AEF2023: Women Walk Home

It’s that time of the year again, when Athenians start planning their summer holidays around the programme of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. The leading performing arts festival in Greece, and one of the oldest in Europe, returns between June 1st and August 26th for its 68th edition with a rich programme of events. As always, the main venues are the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the industrial complex of Pireos 260 and the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. Click here for our festival picks or head over to the official website for the full programme.

What makes a heroine? This is one of the questions posed by the SEASON Women Project who, in association with the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus, have undertaken the production of Women Walk Home which is to take place at Pireos 260. “Women Walk Home'' was a movement when thousands of Cypriot women marched silently in protest of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. 

Women Walk Home performance draws upon verbatim theatre, a type of documentary theatre that uses the actual spoken words of real people. The aim is to bring into official history and highlight women's experience and contribution. Using the testimonies of women who were part of the movement, the performance tackles the trauma of the war as well as the hope for peace. What’s interesting here is that while historical events are monitored a discussion is also initiated with the present.