Soldiers

Directed by Pantelis Flatsoutsis

Starting on Monday 17 February

Every Monday and Tuesday at 21.00

At the Specially Designed Underground Area

Pantelis Flatsoutsis, after presenting “Kypseli-New Kids On the Block” at Athens& Epidaurus Festival 2019 and “The Italian Night” by Odon von Horvath, presents now a play that is rarely performed- “The Soldiers” by J.M.R. Lenz at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation starting on 17 February 2020.

J.M.R. Lenz is a genuine representative of the youth and revolutionary literary movement of  Sturm und Drang period that is rescued from oblivion thanks to the novel of the same name by Buchner (1835). J.M.R. Lenz writes “The Soldiers” just before French Revolution (1776) in a historical moment, when the world is on the brink of change while social balance is drastically deranged.

The young daughter of the merchant Marie Wesener seeks to have love affairs with upper class soldiers in order to ascend socially. The soldiers take advantage of the willingness of the young girl, without the desire to have a committed relationship with her. As a result the girl is stigmatized by the local society. In “Soldiers” J.M.R. Lenz criticizes the dominant aristocracy as well as the ideal of the upward social mobility.

This full of humor “ironic melodrama “of 1776 is extremely relevant nowadays. It raises issues that are intensely present in the text of “The Soldiers”, like competitive relationships between man and community, social injustice, the attempts and the ability to ascend in society but also the status of women and sexual abuse. The performance of Pantelis Flatsoutsis at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation seeks to talk about the flow of our times.

What are the changes that we constantly see coming in our increasingly flowing world?

What kind of word is created by the mounting social competition during a crisis period?

Creative:

Translation- Direction by Pantelis Flatsoutsis

Dramaturgy by Panagiota Konstantinakou

Stage Set by Poulheria Tzova

Costumes by Vassilia Rozana

Original Music Composition: Henri Kergomard

Lighting design: Nikos Vlassopoulos

Video editing: Yannis Gizmo Bereris

Executive producer: SPECTRUM AMKE

Cast:

Vangelis Abatzis, Antonis Antonopoulos, Yorgos Kritharas, Theano Metaxa, Marianthi Pantelopoulou, Vassilis Safos, Manos Stefanakis, Foivos Symeonidis

Day and Time:

Starting on Monday 17 February

Every Monday and Tuesday at 21.00

At the Specially Configured Underground Hall

The performance receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Sports