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Ancient Greece will be brought to life at Ponteland Community High School, UK, thanks to a specially-commissioned adaptation of the classic play, Antigone.

Eight days of intensive rehearsal, with the young cast working until 9pm each evening, got under way this week to bring the play, written by Sophocles more than 2,500 years ago, to the stage.

The school’s drama studio will be transformed into the ancient city of Thebes as 24 year 9 students, who plan to take GCSE drama next year, hold two performances for youngsters from other Ponteland schools and two for the wider community at 1.30pm and 7.30pm on Wednesday, June 20 and Thursday, June 21.

The project will be directed by David Evans of Forge Solutions, a company specialising in drama productions for schools and the wider community. David trained and worked as a professional actor and director before starting a teaching career. He has directed more than 50 drama productions for young people, gaining a reputation for excellence along the way.

Ponteland High headteacher Stephen Prandle said: “This project is an excellent means of using the time between the end of the students’ SAT exams and the start of their GCSE studies. It will give these young people an opportunity to work with professionals on creating an outstanding drama production, learning through experience how a play is staged while developing their teamwork skills and self-confidence.”

Antigone was written in around 441BC, one of three plays telling the tragic story of Oedipus and his family. It concerns a clash of values between Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, and Creon, the ruler of Thebes. Antigone was prepared to die for her belief that duty to the gods and family outweighed all else, while Creon insisted on obedience to man-made laws.

Fresh take on 19th century idyll > Anestis Azas, 29, stages ‘The Lover of the Shepherdess’ for the Athens Festival at Scholeion

The idyll by Dimitris Koromilas ‘The Lover of the Shepherdess’ is presented in a fresh and youthful fashion by 29-year-old director Anestis Azas at the Scholeion venue of the Athens Festival. ‘We tried to underscore the religious character of the play,’ he explains. ‘The role played by religion in our lives and in society more generally.’

Anestis Azas’s first stint as a stage director at the Epi Kolono Theater last winter was a success. The dramatic idyll by Dimitris Koromilas, “The Lover of the Shepherdess,” presented in a fresh and youthful fashion, did not, however focus on the romance between Liakos and Kroustallo.

The 29-year-old director, who lives in Berlin, had something very different in mind when he began his treatment of the play three years ago. Still a student at the time, and with the help of Angeliki Kontis, who designed the sets and costumes for the production, the pair wanted to show their work in Greece, but with a play that was “very Greek” and could be approached from a social and political angle. The play, the director admits, “clicked” from the outset. The two artists came to Athens, sought a theater that would meet their needs and scouted for actors for the production which was originally financed by Azas’s film school in Germany. That was the beginning, and now Azas is showing a new and improved version of the idyll at the Athens Festival’s Scholeion venue until Sunday.

Hugely into heavy metal as a teenager and then into classic Greek rebetika, a fan of filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and stage director Dimitar Gochev, one wonders what could possibly have drawn this young man to Koromilas’s 19th century idyll. It wasn’t the genre that won him over, Azas says. “We tried to underscore the religious character of the play,” he explains. “The role played by religion in our lives and in society more generally. I wanted to make a comment on the separation of the church and state, but in the end the material took us to a more timeless theme.”

The story of the beau, in this case Liakos, a poor young man who is not granted the hand of his beloved Kroustallo because her mother wishes her to marry a wealthier man, is a familiar one since childhood. Azas directed the play around the threat of a curse. “In the story, the threat of a curse is what brings a happy ending to the love affair. In our play, you won’t see this in the finale. I edited the last act and gave it a different resolution,” he says.

The religious element to which he wanted to draw attention is apparent from the very first scene, starting with a votive offering before the action unfolds, which is not true to Koromilas’s original text. Further emphasis is also placed on the music, which was penned by actor Costas Korakis and marries the accordion with percussion in a medley spanning all genres from traditional Greek dances to the tango.

