The 2019 Epidaurus Festival programme is announced

A rich and very interesting programme contains the 2019 Epidaurus & Athens Festival with eight performances in the Ancient theatre of Epidaurus and seven in the Little theatre of Ancient Epidaurus.

Well-known artists of international caliber such as Ivo Van Hove with Comedie-Francaise, Robert Wilson and Catherine Hudder are hosted in the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus while Little Epidaurus remains a field of research for younger directors on ancient drama focusing on alternative views of the tragedy.

According to the artistic director, Vangelis Theodoropoulos, the review of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival 2018 is positive, which is evidenced both by increasing the number of viewers and the occupancy rates of sites and the upsurge of revenues.

"In the last two years, the artistic program gradually began to find its character and the Festival increased its audience and gained the trust of the world and the media," said V. Theodoropoulos.

"The general public embraced further our overall program, as it was more targeted and more tight in searching always a distinct festival stigma with modern aesthetic spikes and an as much as possible an open social dimension.

This social dimension is also underlined by our educational policy which is enriched year after year with the aim of encouraging the participation of the public and the approach of the artistic work, "he added.

As he noted, 2018 was a rich summer festival with strong moments both in Epidaurus, who greeted in eight weekends 93.409 spectators, and Herodion performances which attended 102.560 spectators. Compared to 2017 when occupancy was 58%, in 2018 the occupancy was 68%.

Following the hugely successful The Damned which premiered at the Cour d’Honneur of the Palais des Papes at the Festival d’Avignon 2016 and was repeated at Salle Richelieu, Ivon van Hove once again joins forces with the company of Comedie-Francaise, delivering another impressive gallery of characters, focusing on the House Atreides. 

This second collaboration of Comedie-Francaise with one of the internationally acclaimed masters of theatre, this time on an ancient Greek tragedy, was the perfect opportunity for Eric Ruf, general administrator of Comedie-Francaise, and Vangelis Theodoropoulos, artistic director of Athens & Epidaurus Festival, to bring together these two great institutions of European theatre in a collaborative project.

This performance marks the first time ever that the oldest active theatre company in the world will perform at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.

"It is strange that this year for the first time, the world's oldest active theatre company will play in the unique Ancient Theater of Epidaurus. I would like to thank Vangelis Theodoropoulos who, in his proposal, corrected this historical shortage", said the director of Comedie-Francaise, Eric Ruf.

Read the full 2019 Epidaurus programme here.