“Pedestal” directed by Thanos Papakonstantinou

On the 11th of May, the new production of Helter Skelter Company -that is directed by Thanos Papakonstantinou- is going to have its premiere at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. The theatrical performance “Pedestal” uses both the Ancient-Greek Tragedy of Aeschylus named “The Libation Bearers” and the ceremonial litanies of secret cults as basic ingredients of its new work.

That play is the second part of the “Carnage” trilogy, which is a contemporary adaptation of Aeschylus “Orestia”. The first part of the trilogy (Venison – based on the The Eumenides by Aeschylus) was presented at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation and it gave a pleasant surprise to audience and critics (April-May and October-November).

The structure of “Pedestal” is divided into two worlds: the realistic and the imaginary. The realistic scenes of a daughter that takes care of her ill mother are interwoven with the imaginary scenes that are born in the Daughter’s mind.

The Daughter cannot escape from the family habitat. Her fate is to stay there and she invents a strong personal belief in order to overcome her weakness of leaving. Her belief helps her to construct a massive inner world. This world will give birth to the avenger, who will take her away from that miserable life. She has to wait for him.

During this long waiting, the two worlds, -these two spaces, the female and the male- are in conflict.

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Carnage (From Democracy to Vigilante)

The “Carnage” trilogy proceeds backwards and because of that its parts are presented in a reversed way. The basic motive of this dramaturgical approach is the depiction of a transition: from the organized statehood to the society of vigilante. Exactly the opposite transition to what Aeschylus had proposed as social evolution in “Orestia”. Now, human beings are not approaching a civil organization of democracy through plight.

The dramaturgical material does not contain the prototype text, but it attempts to preserve the structural parts of the tragedy (Parodos, Episodes, Stasimo etc). The preservation of these parts is going to highlight the religious form of the play and it will seek a substantial analogy to present day situation.

The contrast between the realistic and the visual ceremonial scenes is both the mise-en-scene angle and the artistic direction. The conflict between these two worlds aspires to connect tragedy with everyday life.

In this way, all the great existential questions that are exposed in Tragedy are derivatives from the miserable daily routine. And all the archetypical characteristics of the tragic heroes are lurking inside every person.

With his Trilogy “Orestia”, Aeschylus suggests a very specific social model (Democracy) as the only solution to the problem of the co-existing. His tragedies are informal boundaries for the Western Civilization and they cannot be overcome easily.

Aeschylus uses as base the nuclear cell of the society: the family and the relations between its members. Our attempt is to ask ourselves if this boundary still exists.