After the great success of “The Cenci Family”, the performance that was praised by Broadwayworld.com last spring, the Tank NYC presents as part of this June’s program at The Tank’s Proscenium Theater (312 W 36th St, New York, NY, 10018) the new show by the groundbreaking Greek director Ioli Andreadi, Euripides’ «HELEN». In this show, which is the sixth direction that Ioli Andreadi brings to the Tank Theater in the last 6 years, the true story of Helen of Troy is presented through a precisely choreographed stage performance, subverting the clichés of how ancient tragedy is usually performed.

Starring the famous Greek actress Vasiliki Troufakou, who performs all the roles in the play, moving impressively from one hero to another, utilizing her voice and body as the only means of transformation between characters, and joining her onstage is the leading Greek percussionist Nikos Touliatos, who creates a live ritualistic soundscape. The play was adapted by the two prolific Greek playwrights Ioli Andreadi and Aris Asproulis. The show, which has received excellent reviews and has been awarded the historic distinction of being the first theatre performance to ever take place at the historic archaeological site of the 4th century AD Bishop’s Basilica in Ancient Philippopolis (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), is presented in New York on Thursday June 19th at 7pm, Friday June 20th at 7pm and Saturday June 21st at 3pm, with English surtitles.

The Plot

They say that an old bard, Stisihoros, six generations before Euripides, in one of his poems accused Helen of leaving her husband Menelaus for Paris and with her sin she destroyed both Greece and Troy. But Helen became a goddess after her death. That is why Stisichoros was punished with blindness the moment he wrote this unjust poem. And he regretted it. And he wrote a new poem, a new song. In it, he reconstructed his accusations, using the ancient myth, according to which Helen never set foot in Troy, only her shadow did, while she herself was banished by the gods to Egypt, where she waited for Menelaus to return from the war and for them to leave together for their homeland. And when Stisichoros wrote this new song, he immediately regained his sight. In this version of Euripides’ Helen for solo actress, Helen arrives on stage, alone and blind like an ancient performer of epic poetry, but with other, Eleusinian forces awakening within her, prompting her to tell her story, the story of a shadow.

Director’s note

“Euripides’ Helen is not a tragicomedy, as many believe. It is a frighteningly timely and heartbreaking piece of work. A tragic work that speaks of the ‘here and now’. A work for the woman. And a play about war. About the radical innocence of women and the way their fate is so often woven solely through the decisions and violence of men. A play about the futile madness of war and the empty shirts it gives away as trophies. A play about the absurdity of battle and the wounds of love.

A play about beauty as a source of unhappiness. I choose this ‘woman’s play’ to be performed entirely by a female actress, Vasiliki Troufakou, facing multiple historical roles within an hour, male and female, younger and older, because I want us to explore, against the interpretive and directorial stereotypes, the female identity and the female body as a multiform scenic experience and as a source of connection to the root of the tragic.

A companion on this scenic route as a valuable interlocutor is the rhythm through the ritualistic soundscape of the percussion of Nikos Touliatos”. | Ioli Andreadi

Cast
Vasiliki Troufakou performs all the roles
Live soundscape by Nikos Touliatos

Crew
Direction: Ioli Andreadi
Adaptation: Ioli Andreadi & Aris Asproulis
Translation: Yangos Andreadis
Translation in English: Ioli Andreadi
Costumes Design: Ioanna Kourbela‎
Cover final song: Danai Nielsen
Photos: Ilias Kotsireas & Kiki Papadopoulou
Video trailer: Michael Mavromoustakos

Some words about Ioli Andreadi and Aris Asproulis

Ioli Andreadi, theatre and performance director, playwright, researcher, Assistant Professor at the University of Western Macedonia specializing in Theater and Education, and Aris Asproulis, playwright, Dr. of Sociology, Panteion University, Director of Communication of the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus and the historic Art Theater Karolos Koun, have co-authored 16 theatrical plays (original and adaptations) from 2015 until today, which have been staged in New York, London, Sofia, Plovdiv, Athens and Thessaloniki, directed by Ioli Andreadi and having received excellent reviews. Ioli Andreadi and Aris Asproulis specialize in creating original theatrical works, based on the study of real events, through research of primary archival material; documents and publications; interviews; books; field work. They also share a deep interest in the Classics (literature, theatre, art), having adapted for the stage Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Euripides’ Ion and Helen. Their work also includes three new plays on the life and work of Antonin Artaud: Artaud/Van Gogh, The Cenci Family and Bone. All their plays have been published by Kapa Publishing House.

Since 2003, Ioli has worked as a theatre director and playwright in Greece and abroad (UK, New York, Berlin, Rome, Bulgaria), having directed 40 theatre productions. She trained as an actress at the Art Theatre Karolos Koun and she studied Directing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (MA). Her PhD in Theatre and Performance at King’s College London was published in English by Kapa Publishing House under the title: Anastenaria: Ritual, Theatre, Performance; An Experiential Study (2020). She is a Fulbright Artist, having conducted her research on the dialogue between musical theatre and ancient tragedy in NY (NYMF, City Center Studios). She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab as an SNF grantee. Since 2015 she is teaching yoga for actors (Yoga Alliance certification). She is teaching Performance: Theory and Practice (her book Performance: Theory and Practice; Directing, Philosophy and Culture was published by KPH) as a Guest Lecturer at Universities in Greece and abroad (University of Athens, University of Cyprus, King’s College London, Aberystwyth University, Brooklyn College CUNY, University of Greenwich UK) and Theatre and Education, both theoretically and practically, as an Assistant Professor at the University of Western Macedonia (her book Theatre and Education:Theory and Practice was published by Kapa Publishing House in 2023).

Since 2006, Aris has worked as a publicist of both major and experimental theatre and cultural events, national and international, in Greece, including Epidaurus and Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The current academic year he is teaching Sociology of Work at the Department of Social Policy of Panteion University, Athens.

With the kind sponsorship of THE GEORGE AND VICTORIA KARELIAS FOUNDATION, the support of CARNEGIE DINER & CAFE and the auspices of THE CONSULATE GENERAL OF GREECE IN NEW YORK