Azas’s family hails from Asia Minor, and none had anything to do with the arts. His need for something different first stirred in adolescence. He began watching films and gradually, theater. He would skip school to attend screenings at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and later enrolled at Aristotle University’s Drama School with a view to becoming an actor. Soon, however, he realized that he had neither the patience nor the inclination for it. He wanted to leave Greece, to live in a city where things were happening in the arts. Now, six years after making that first move that took him to Germany, he sees things a little differently: “The situation in Berlin is fiercely competitive. There are a lot of artists and few jobs. It is not a rich city, but this does give it a more human face,” says Azas.

Unlike what happens with most Greeks returning from abroad, in Athens Azas found a city that was wide open. “The biggest problem here is financial and a lack of organization in theaters. The way in which theaters function as non-profit bodies makes things especially difficult. In Greece you get the impression that theater, from a political perspective, is more about entertainment and commerce that a cultural commodity and an art that should be funded by the state irrespective of its profitability. Conditions are harder here in comparison to Germany, where artists are given a chance without expectations. On the other hand, though, here the theater scene is more open. People are not suspicious and they have shown us that they are thirsty for alternative proposals.”

His goal? “I am interested in political theater. Not as a manifesto, but in this society, which is so dominated by television terrorism and television obsession, I want to see theater that asks questions.”

The anxiety of a young artist is the same everywhere, he admits. “It’s hard anywhere you go. It’s just that in Germany the artistic result is not judged in terms of commercial success. There is more freedom to experiment, to try new things.”

Scholeion Venue, 52 Pireos Street, Moschato, Athens. Tickets are available at the Athens Festival box office, 39 Panepistimiou Street, Athens, tel 210 3272000 and at the theater.

The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation is organizing ‘Apollo Delios’ for early September > Acclaimed maestro Daniele Gatti will be conducting the Filarmonica della Scala

The island of Delos will provide the awe-inspiring setting for “Apollo Delios,” a spectacular ballet and classical music event in early September. Under the baton of Daniele Gatti, the Filarmonica della Scala will perform Stravinsky’s “Apollo Musagete” as well as Mahler’s Symphony No 1, at an event organized by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation with the support of the Attiki Cultural Society. The orchestra will be joined by soloists of the Teatro alla Scala Ballet and principal dancer Roberto Bolle.

The performance will take place at Delos’s striking ancient ruins on September 1, with the permission of the Central Archaeological Council which seldom allows events on the island, although the precise location has yet to be decided. In order to protect the archaeological site, no more than 500 people will be able to attend and women should not wear high heels. So as not to disappoint ballet and music lovers, the production will also be staged at the Athens’ Herod Atticus Theater on September 3.

“Holding an important cultural event at a venue that is of great significance for Greeks adds to Greek cultural life,” said Minister of Culture Giorgos Voulgarakis at a press conference yesterday. “The Ministry views the Onassis Foundation as its strategic partner. It promotes Greece abroad, through its initiatives both in Greece and abroad.”

“Our aim is to promote Greek culture in its international dimension,” said the Foundation’s President, Antonis Papadimitriou. He explained that the foundation believes in the continuity of Greek culture through the ages, from ancient times to the birth of the modern Greek state, adding that Greek culture is an inexhaustible treasure for the future. Their most recent cultural activity, the exhibition “Athens-Sparta: From the 8th to the 5th Century BC,” which was held at the foundation’s New York branch, was a great success and will soon open at Sparta’s Olive and Oil Museum.

Founded by Claudio Abbado in 1982, the Filarmonica della Scala, which had Riccardo Muti as principal conductor from 1987 to 2005, has gained international acclaim. It has worked with distinguished maestros such as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa and Yuri Termikanov, as well as renowned soloists including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Daniele Gatti has been music director of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 1996. His numerous recordings, many of which were performed with the London Philharmonic, include compositions by Mahler, Prokofiev and Bela Bartok. He has collaborated with high-caliber orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Roberto Bolle, who was nominated resident guest artist at the Teatro alla Scala in 1998, has performed with the Royal Ballet, Berlin’s Staatsoper and the Stuttgart Ballet, among others. In 2002, he performed at Buckingham Palace as part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, in an event broadcast worldwide by the BBC.

