well as providing commentary. The production has been very warmly received by critics in London as well as elsewhere around the world where it was seen earlier this year. John Malkovich, in his first theater appearance in Greece, will present Michael Sturminger’s «The Infernal Comedy: Confession of a Serial Killer» on May 25 and 26, at the Hellenic Cosmos’s Theatron. It is a special musical theater production for an actor, an orchestra and two sopranos; it further features the Vienna Academy Orchestra, under the baton of Martin Haselbock. Set to the music of Beethoven, Gluck, Mozart, Boccherini, Weber, Haydn and Vivaldi, the show portrays the life of Jack Unterweger, serial killer poet and journalist, in a challenging text. Malkovich has said that he has always felt challenged by the seduction that a serial killer can exude. All performances will have Greek supertitles; for further information, log on to www.attiki-cultural.org. Tickets are now available for all three shows and can be purchased at the box offices of both venues as well as at the Public stores in Syntagma Square and in Piraeus (152-154 Grigoriou Lambraki).
