“The Circle of the Square” by Dimitris Dimitriadis | Direction: Dimitris Karantzas

As part of the hommage to Dimitris Dimitriadis, three more works of his will be presented as play readings: “Evacuation,” by Yannis Kokkos, “Phaethon” by the Vasistas theater group, and “Touching the Seabed” by Elli Papakonstantinou. The readings will be fleshed out with discussions between members of the Greek intellectual and artistic scene.

Dimitris Dimitriadis was born in Thessaloniki in 1944. In 1963, and with a scholarship from the Belgian government, he studied theater and film in Brussels, at the Institut national supérieur des Arts du Spectacle (INSAS). In 1966, he wrote his first play “The Price of Resistance in the Black Market” (originally written in French), which was later staged in Paris, shortly after the events of May ’68; it was staged at the Théâtre de la Commune d’Aubervilliers and directed by the leading French director Patrice Chéreau, who also played the character of the King. More prose pieces, poems, and, naturally, theater plays will follow, including “The New Church of Blood” (1983), “Elevation” (1991), “The Unknown Harmony of the Next Century” (1993), “The Beginning of Life” (1995), “The Stunning of Animals Before the Slaughter” (2000), “Oblivion and Four Other Monologues” (2002), “Settlement Proceedings” (2003), “Ulysses” (2003), “Ithaca” (2004), “The Circle of the Square” (2006), “Homer” (2006), “Insenso” (2007), “Chrysippus” (2008), “Touching the Seabed” (2008), “Cassandra’s Annunciation” (2009) “Labour (Tokos)” (2009). Most of his work was published by the Greek editorial houses Shakespearikon, Indiktos, and Agra.

Since 1971, Dimitriadis is also professionally involved with translation. He has translated, among others, works by Jean Genet, J.-P. Sartre, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, Costas Axelos, Witold Gombrowicz, Molière, Michel Butor, Willian Shakespeare, Gérard de Nerval, Marguerite Duras, Georges Courteline, Maurice Maeterlinck, Honoré de Balzac, Bernard-Marie Koltès, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Samuel Beckett, Julien Green, Emil Cioran, Tennessee Williams, Alain Robbe-Grillet, as well as ancient Greek drama plays – tragedies by Aeschylus (“Oresteia”) and Euripides (“The Phoenician Women,” “Hippolytus,” “Helen,” “Iphigenia en Tauris”).

“I hate this country. It has devoured my bowels. I’m writing to you because together we craved for these bowels to be fertile…” In 1978, his first prose piece “Dying as a Country” is published (Agra Editions, Athens) and creates a sensation, remaining a milestone of Greek modernism to this day. At the time, writer, translator, and Hellenist Michel Volkovitch wrote an article about it for “Le Monde”: “From time to time, the history of literature is marked by certain lonesome works, in which the perfection in the expression of despair or gruesomeness makes them sparkle like black diamonds. ‘Dying as a Country’ belongs in this impressive category. Can we dive deeper in the bowels of the human being than this book does?”

When Dimitris Karantzas (1987) directed Chekhov’s “Ivanov” in 2010, still at the young age of 22, he amazed audiences and critics alike with his idiosyncratic talent. This year, he directs Luigi Pirandello’s “So It Is (If You Think So)” for the National Theatre of Greece, in a performance where Xenia Kalogeropoulou plays the lead part.

* “Touching the Seabed” is available from Indiktos Editions. On the occasion of the tribute to Dimitris Dimitriadis, “Evacuation” and “Phaethon” are available by Shakespearikon Editions, whereas “The Circle of the Square” is available by Nefeli Editions (as part of the series “The Language of Theater”).

Tuesday 15 October - Upper Stage | Discussion after the reading “Ekkenosis”

Friday 18 October - Main Stage | Discussion after the reading “The Circle of the Square”

Tuesday 22 October - Upper Stage | Discussion after the reading “Phaethon”

Sunday 27 October - Upper Stage | Discussion after the reading “Touching the Bottom of the Sea”