AEF2025: The Years

The Athens Epidaurus Festival celebrates its 70th edition in 2025, with 95 days of artistic brilliance featuring over 3,000 artists from 14 countries. From iconic venues in Athens like the Herodeion, Pireos 260, and the revived City of Athens Lycabettus Theatre, to the grand finale in Epidaurus, the festival brings the world’s top performances to Greece’s stages.

This year’s programme includes world premieres, new commissions, and exciting artistic strands such as Contemporary Ancients, which reimagines Greek tragedy, and Fierce Women in Performance, exploring gender and power. The GRAPE – Greek Agora of Performance platform highlights emerging Greek talent, while the Subset Festival brings experimental sounds to the stage. Cycles Roots revisits folk traditions with a fresh twist.

Check out our curated picks from this year's programme here.

The Years is a powerful and poetic stage adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s Nobel Prize-winning memoir, directed by Eline Arbo. Five actresses share the voice of one woman, weaving together personal memories with the sweeping changes of post-war Europe. Through fragments of story, music and archival footage, The Years reflects on love, class, politics and womanhood — showing how everyday details are shaped by historic shifts.

Arbo, recently appointed Artistic Director of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, is known for her bold, thoughtful work that centres strong female perspectives. With The Years, she brings to the stage the haunting clarity of Ernaux’s book — a story that is deeply individual, yet echoes across generations.