2018

Thespis society (www.thespis.it), in collaboration with the TeatroScientifico-TeatroLaboratoriodi Verona, Italy (www.teatroscientifico.com), offered a bilingual theatre workshop (conducted in Italian and English) led by Avra Sidiropoulou, director and professor of theatre arts at Open University of Cyprus, and by Eric Nicholson, professor of theatre studies at New York University, Florence. The workshop, entitled "Promised Endings: a work in progress based on Oedipus at Colonusand King Lear," was held at the TeatroLaboratorio(Verona, ex-Habsburg Arsenal).

The workshop focused on an in-depth comparison between Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus , and Shakespeare's King Lear , exploring relationships among words, gestures, and actions with the aim of discovering how the two plays share major themes, even in the context of their often contrasting performative features. The project was a creative blending of research and practice, examining notions of hybridity, trans-nationality, multilingualism and heterochrony.





The workshop led to a work-in-progress/'open rehearsal' before a live audience on 24 May, 2018, at the outdoor theatre of the Educandato'AgliAngeli' in Verona. Battisti, 8).

Co-directed by Avra Sidiropoulou and Eric Nicholson

Music by Nicos Vittis, performed live by Alessandra Bonnetti

CAST

Oedipus: (shared) Roberto Adriani and Paolo De Paoli

Antigone: Anna Benico

"Stranger" (Citizen of Colonus): Francesca Sammaritano

Chorus Leaders: Sabrina Carletti and Mario Cestaro

Chorus: Tiago Vesentini, Mattia Meneghini, Francesca Sammaritano, Josefina Pelosi, Elena Pellone, Noelle Adames, Arash Shafiee

Ismene: Francesca Sammaritano

Theseus: Mattia Meneghini

Polyneices: Tiago Vesentini

Messenger: Eric Nicholson

King Lear (solus): Elena Pellone

King Lear (Chorus): The Company

Fool: Eric Nicholson

Gloucester: Noelle Adames

Edgar: Arash Shafiee

Kent: David Schalkwyk

Old Man: Mario Cestaro

Albany: Roberto Adriani and Paolo De Paoli

Cordelia (without spoken lines): Josefina Pelosi

📌 Promised Endings (Verona)
🏢 Persona Theater
📍 Verona