In the midst of rehearsals for the upcoming world premiere at the Epidaurus Festival, the cast and crew of Sophocles‘ Antigone, as directed by Ulrich Rasche, held a press conference at the Goethe Institute in Athens, on Monday 19 May 2025. The current artistic director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, Katerina Evangelatos, welcomed the German director for the second time in Greece, while the new artistic director of the National Theatre of Greece, Argyro Chiotis, participated in the coordination of the press conference, as the performance is a co-production of the two organizations, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

The conference gradually took the form of an open dialogue between the audience, the journalists and the director, as Rasche’s radical approach to the character of Creon will not move within the manichean framework of the approaches usually taken by directors to Sophocles’ masterpiece tragedy.

Giorgos Gallos, who will play Creon, together with the rest of the actors of the performance, stressed the importance of the speech in the show, but also of the actor’s body, which is called upon to survive in a spinning stage-fate, as envisioned by the German director in his adaptation.

The performance is nearing completion, with Greek and German contributors, and is expected to be presented on 27, 28 and 29 June 2025 at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.

Credits

Translator Nikos Α. Panagiotopoulos• Director– Set Decorator Ulrich Rasche • Dramaturgy Antigone Akgün • Music– Sound design Alfred Brooks • Costumes Angelos Mentis • Lighting Design Eleftheria Deko• Chorus choreographed by Yannik Stöbener • Assistant Director David Moser • Assistant set designer Lukas Kötz • Dramatologist Eri Kyrgia • Musical Training Melina Peonidou • Assistant Director Thomais Triantafyllidou • Assistant set designer Evangelos Agatsas• Assistant musical conductor Yannis Arapis • Assistant Costume Designer Stavroula Papapostolou• Assistant lighting Designer Nasia Lazou

Cast Giorgos Gallos Creon, Dimitris Kapouranis Aemon, Cora Karvouni Antigone, Filareti Komninou Tiresias, Kitty Paitazoglou Ismeni, Thanos Tokakis Guardian

Chorus (alphabetically) George Ziakas, Dimitris Kapouranis, Marios Kritikopoulos, Ioannis Bastas, Vassilis Boutsikos, George Partalidis, Thanasis Raftopoulos, Gal Robisa, Giannis Tsoumarakis, Stratis Hadjistamatiou

Live performance of the music Nefeli Stamatogiannopoulou double bass, Haris Pazaroulas double bass, Nikos Papavranousis percussion, Evangelia Stavrou percussion