AEF2025: The two Oedipodes

The Athens Epidaurus Festival is celebrating its 70th anniversary and has begun rolling out its special anniversary programme. The first announcements cover the second leg of the festival, the performances at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, also known as Epidavria.

Caravans of Athenians embark on this cultural rite of passage, travelling on summer weekends to experience a performance at this historic amphitheatre, which seats almost 14,000 people. Plan ahead, and you could be among them.

Once seated, you’ll feel the anticipation of thousands around you. As the sun sets behind the orchestra—the circular stage—the chatter fades, leaving only the hum of cicadas and the distant calls of nightbirds. Then, a hush falls. Sometimes, you might even hear the actors' footsteps as they approach, just as they did 2,600 years ago.

This year’s Epidavria continues this tradition with eight performances, seven of which are world premieres. You can check out what’s been announced so far by clicking here.

As part of the Contemporary Ancients series, the Festival will showcase innovative and modern interpretations of ancient tragedies, performed at the Little Theatre of Epidaurus, offering a fresh perspective on timeless works. Read more about this here.

Open to visitors throughout the festival, the exhibition Antigone: Law and Disobedience traces the play’s evolution over 70 years at Epidaurus, featuring rare items from the Festival’s archive, along with photographs, costumes, models, and audiovisual material from Greece and abroad.

Celebrating 50 years of remarkable theatrical vision, acclaimed Greek director Yannis Houvardas takes on the monumental task of adapting and directing Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus as a unified stage production.

This powerful narrative unfolds in reverse, beginning with Oedipus’ final moments and tracing back through his tragic journey, brought to life by a talented ensemble of Greek actors. The two plays explore his rise to power, the devastating revelation of his fate in Oedipus Rex, and his search for redemption in Oedipus at Colonus—a meditation on fate, identity, and the consequences of one’s actions.