The Delos spectacle will be broadcast by the Greek state television ERT, both nationally and abroad via satellite. All proceeds from the Herod Atticus Theater event will go to the Hellenic Society for Disabled Children (ELEPAP), which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary. As explained by ELEPAP President Mary Diamantopoulou, the society already has six centers around Greece and is working toward the creation of a new home that will be able to host and provide creative activities which will help disabled children become more independent.

“Cultural heritage should not be solely identified with Museums,” said Voulgarakis. “You experience it better when it is part of current events.”

The small uninhabited isle of Delos, in the Cyclades, close to Mykonos, was renowned in Classical antiquity as the sacred centre of the Delian League and today is one of Greece’s pre-eminent outdoor Museums.

The Philippon Festival in Kavala recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, attracting prominent towns people from the northern port to celebrate at the Ianos bookstore in central Athens with a well-organized event, that could easily be the envy of similar initiatives, honoring this provincial, yet significant festival.

Kavala Mayor Constantinos Simitzis spoke about the early years of the festival, which began in 1957 with a production of Euripides’ “Electra” starring Malena Anousaki and Costas Leivadas and performed at one of the country’s most ancient theaters.

Now, 50 years on, art, music, dance and theater will grace the anniversary program, which will run from June 30 to September 5, with parallel events covering a five-month period.

The inauguration will be marked by an exhibition of works by acclaimed Greek artist Costas Tsoclis. After that, there is plenty on the menu, including a tribute to Maria Callas, an Albanian production of “Medea,” “Lysistrata,” “Ecclesiazusae,” Racine’s “Andromache,” “Thesmophoriazusae,” “Iphigenia at Aulis” and much more.

Many events will also be held at different venues around the Municipality of Kavala, the fortress, beach etc, while Philippi will also host its fair share of the festival: an exhibition of photographs on past festivals, paintings, film screenings and an exhibition of posters, many of which have been created by leading artists and are very rare.

For more info call 2510 839480, 2510 839425
Related Links > www.filippoifestival.gr

The game musical chairs is no doubt a fashion industry favorite. In one of the industry’s most recent shuffles, Sophia Kokosalaki is no longer creative director at Madeleine Vionnet.

The Athens-born and London-based designer has been replaced by French designer Marc Audibet at Vionnet but will continue designing and developing her own brand.

Earlier this year, the Greek designer signed a deal with Renzo Rosso of Diesel jeans fame. Under the agreement, Italian manufacturer Staff International, which operates under the umbrella of Only the Brave, acquired a majority stake in Sophia Kokosalaki, the brand.

Appointed at Vionnet last year, Kokosalaki designed two collections for the house, to good reviews: “Revived in a very rarefied, technically accomplished way by Sophia Kokosalaki,” noted style.com’s Sarah Mower of the Vionnet legacy, on the fall/winter 2007 ready-to-wear collection shown to a small audience in Paris in March.

Vionnet, the woman who invented the bias cut and offered women a sense of freedom through liberating fashion architecture, established her house in Paris in 1912. Signing her final collection in 1939, she died in 1975, and the label was acquired by the de Lummen family in 1988. For years, the house remained largely dormant with only scarf and perfume collections.

Audibet, the house’s newly appointed artistic adviser, built a solid career at Hermes, Trussardi and Ferragamo, among others, and is credited with aiding powerhouse Prada in becoming a key luxury player in the 1990s.

“We are delighted that Marc Audibet provides us, with all his sensibility to Vionnet, with an enlarged vision of strategy and creativity” said Vionnet CEO Arnaud de Lummen in a statement. “After collaborating for two seasons with us, Sophia Kokosalaki is dedicating herself to the development of her own label. We wish her the very best in this venture.”

