TICKETS
$20

ION.
The historic ancient Greek tragedy that narrates the struggles of the first King of Athens, written by the great Greek tragedian Euripides in 412 BC, comes to THE TANK on the 25th, 26th and 27th of April, in a new translation and direction by renowned Greek director Ioli Andreadi. Andreadi, a young theatrical auteur, has written and directed 28 performances so far, inspired by the works of Artaud, Moliere, Repin, Shakespeare and Sophocles, in major festivals and theatres in Greece, the UK, Germany, Italy and New York – where her credits include: a Fulbright for Artists/Masterclass at City Center Studios on Ancient Tragedy and Musical Theater, serving as Co-Artistic Director of World Wide Lab, Irondale Center and being a Member of the LCT Director’s Lab, with the sponsorship of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Andreadi has translated ION from ancient Greek and directed a cast of three exceptional performers: Konstantinos Bibis (Award for Best Young Greek Actor 2017) who comes to NY for the second consecutive year, after taking part in The Birds performed last spring at St. Anne’s Warehouse directed by N. Karathanos; Dimitra Chatoupi, outstanding Greek actress and Artistic Director of one of its leading Drama Schools; and, finally, world famous percussionist Nikos Touliatos. The show, a performance of ION for just three performers, inaugurated the 1st International Laboratory of Ancient Drama that took place at the Ancient theatre of Filippi in Northern Greece in summer 2017, produced by the National-Regional Theatre of Kavala and by the Filippi Festival. Since then, it is touring Greece with great success. In late 2018 it was the first show in history to take the honorary permission to be performed at the Slopes of the Acropolis Archaeological Site. THE TANK is the show’s first stop in its world tour, to be followed by performances in Puerto Rico. The Show will be presented in Greek with English surtitles.

A few words about the show
Young ION – who will become the founder of IONES, aka the Athenians – arrives on stage while Creusa, his mother, is seated at the auditorium, among the spectators. The hero is charmed by the foreign woman, feeling a strange connection to her. In order to conquer her love and attention, lacking a mother himself, he decides to act all his struggles for her.

A few words about the play
ION by Euripides was written around 412 BC and consists of 1622 verses. The myth has Creusa, daughter of King of Athens, get pregnant despite her will by god Apollo and, after nine months, give birth to a son, in secret, alone and without any help. Out of fear and respect towards her family, she decides to abandon the newborn inside the very same cave that god Apollo made love to her. Under Apollo’s command, god Hermes transfers the baby to Delphi, the navel of the world, so that Apollo’s Priestess takes care of him at his Temple. The child grows up eating the offerings people bring to the god and, when he is a teenager, he becomes the Guard of Apollo’s Temple. A few years later his mother Creusa visits Delphi together with her husband, in order to ask the Oracle why they cannot have children. So Creusa and ION, mother and son, meet. The importance of the play Is this tragedy a propaganda? Is it the poet’s attempt to invent a godly origin of the Tribe of IONES and, therefore, the Athenians, in order to justify their claim to rule the whole Aegean Sea? In ION what seems is not what is. You cannot see clearly what is real; it has to gradually manifest itself. Turning the invisible visible, making the hidden, coded and mystical elements of the play appear (“Now you see what you should see”, a leitmotif common in both Oedipus Rex and Ion, relating back to the Mysteries of Eleusis) and, finally, composing a clear story on stage that brings to light what is being implied, hidden or silenced, is the central aim of the new approach.

Creative Team
Translation – Direction – Movement: Ioli Andreadi
Adaptation for two characters: Ioli Andreadi; Aris Asproulis
Set and Costume Design: Dimitra Liakoura
Live Soundscape: Nikos Touliatos
Assistant Directors: Athina Mitzali, Eva Diamanti, Arion Veizi
Video Trailer: Michail Mavromoustakos
Photos: Panos Michail & Ilias Kotsireas & Kiki Papadopoulou (joinradio)
Artistic Director of Filippi Festival and National-Regional Theatre of Kavala: Thodoris Gonis

Cast
Ion, Hermes, Two women of the Chorus, King Xuthus, Old Teacher of Creusa, Creusa’s Servant,
Oracle: Konstantinos Bibis 
In the part of Creusa: Dimitra Chatoupi
The musician Nikos Touliatos takes part in the show accompanying them live