Andreas Staikos
“Alcestis and sweet dreams” (Alkistis kai glyka oneira)
Directed by Andreas Staikos
A summary of the work
The work was inspired by Euripides’ enigmatic Alcestis. Admetus, king of Pherae, marries Alcestis so he can give her up in his place when Death comes to claim him.
Could viewing the sensuality, promiscuity, envy, betrayal, passionate erotic revenge, cunning, dark intrigues and plotting, mitigated by only the merest trace of sensitivity and regret, from another viewpoint turn Euripides’ classic work on its head?
The work received its premiere in Ancient Olympia on 10 May 2012, on the occasion of the Lighting of the Olympic Flame for the London Olympics. It has also been staged in Patras, where it was directed by Andreas Staikos at the Apollo theatre.
Excerpt from the work
Admetus: What are you saying, Iope, what are you saying? We shall die together! He swore it and I swore it.
IOPE: Alcestis, oaths are to be kept by women alone, and not by men.
ALCESTE: No, no, I will not die alone.
IOPE: Alcestis, the world will not end if you die alone.
SMARO: So you’re giving advice now? Are you seriously telling her how to die?
IOPE: But it will be the end of the world for the people of Pherae if they lose their kingdom!
ADEMETOS: Iope, oaths are kept by both men and women.
IOPE: What can I say? I curtsy deep before your majesty, Your Magnificence. You will be the only man who has ever kept his oath to love his wife eternally, the oath of his fortnight’s love. Time for another curtsy.
ADMETUS: There are no second thoughts, no hesitations.
ALCESTE: Iope, Iope, it’s full speed ahead to death.
Andreas Staikos
Writer, translator, director.
Born in Athens, he has spent a large part of his life in Paris. He writes plays and prose works, which have been translated into and published in many languages. His plays are staged by state and private theatres and at festivals in Greece and abroad (France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Brazil and elsewhere) He has translated Racine, Moliere, Marivaux, Lesage, Laclos, Claudel, Lambis, Musset, et al. Head of the Department of Literary Translation at the French Institute, Athens. He has taught at Panteion University and in the Theatre Departments of the universities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras. He is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France.
