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This summer the Olympic Games are returning to their ancient birthplace and the city of their revival. Athletes from all nations will (hopefully) unite in Greece despite all the delays and irritating rumours.
The Athens Olympic Games are meant to combine history, culture and sports under the same spirit, and the annual Hellenic Festival will certainly be a success this year with a more than tempting and promising programme under Yiannis Karachissaridis, the General Manager of the Festival and George Voulgarakis, President of the Board of Directors. It seems they will succeed in their attempt, to make the Odeon of Herod Atticus the centre of attraction for the summer of 2004.
Seventy-seven performances - from May 1 to September 28-, two world premieres and a number of famous artists in Greece and abroad, flow these five months with music, theatre and dance.
It is however not only the return of the Olympic Games Hellas is celebrating, but almost half a century since the birth of Epidaurus Festival.
On the 24th of August 1955 the Athens Festival was inaugurated at the Odeon of Herod Atticus,  with a piece by Haendel orchestrated by Molinari, and performed by the Athens State Orchestra conducted by Theodor Vavagiannis.
The concept of a Festival that would be a necessary addition to the Epidaurus Festival of Greek Drama is attributed to the Minister of Presidency of the Papagos Government, Mr George Rallis. The Metropolitan Opera director Dinos Gianopoulos was called from the USA in 1955 to realize the project, and bring it to completion. The original idea expanded so that it included performances " of Operas, Concerts, Ancient Tragedy, and all kinds of happenings, which are inspired by Greek history and Mythology as well as Greek Literature, with the participation Greek Artists who pursue their distinguished career both in Greece and abroad, and of course important artists from all over the world".
The organization of the Athens Festival was taken over by the Hellenic Tourist Organization and the Ancient 2nd century. B.C Greco-Roman Odeon of Herod Atticus was chosen as its venue. The Odeon at the time was in a very bad state, although many concerts and theatre performances were given there from time to time. The program of the first Year of the Athens Festival expanded over 40 days, and was covered mainly by the Greek Opera, the National Theatre, and the Athens State Orchestra.
As the years passed by, the venue of the Festival expanded, and included underground backstage rooms for the artists, and the Greek Architect Dimitris Pikionis modified the whole area around the theatre and the Acropolis.
In its 45 years of existence, a great number of artists have performed for the Festival and the unique experience to present their art under the illuminated temple of Pallas Athena.
To name but a few, Maria Callas (1957), the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein (1959), the Royal Ballet Covent Garden with Margot Fonteyn (1961, 1966), and with Rudolph Nureyef (1963), the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic (1963) under Herbert von Karajan, (1962,1965), the 20th century Ballet with Maurice Bejart, the Kirov Ballet with Natalia Makarova (1966), Pablo Casals, David Oistrakh, (1966), the American Ballet Theatre with Carla Fracci (1970), the actor Derek Jacobi with the Prospect Theatre (1973), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Colin Davies (1975), the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Agnes Baltsa and Jose Carreras (1984), Martha Graham (1983), Luciano Pavarotti (1991), Montseratt Caballe (1992), the Monte Carlo Opera (1994), and many other artists and companies.
The Epidaurus Festival, which will be half a century old next year, is deeply rooted in the collective Greek conscience. The Epidavria, as the event was baptised, never lost its charm, not even in its worst moments, and is still the cultural landmark of the summer.
The first person to make the ancient theatre of Polyclitus reverberate again with ancient tragic poetry was director Dimitris Rondiris. In 1938, as managing director of the Greek National Theatre, he presented Sophocles' Electra in broad daylight with Eleni Papadaki as Clytemnestra and Katina Paxinou in the title role. The success of that experiment gave the green light to the Archaeological Council to move on with the restoration of the theatre, continuing in effect the work of archaeologist Panagis Kavadias, who had located the ancient theatre - designed by architect and sculptor Polyclitus in the late fourth century BC - under a densely wooded hilltop. The archaeologist had expressed the hope that his discovery would not become just another archaeological site. This is why he left a provision in his will that the inhabitants of the village of Ligourio, who had done the actual digging that brought to light the stonework of the terraces with pickaxes and their bare hands, should be allowed to attend the performances free of charge. For decades, those very villagers were the first critics: no dress rehearsal ever took place without their presence.
The Second World War and the difficult years of the ensuing Greek Civil War delayed Rondiris' plans. In 1954, as managing director of the National Theatre again, the drama teacher revived the ancient monument once more. Euripides' Hippolytus was presented at Epidaurus at dusk, and an owl, as if replacing the third bell, marked the beginning of the performance. Even today, spectators know that as soon as they hear the hoot of the owl, the performance is due to begin. The performance of Hippolytus - the dress rehearsal, as it was called, of the festival - convinced even the most reluctant among the decision makers that the idea of an annual festival was entirely feasible. Ten thousand spectators arrived using all forms of transport, by land or by sea, cramming the tiers.
