Aristophan’s Comedy The Birds on the Modern Greek Stage: Karolos Koun

Authors:

Pages: 83-96
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/AVAH9463

Abstract:

The article examines the staging of Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds in 1959/1962 by the director Karolos Koun and by the Art Theater/Θέατρο Τέχνης he founded in 1933. This comedy of Aristophanes impresses with a remarkable plot and compositional unity uncommon of the political comedy of the Classical era. It was created and imposed as an alternative to the “tradition” of the National Theatre, a new philosophy and aspiration for an innovative approach to ancient drama, different from the trends that had prevailed up to that point on the modern Greek stage. The main point, however, in Koun’s creative endeavors in this direction, focuses on the idea of ελληνικότητα, i.e. “Greekness”. The idea of ελληνικότητα as an ideological link between the performances of ancient drama on the modern Greek stage functions to a large degree as a cultural filter of stylistic characteristics, implementing an undeniably own “Greek” approach to this complex and delicate problem not only in Greece, but also far beyond its borders.

Keywords:

Ancient Greek comedy; Aristophanes; modern Greek theatre; Karolos Koun.

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