Monday 15 July 2019 21:00
Monday 22 July 2019 21:00
Monday 29 July 2019 21:00
In July, Athos Danellis and the Athens Shadow Theater Company set up stage on the Panoramic Steps for three Mondays, to revive rare plays from the Greek Karagiozis repertoire, inviting young and old to follow the popular folk hero in his adventures and laugh their hearts out. Karagiozis is the most representative form of Greek Shadow Puppet Theater. Karagiozis is a fictional character of Greek folklore: a poor hunchbacked Greek, his right hand is always depicted long, his clothes are ragged and patched, and his feet are always bare. He lives in a poor cottage with his wife Aglaia and his three sons, during the times of the Ottoman Empire.
Monday 15/07: Karagiozis at Gülbahçe
The Pasha appoints Hatziavatis and Karagiozis to run Gülbahçe, an old countryside restaurant. The opening night is fast approaching and everything goes well – until Karagiozis discovers the kitchen!
A folk music comedy harking back to Ottoman Puppet Theater.
Monday 22/07: The Three Pilgrims
Two pilgrims, loaded with treasures, pass by the city en route to the Tomb of the Prophet. By decree, a curfew is imposed, and offenders will be arrested. Karagiozis is quick to seize the opportunity and act.
One of the oldest comedies in the Greek Shadow Theater repertoire.
Monday 29/07: Captain Tromaras
Karagiozis and Hadjiavatis become entangled in a notorious affair involving a wealthy local lord, the Salona Pasha, an abbot and the infamous Captain Tromaras.
A play from the ‘bandit’ repertoire of the 1910s. One of the most characteristic examples of the genre, the play fell into oblivion for some 70 years – until 2016.
Monday 15, 22, 29/07 | 21.00
Free admission
Design–Implementation: Athos Danellis, Athens Shadow Theater Company
One of the last surviving Karagiozis puppeteers, Athos Danellis learned and loved the art and craft of Shadow Theater as an apprentice to old masters. In 1998, he founded the Greek Shadow Theater Archives for the preservation and promotion of the Greek Karagiozis repertoire and history. With his Athens Shadow Theater Company, he has participated in many festivals in Greece and other countries.
Since 1989, he has performed rarely staged plays from the forgotten repertoire of the Greek Shadow Theater, alongside his own original plays, in permanent venues. He teaches Shadow Theater at the Department of Theater Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