The following year, in 1955, Emilios Hourmouzios took over from Rondiris as director of the National Theatre and the Epidavria became a regular annual event. Paxinou's unique interpretation in Euripides' Hecuba served as the official inauguration of the new festival. For 20 years, the National Theatre monopolised the performances. With a mixed male/female chorus practising all year round, it wrote some of the most glorious pages in its history. Indisputable sovereigns of the festival during that period were Katina Paxinou and Alexis Minotis. Next to them shone the star of Anna Synodinou, the 'Princess', as she was nicknamed after her successful appearance in the title role of Sophocles' Antigone in 1956, a performance that went down in history as 'Antigone's full house' since it attracted over 16,000 spectators. This was an all-time record that made influential columnist Dimitris Psathas write: 'Such a huge crowd is unprecedented, even by football or baseball standards. All those people came to the theatre for Sophocles, and if this doesn't mean something, what does?' The Epidaurus Festival confirmed the revival of Aristophanes, which was first started at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 1956, and continued one year later at Epidaurus with Lysistrata. Aristophanes became a permanent feature of the Epidaurus Festival.
The 1960s witnessed the presence of new blood at Epidaurus along with a whiff of scandal. Takis Mouzenidis directed The Madness of Hercules in 1960, a performance in which Thanos Kotsopoulos showed his mettle. Four years later, Alexis Solomos tried his hand at tragedy with a historic performance of Aeschylus' Suppliants, about which Iro Lambrou wrote: 'He showed daring, imagination and inventiveness.' One year earlier, in 1963, under the tutelage of Paxinou, Eleni Hadziargyri interpreted Io in Prometheus, a production that established Alexis Minotis as both a leading director and actor: a new tragedian was born. The decade closed with a huge, silly scandal. In 1969 Evangelos Fotiadis, appointed director of the National Theatre by the military junta, decided that Pavlos Mantoudis' costumes for Euripides' Electra were 'anti-Greek and of communist inspiration' and forbade their use. The performance was finally staged, against the will of director Takis Mouzenidis and the costume designer, with new costumes designed by Kleovoulos Klonis. Thirty years later, in the same tragedy with Lydia Koniordou in the leading role, Kostas Tsianos was using traditional Greek costumes that differed little from those designed for the 1969 performance.
In 1975, the National Theatre's monopoly was broken and the gates of the theatre were flung open for other companies as well. Karolos Koun and his Art Theatre Company staged the famous performance of The Birds and the State Theatre of Northern Greece presented Sophocles' Electra with Anna Synodinou and Nelly Angelidou, directed by Minos Volanakis. In the same year, Alexis Minotis returned to the theatre with his Oedipus at Colonus, a great moment in the history of the Epidaurus Festival.
More companies were added in the 1980s. This was also the time when new translations came to aid the performances
The Epidaurus Festival entered the new millennium with Sophocles' Antigone directed by Yorgos Kimoulis. The institution keeps going strong, open to new ideas and artists who will continue the work of the pioneers: directors, actors and stage designers like Klonis, costume designers like Antonis Fokas, choreographers like Maria Hors, and many others.
A few highlights from the Herodion Atticus in Athens 2004 are:
6/9, 10, 11, 12
Opera "Nabucco" by Giuseppe Verdi
Production: Greek National Opera
7/1, 2, 3
Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" by the theatre Yukiko Ninagawa
Production: Cultural Olympiad - Hellenic Festival
7/6
The Brazilian Gilberto Gil in concert
8/4
Aristophanes' "Ecclesiazusae" by the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kozani
9/4, 5
Euripides' "Iphigeneia at Aulis" by the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras
9/7, 8
Spectacular show by the Nanjing Municipal Beijing Opera Troupe
9/9
Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" by the Greek National Theatre
by the Hellenic Parliament
9/15
Aeschylus' "Eumenides" with Anna Synodimou at the main role. In Greek and ancient Greek.
9/16
In memory of Maria Callas
The Hellenic Festival celebrates the 50 years since the birth of the Epidaurus Festival ((1954 -2004) with 11 performances staged by 10 Greek and one Italian theatre company (Piccolo Teatro).
Starting on June 18, this year's programme includes:
6/18-19
Euripides' "The Trojan Women"
Theatre "Diadromi"
6/25-26
"Aristophanes in Theatre" by the Art Theatre
Production: Cultural Olympiad, Hellenic Festival
7/2-3
Euripides' "Bacchai"
Production: Hellenic Festival, Piccolo Teatro - Luca Ronconi
7/9-10
Euripides' "Hippolytus"
National Theatre
7/16-17
Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"
National Theatre
7/23-24
Euripides' "Andromache"
Spyros A. Evangelatos Amphi-Theatre - Municipal and Regional Theatre of Volos
7/30-31
Sophocles' "Philoctetes"
Municipal & Regional Theatre of Larissa, "Thessalian Theatre"
8/6-7
Aeschylus' "Myrmidons, Nereids, Phryges"
Cyprus Theatre Organisation
8/14-15
Aeschylus' "Eumenides"
Greek Stage. Anna Synodimou at the main role
8/20-21
Sophocles' "The Trachiniae"
State Theatre of Northern Greece
8/27-28
Aristophanes' "Wealth"
"Evmolpis."
In 1955 in the newspaper "Eleftheria daily", Dionyssios Romas pointed out the significance of the Epidaurus Festival in an article that could well have been written today:
"I do not know whether we Greeks understand the significance of the fact that we were lucky enough to witness the rebirth of the babbling brook that gave new life to these dead stones, these theatres, which systematic effort strives to turn yet again into "pan-Hellenic" meeting points, where thousands of modern people gather to pay tribute to art, the only goddess whose worship - though flagging at times - knows no end."
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