AEF2023: Hecuba

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.

Io Voulgaraki directs Euripides' play Hecuba, which is set shortly after the end of the Trojan War, right before the Greeks leave Troy. Hecuba, the former queen of Troy, laments the loss of her daughter and vows vengeance for her son's murder. Her grief is so profound that everything appears to hover between reality and the metaphysical, while the living and the dead seem to be caught in a limbo communicating with each other.

The director attempts to open up a stimulating dialogue with the present and tackle with the subject of how willing we are to mourn in today's turbulent world, employing a new translation specifically produced for this performance by translator and essayist Helene Varopoulou, as well as a large ensemble of great performers and musicians. The Trojan Women, Euripides’ tragedy set during the Trojan War is also being staged in this year’s AEF.