Submitted by:
Sofia Kasviki
Athens, Greece
In Greece you will not find any shiny contests like the Oscars, so actors learn to be more humble. They still aim high but they don’t turn out to be conceited…or at least some of them! So, if you are a Greek artist and you like performing at the theater, your dream is one day to play a role in an ancient Greek drama (tragedy or comedy) at the theater of Epidaurus.
The theater was constructed in 340BC and it is part of a number of buildings devoted to the god Asclepius, the god of medicine and healing. The first performances started as apart of the honors to the god, together with athletic events, sacrifices, etc. and the audience was mostly made up of the sick people that were accommodated at the facilities of the temple, their attendants, and pilgrims.
Theater of Epidaurus
The theater itself has great acoustics. Imagine that it fits 14.000 people and no microphones are needed to hear the actors performing even if you sit at the top level! Even after the damages from humans and time through ages, it stills operates incredibly well. The theater of Epidaurus, together with the sanctuary of the god and the tholos (a round shaped building, part of the temple) are on the list of UNESCO’s world heritages. To visit it on a regular day you need a car (this will also give you the chance to see the places around, like in every trip!) or “just” one bus that takes you to the village nearby and then another bus to visit the area devoted to Asclepius. For the days with the performances there are several buses and you can find information at the place where you get your tickets. And don’t be grumblers…what would you do if you were planning the trip 2500 years earlier?
Asclepion at Epidaurus, a sanctuary dedicated to healing
Back to the god Asclepius and his worship – it should be mentioned that considering theater as a way to heal your soul was a common belief in the ancient times. Aristotle in his “Ars Poetica” supports that the ultimate purpose of tragedy is to clean up your soul (catharsis) from the same troubles the heroes are suffering through fear and remorse. Back then, theater was also a means to educate people. In ancient times, when only rich people had the privilege to get educated, theater was filling the gap. It was the second and most important school, accessible to everybody.
Visiting Epidaurus nowadays is not only a matter of prestigious cultural profile (because for some people, it is only like this). If you live in Athens, you spend two hours driving through a tiring road, you see mostly sad stories, you wait at least one hour to leave because of the traffic at the parking exit, and then you drive back to the same bad road. What makes all the trouble worth it is that the place is so unique that you feel directly connected to the past. Watching a play originally designed to be presented there sets you back to the point where you decide to take care of your soul. Ancient dramas are closely linked to the present. Issues like morality against political power (Antigone by Sophocles), the grief of the loser (The Persians by Aeschylus), or the cruelty of the winner (The Trojan Women by Euripides) at a lost war were and will be diachronic. As an actor, you are the link between the past and the present. You bring the words to the light and you set up the scene. As a spectator, you are the one to whom everything is addressed. You are the same person as the one that was occupying your very seat 2.500 years ago. Somebody tries to teach you not to make the same mistake again. The case is that you probably cannot do anything to change the world but hopefully one day things will get better. Until then you need a persistent reminder that what you do is not the way things should be.
Back on track, the theater is more than rocks. It is the most well preserved “wormhole” of the human existence.
An evening performance at the Theater of Epidaurus
If you ever get lucky enough, try to take the trip and combine it with a performance. The costumes, the lights, the director, the performers, everything might disappoint you, but the theater will not!
Photo credits: photo of theater by Rosino; photo of Asclepion by Scott Zuke; photo of evening performance by Rogier Mulder.
Theater of Epidaurus (Wikipedia)
Buses from Athens to Ligourio (in Greek)
I would looove to see Antigone there, I loved reading that play, and this atmosphere sounds great for seeing it performed. I guess I just have to start learning Greek too now! :-/
You can’t imagine how it feels like… It was the first tragedy I ever saw at the theater and TOTALLY worth it!
You described the feeling pretty well, however it is an once-in-a-lifetime experience to watch a performance at Epidaurus theater and therefore it’s unable for someone to be specific and accurate when talking about it. Magic runs through this place, it makes you feel like a dot in the whole universe and forget your little routine problems. And then it makes you feel that you are a powerful Human being, responsible for the future of mankind.