Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae
The Cultural Society of Nea Kios presents the comedy of Aristophanes Thesmophoriazusae 2025, produced by the Municipality of Argos-Mycenae, on Sunday 5 October at 8pm at FOUGARO ARTCENTER.
Based on the translation of Pantelis Boukalas, the show draws its energy from the explosive satire of Aristophanes and updates it with references to the 1980s, while the stage aesthetic 'flirts' with pop culture, musical performance and the nighttime glamour of an era full of excess and theatricality.
Yannis Sariyannis proposes a directing approach that combines an expressionist gaze and the distancing techniques of Brecht with the game of theatre within theatre, shedding light on the status of women, social irony and the very notion of theatrical illusion. All this leads to a bold, humorous and politically sharp play which links the ancient text with the viewers of today.
Translation: Pantelis Boukalas
Directing - Dramaturgy: Yannis Sariyannis
Performed by the Theatrical Team of the Cultural Society of Nea Kios.
The performance is in Greek
Dramaturgical note
Thesmophoriazusae is a feast of transformations: women who talk, men in disguise, reversed roles, a world under satire. Aristophanes invites us on a feast where laughter becomes a weapon and theatricality is a way of revealing the truth.
Our show looks at the play through the mirror of the 1980s, a time full of colour, excess, music, pop glamour and political anxiety. In this encounter the ancient text becomes current, women secure a place on stage and the theatre gets back its explosive power.
The world presented on stage is structured under an expressionist gaze and a Brechtian distancing: the images are distorted in order to reveal, laughter opens room for thought and the audience is called upon to assume a critical stance against the spectacle itself. And at the centre, always, the theatre within theatre — for this play is a mirror of the stage itself, a commentary on what it means to perform, to play, to talk.
Thesmophoriazusae is a challenge; it challenges us to laugh, to recognise, to dispute—and, through the sarcasm of Aristophanes, to rethink our world.
For as Mr Savvas Paschalidis points out, "The theatre is not there to reaffirm its age, but to whisper to it what its age is afraid to hear."
Yannis Sariyannis, director & dramaturge
Production Credits
Choreography - Kinesiology: Irene Alexiou
Stage & Costume design: Assi Dimitrolopoulou
Music orchestration - Adaptations: Michalis Tetoros
Assistant Director: Dimitra Dede
Singing - vocals: Eleni Noni
Electric bass - vocals: Vassilis Kalagias
Piano: Andreas Bogas
Saxophone: Thanos Dimou
Trumpet: Michalis Tetoros
Percussion: Dimitris Mitropapas
Oriental - dance: Ioanna Kougia
Video art - editing: Seraphim Ziou
Lighting - Sound: Vangelis Malakos
Poster: Nikos Roumbakis
Constructions: Achilleas Bandanas, Elias Bandanas
Costume production: Nektaria Spinopoulou
Theatrical Team of the Cultural Society of Nea Kios
Cast:
MNESILOCHUS: Michalis Kallianos
EURIPIDES: Achilleas Bandanas
AGATHON'S SERVANT: Stefanos Maraggelis
AGATHON: Yannis Chrysikos
AGATHON'S CHORUS: Falia Vlassopoulou, Ioanna Kougia, Natasha Tzavara
THESMOPHORIAZUSAE:
KYRIKAINA: Eleni Konomara
CHORUS OF WOMEN: Eleni Katsikari, Sophia Lekka, Katerina Mitrosyli, Kallia Mpra, Anastasia Petropoulou, Maria Nikoladaki, Alexia Sariyanni, Kaiti Sariyanni, Garyfallia Hatzikonstantinou
CLEISTHENES: Stefanos Maraggelis
PRYTANIS: Elias Bandanas
ARCHER: Sotiria Papadopoulou
DEER: Ioanna Kougia
TALK SHOW HOST: Panagiotis Tassopoulos
INSTITUT DE BEAUTE: Maria Razi