While Kokosalaki is maintaining a stance of “no comment,” Audibet is scheduled to unveil his debut Vionnet collection during the haute couture shows in Paris in July.

A Byzantine flair has just made its way into the elegant premises of a high jeweler. “Czarina”, a new fine jewelry collection designed by Gaia Repossi and Eugenie Niarchos for Repossi Jewelers, was unveiled to a high-flying, jet-setting crowd in Paris last week.

The evening, which unfolded at the Ritz Club, attracted the likes of Princess Caroline of Hanover and Karl Lagerfeld. For 21-year-olds Gaia and Eugenie, however, it was also a means of celebrating a longstanding friendship.

Gaia, a fourth-generation Repossi, and Eugenie, granddaughter of the late shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, joined forces to design a collection which is part of Repossi’s new line, “Ere.” Billed as “young and dynamic jewelry,” the Ere line wishes to attract a new generation to the Repossi name. Inspired by Byzantine iconography, “Czarina” features rings, cuff bracelets, earrings and pendants.

A business founded by G. Pietro Repossi in 1920, the first Repossi store was established in Turin by Constantino Repossi in 1920. It is third-generation Alberto Repossi, however, who took the family name beyond Italy’s borders by establishing a boutique in Monte Carlo in 1977 and at Paris’s exclusive Place Vendome in 1985. Last year, Gaia Repossi became the luxury house’s artistic director.

The smoking car that was part of the train of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Aziz is seen at the Athens Railway Museum yesterday.

Train enthusiasts from Thessaloniki said they will ask for the car, seized by the Greek Army during the First Balkan War, to be returned to the northern city. The sultan used the train to travel between Thessaloniki and Istanbul.

  The Museum was founded in 1979 and belongs to the Greek Railways Organization, OSE. Its aim is to preserve samples of the technological development of the means of transportation in Greece. Among the Museum’s exhibits are included >

• steam lecomotives dating from 1884
• steam locomotives of mine-trains
• wagons of old trains, royal riages and the smoking car of the train of the sultan Abdul Aziz
• Athenian tramways of the past decades
• hand-and-foot operated draeseners
• models and photographic material
• instruments, printing implements, tickets, uniforms and mechanics’ tools of the 19th century.

The Railway Museum, the only of its kind in Greece, is the result of the initiative and effort of the former Chief Engineer of OSE, Dipl. Eng. Christodoulos Christodoulou.

In the beginning of the 1970’s, he initiated the difficult task to collect, restore and exhibit a wide range of historical railway material which had been left to its fate at various locations. Although he encountered many problems, Christodoulos Christodoulou with the valueable assistance of Mr.Georgios Nikakis achieved a significant result.

In 1978, Yiannis Lambros, then General Director of OSE, approved the placement of the restored items in the steel workshop of the former Peloponnese Railways. A Railway Museum, which was needed and came rather late for Greece, was finally a reality. The inauguration ceremony took place in June 1979 and the founder of the Museum was appointed its first Director.

Renovation work was carried out in 1996, when the atrium and the yard were covered with tiles. The ground hall of the building, which once housed the OSE Telegraph Operators’ School was refurbished into a multiple purpose hall, able to welcome various cultural activities of the Museum.

Today, a surface of 1200 m2 houses a significant part of our railway and tramway history, from the time of Athens-Piraeus Railway and the horse tramways, to OSE and ISAP.

Athens Railway Museum, 4 Siokou Street, Sepolia, Athens
tel 210 4903163, 210 5246580, 210 5126295
Hours of operation: Tuesday 09:00- 13:00 Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10:00- 13:00 Wednesday 17:00- 20:00 Monday closed. Free entrance.

Related Links > http://www.ose.gr/ecportal.asp?id=1254&nt=18&lang=1