Mythos

Alternative Stage Founding Donor & Production Donor

Alternative Stage sponsor: PPC (Public Power Company)

The production is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

Mythos is a new, international co-production of the GNO Alternative Stage with the French company Anima Théâtre. A performance journeying through the art of puppet theatre, full of images, marionettes, and music. With this new creation Mythos, Yiorgos Karakantzas, a master of the genre who lives and works in Marseille, “plunges” into the mythical, imaginary world of his childhood to offer us a fascinating phantasmagoria.

On a dystopic island, a child must find his way out of the labyrinth of his real life. The monsters he is called upon to face in real life are much more nightmarish than Gorgon. In this initiation journey he must unravel Ariadne’s thread.

Yiorgos Karakantzas drew inspiration for his new piece Mythos from his childhood memories and the legendary narratives of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Greek mythology that his father used to read to him. The characters are reminiscent of the heroes, the monsters, and the deities featured in these ancient stories, aiming to rekindle the magic in the world that surrounds them.

On the stage, dreams and reality are merged through shadow projections and interplays. The legends about the courage and persistence of these mythical figures inspire the central hero, who is called upon to face the challenges and accomplish his own quest journey.

Mythos’ premiere coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the Anima Théâtre company, established by Yiorgos Karakantzas and Claire Latarget in Marseille in 2004 and having delivered more than fifteen puppetry performances ever since.