Aristophanes' Plutus at the Odeon Theatre on the Acropolis

As I mentioned once or twice before, on our last night in Athens, we attended a performance of Aristophanes' last play, Plutus, at the Odeon Theatre. This restored ancient theatre also hosts music and dance performances, including Yanni's famous Live At The Acropolis (all I remember about Yanni is that he was famous about 20 years ago).


click to enlarge

All we knew going in about the play were the bare bones of its plot: Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his body-servant Cario consults the Delphic Oracle concerning his son, and whether he should be instructed in injustice and knavery and the other arts whereby worldly men acquire riches. The god tells him to follow whoever he first meets upon leaving the temple. This proves to be a blind and ragged old man, actually Plutus himself, the god of riches, whom Zeus has robbed of his eyesight, so that he may be unable henceforth to distinguish between the just and the unjust. Helped by Chremylus and brought to the Temple of Æsculapius, Plutus regains the use of his eyes, and then, all just men, including the god's benefactor, are made rich and prosperous, and the unjust are reduced to indigence.

It was surreal watching a play in Greek. And the theatre group from Cypress performed an over the top version. The Greek chorus often broke into song, dance, and acrobatics. The show opened with a chase scene that was a strange combination of Greek theatre and something from Waiting for Godot, with a touch of Laurel and Hardy thrown in for good measure. The performance was so over the top it barely made any difference whether we understood the language or not. It was great fun.

The stage was made from wood rolled out in various heights, creating hills and valleys along the length of the stage. The only prop on stage (at the beginning) was a gigantic Carpusi(aka watermelon). Early on, the chorus divided up the watermelon and ate it...for no reason we could discern (this harkens back to Eric Cartman's declaration on South Park that "all independent films are about cowboys eating pudding").


click stage to enlarge

Although we were in the dark, I think some of the Greek-speaking audience were as well, having come to see an ancient play and seeing it given something like the Mabou Mines treatment. In that sense, I was probably as up to speed, or better, than they were on post-modern theatre production. Anyhow, as strange as it all was, I wouldn't have missed it. Here are a few photos. Unfortunately I followed the rules and did not shoot any photos during the play itself.

---o0o---

Athens/Athinai, The Erectheum, The Parthenon, Aristophenes, Lord, Byron, The Acropolis, The Plaka, and The Phaedra Hotel

The family, minus Keelin at The Parthenon


Keelin at the Erectheum - click to enlarge



Jack in front of The Parthenon-click to enlarge




The family, minus Del, at the foot of the Parthenon. Click to enlarge.


I loved this advertisement for absinthe in a liquor store window. It kind of captures both the spirit of Van Gogn AND absinthe. Click to enlarge.

We are staying in a wonderful hotel--The Phaedra--in the heart of the Plaka, just down the hill from the Acropolis, in the middle of Athens.

Since it was going to be around 104 fahrenheit today, we got a fairly early start, walking up the hill to the Acropolis, and stopping to gaze at a few other monuments along the way. As it turns out, one of my very favorite 19th Century poets, Lord Byron a/k/a George Gordon, made a big splash in Athens, and The Plaka. There are monuments to him, numerous plaques, and even a street named after him. He may have been a scandalous libertine, but the Hellenikis love him!

One monument commemorating Lord Byron lies in the very same plot of land near the plaka where the tomato was first introduced and grown in Greece! Wow. Considering how great and totally ubiquitous the tomato is here, it's amazing.

Since our 1982 visit, The Acropolis has been greatly enhanced, opened up, restored, with new buildings and areas opened up to the public. When we came here in '82, there was one way in, and a lot of closed off areas that have been excavated and restored in the ensuing years, The Acropolis, and particuarly The Parthenon and The Erectheum, with its wonderful Catydid (msp?) statues are even more impressive than before. The theatre is in the middle of restoration, and like all the many theatres we've seen, awe-inspiring.

I love this place! It's so great to walk around the Acropolis again, and see where all those great things happened and all those great works of art were made, and all those great thoughts were thought. Thank you Socrates!


The Odeon theatre, on The Acropolis, where we will watch an Aristophenes play in Greek tomorrow night--click to enlarge

Tomorrow, we check out some more ruins, monuments, and go to the fantastic and huge museum here. And even better, perhaps, tomorrow night we are attending a performance of an Aristophenes play in the ancient Odeon theatre, at sunset. Is this cool, or what? And the next morning at 5 AM we begin the long journey home, first to London, then to Vancouver, B.C., and finally Seattle Thursday night.
---o0o---