“IF” (2010)
DNA of a song
Based on Ifigenia en Aulide by Euripides
The performance IF is a co-production of MITOS and the polish group NETTHEATER – THEATER IN THE WEB OF CONNECTIONS, and is a part of the artistic/research project called DNA of the song.
Euripides last tragedy, Ifigenia en Aulide, the master of ancient theater, contains an incredible legacy. Besides the story of a father who decides to slaughter his daughter in front of his bored and decadent soldiers, there is one more thing. In the delicate scenic score there is a hidden mechanism of transformations, an interchange of masks that was developed to perfection by Euripides. Ifigenia is a trap in which the actors get caught. The successful interchanges of the characters, don’t let them get off stage, don’t let them stop acting.
With the preface that she is to be wed to a hero, the king brings his daughter to the military camp, though the hero is no more than a coward. A desperate girl directs one big performance for her death, where at the end her place will take a deer. She returns, although in the form of a soldier who tries to convince the mother that her daughter isn’t really dead.
You cannot leave the stage; you can only change the mask. The Gods need the actors. Or else they would have killed each other out of boredom. How does this happy story sound in the beginnings of the 21st century?
Creative team
Script/direction/scenography: Pawel Passini
Music: Pawel Passini and Lukas Walewski
Lighting: Alexander Jotovich and Marcin Kabat Kowalczuk
Technician: Giorgos Mavrogenis
Production assistant: Christina Petridou
Casting
Ifigenia/Messenger/Old man: Marina Mandri, Katarzyna Tadeusz
Clytemnestra/Menelaus: Elena Agathokleous, Elzbieta Rojek
Agamemnon/Achilles: Giorgos Georgiou, Dawid Zakowski
Coryphaeus: Lukas Walewski
Ifigenia: Kasia Penczula
Girl: Malgorzata Saniak
Artemis: Pawel Passini
Performances and tour
- 12th Cultural Festival, University of Cyprus, Archontiko Axiotheas, Lefkosia, June 2010.
- Paphos Ancient Conservatory, June 2010.
- The Old Vinegar Factory, June 2010.
- Fabryka Sztuki, Lodz, Poland, May 2010.
- Grotovsky Institute, Wroclaw, Apocalypsis hall, Poland, May 2010.
- Art. Studio, Lublin, Poland, May 2010.