Photo: Nick Knight
Theater

Apocalypse

Thanos Papakonstantinou

Dates

Tickets

5 — 20 €

Venue

Onassis Stegi

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Wednesday - Sunday
Time
20:30
Venue
Main Stage

Information

Tickets

Onassis Stegi Friends & General Presale: from 5 SEP 2019, 17:00

Full price: 7, 12, 15, 20 €
Reduced, Friend & Groups 5-9 people: 10, 12, 16 €
Groups 10+ people: 9, 11, 14 €
Νeighborhood residents: 7 €
People with disabilities & Unemployed: 5 € | Companions: 10 €

Group ticket reservations at groupsales@onassis.org

Duration

1 hour and 40 minutes (no interval)

General

Strobe lights will be used during the performance.

On Friday 18 & at the weekends 12-13 and 19-20 October 2019 with English surtitles.

No performances on Mondays-Tuesdays.

Introduction

The Second Coming, the four horsemen, the seven seals, the Lamb of God, 666. One of the most influential and also most confounding texts in human history provides material for a contemporary on-stage ritual.

Photo: Nick Knight

Who is deserving of eternal life?

It has been exciting imaginations since the first century CE, summoning utopias, dystopias, and revolutionary movements. It is divine prophecy? Escatological preaching? A message of patience, belief, and hope in a better future? A call to insurrection? What’s certain is that this ominous phantasmagoria is a world-changing text.

A director of the new generation, with an idiosyncratic visual sensibility, Thanos Papakonstantinou pays close attention to the Apocalypse of John, takes inspiration for a contemporary ritual, and notes:

“Behind every insurrection is the desire for a radical reformation of humankind and of the world.

Behind every move toward reforming humankind and the world is the violence of the harvest.

Behind the violence of the harvest is the hope for rebirth.

Behind the hope for rebirth is the joy of destruction.

Behind the joy of destruction is the fear of death.

Behind the fear of death is the belief in beauty.

Behind the belief in beauty, there is light.

The myth of the Apocalypse is a kind of parable for the constant transformations of the human faith in a better world to come.”

Photos from the performance

Image1/6
Photo: Elina Giounanli
Read more

According to the Christian tradition, the creator of the Apocalypse (95-96 CE) is John the Evangelist, exiled from Ephesus to Patmos.

The Apocalypse (“The Book of Revelation”) is the only apocryphal text included in the Canon of the Bible.

Here are some appreciations of the text of the Apocalypse:

“A text not of one age or generation, but for all ages and all generations” (George Seferis)

“A book of comfort and hope” (Jean Delimo, historian)

“A terrifying meteorite of a text that broke free from the Old Testament’s graviational field and dropped into the orchard of the Gospels” (Ilias Petropoulos)

“It is not merely a biblical description but a very practical possibility” (Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, former General Secretary of the United Nations)

“A source for various expectations and revolts. A permanent prototype of the anticipation of a disaster and a hope for transformation. A tool for challenging any kind of established meaning.” (Umberto Eco)

Part of the research for the performance took place during the 12-hour action “Hack the drama” of the Onassis Stegi’s Dramaturgy Department, which took place on 9 and 16 July, 2019, run by Iliana Dimadi and Estelle Papadimitriou, with the valuable contribution of Savvas Michail (doctor, theologian, political activist), Giorgos Koutsodiakos (theologian, vivlioipallilos), Eurydice Kravariti (pathologist and geriatrician), Elias Stouraitis (historican and creator of educational computer games for children), Christina Chrysanthopoulou (VR artist), Christos Vrettos (ecoanthropologist), and Tina Mandilara (journalist and book critic). On the part of the Stegi, co-coordinators were Poka-Yio (artist and visual curator), Iraklis Papatheodorou and Katerina Varda (Department of Digital Development), Christos Sarris (cinematography and documentation), and Eirilena Tsami (production).
Parallel Event

Thursday 10 October

After performance talk
Moderated by Tina Mandilara, journalist and book critic

Credits

Concept & Direction
Thanos Papakonstantinou
Translation
Michaela Pliaplia
Set & Costumes Design
Niki Psychogiou
Music composition and electronics programming
Panos Iliopoulos
Music direction and coordination, pipe organ
Markellos Chryssicos
Movement Design
Nadi Gogoulou
Lighting Design
Christina Thanasoula
Sculpture
Alekos Bourelias
Assistant to the Director
Constantina Aggellopoulou
Assistant to the Set Designer – Costume Design
Marina Mourtzi
Assistant Lighting Designer
Semina Papalexopoulou
Sound
Manolis Aggelakis
Hair
Constantinos Koliousis
Make up
Constantina Paspali
Live electronics
Constantinos Tsiolis
Performers
Alexia Kaltsiki, Marianna Dimitriou, Kalliopi Simou, Eleni Moleski, Kleopatra Markou, Thanassis Dovris, Sotiris Tsakomidis, Marios Panagiotou, Miltiadis Fiorentzis, Yorgos Dikaios
Participating also
Pantelis Kalogerakis, Constantina Kaltsiou, Loukas Kyriazis, Maria Manta, Yiannis Batsis, Grigoria Oikonomaki, Rafael Sidiropoulos, Constantina Scandali, Dimitris Charalampopoulos, Evi Chroni
Children
Constantinos Tsakomidis, Markos Somaripas-Chronopoulos
Musicians
Thodoris Vazakas (percussion), Kostas Gatsios (bass clarinet), Alexis Karaiskakis (cello), Spiros Moschonas (bass trombone), Eleftheria Togia (viola), Dimitris Tigkas (double bass)
Surtitles Translation
Memi Katsoni
Simultaneous Surtitling
Yannis Papadakis
Produced by
Onassis Stegi
Production management & Line Production
Phorminx

Special thanks for their valuable help during the research and preparation of the production: Panagiotis Andriopoulos, Stavros Zouboulakis, Sofia Katsoulieri, Nona Moleski, Nikos Panagiotou, Kalliroi Papadopoulou, Demonsthenes Papamarkos, Nektarios Stergiopoulos, Sakis Tolis, Michel Fais and Τesi Stavrou, Panagiotis Psychogios, Panos and Nana Papakonstantinou

Embedded media

If you want to enjoy embedded rich media, please customize your cookie settings to allow for Performance and Targeting cookies. Your data may be transferred to third-party services such as YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud and Issuu.

Customize Cookies