“Gardzienice” avant-garde theatrical troupe will perform two renditions of plays by Euripides at the Stary Theater under the direction of world-renowned Wlodzimierz Stanislawski

 From May 17-20, the ?Gardzienice? avant-garde theatrical troupe will perform at the Stary Theater. The troupe will play two spectacles by Euripides under the direction of Wlodzimierz Stanislawski: ?Electra? and ?Iphigenia in Aulis.?
The plays are shown as part of the Re-Visions/Antiquity Festival which began in January 2007. In the festival?s first season in 2005, Stary Theater reconsidered traditional romantic repertoires for antiquity.

What differentiates Gardzienice from the other theatrical troupes is their aim to bring the rhythmic singing and body movements of the ancient Greeks alive on-stage. The plots of the classical works by Euripides are only a pretext to experiment with Ancient Greek ? a language whose sound can only be imagined and predicted.

In Electra, the tragic story of a woman whose love for her father pushed her to revenge and ultimately the murder of her own mother, the actors exemplify every physical aspect of the emotions directing our behavior. By building an alphabet of gestures and sounds, they make references to the ancient art of cheironomy (the use of the hand to direct a singing performance).

Iphigenia in Aulis is a dramatic story oriented around the question of sacrifice. Iphigenia, a sister of Electra, is to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to placate the goddess Artemis, so that the war ships may start their bloody journey to Troy.

In the play, viewers will have a closer look at what it means to sacrifice in the name of abstract ideas, society or patriotism contrasted with questions of freedom, obedience and the legacy of private feelings and thoughts. The performance is in Polish, English and Ancient Greek. The scenes are build by the use of movements, gestures and singing making the text understandable in every language.

 
Electra starts at 19:15 and Iphigenia in Aulis at 20:30.

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