My dream to stage “Bacchae” of Euripides since 1995 in a theatre performance is at last realized after 13 years.
The ancient Greek tragedies, beyond sensational art works, are also the starting points of the western civilization, that is the beginning of our civilization-and for this reason they should concern us more than any genre of theatre. The objective of my direction for the said performance is not to present a super show, but to try to understand and interpret the genius of Euripides: his mind and thinking, the poetry and the manner in which he treats speech. The set I selected to use is utterly austere and this because, in my opinion, the work of Euripides is a super show by itself: the Dorian order of its speech and the hymn to the female gender, which was my motive power to innovate, staging “Bacchae”, exclusively with actresses.
My choice to work mainly with new debutante-but talented-actresses- that belong to the same generation, “regardless of how much famous or not they are” is my need to work with people that are able to offer me and share with me their energy, their passion for the theatre and their ambition to prove to themselves and the rest of the people that they deserve to be on the stage. I wish to cooperate with people who dream, hope, risk and mainly with people that they do not consider that they know everything….
It is the second time that I direct an ancient drama and a work of Euripides and the first time I tour abroad with my Theatre Scheme, hosted by culture entities of more than 10 countries, while my performance has the honor to be held under the auspices of the Greek Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Transport and Media, the Organization of Greek Culture Promotion of the Ministry of Culture, as well as of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Cypriot Republic, being aware of the responsibility to represent with my theatre production, Greek culture and the quality Greek theatre abroad.
Although I have recently returned to the artistic circles, after willingly abstaining for five years, I believe greatly to my artistic creation that I started, I had the attendance of and finally completed, always guided by my personal aesthetics and personal view of direction which has been followed by all the other contributors of this performance. I don't really know how every spectator will embrace and recognize this inspiration, but I' m foremost satisfied I' m going to present a creation of fine art which is going to completely reflect my personal view and interpretation of this exceptional tragedy by Euripides. Nevertheless, I believe that the perfect spectator for our performance would be the one who shares the same way of thinking as the ancient Greek spectator: to be aware of the myth itself and to come to the theatre prepared in order to watch its specific artistic treatment.
Leonidas Loizides
