Apocalypse

Thanos Papakonstantinou

Dates

Prices

5 — 20 €

Location

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.

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

    Image 1 / 6

    Photo: Elina Giounanli

    Image 2 / 6

    PHOTO: ELINA GIOUNANLI

    Image 3 / 6

    PHOTO: ELINA GIOUNANLI

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    PHOTO: ELINA GIOUNANLI

    Image 5 / 6

    PHOTO: ELINA GIOUNANLI

    Image 6 / 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

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