Socrates Speaks To Us, Across Time
In the ancients, there is great wisdom, and Yannis Simonides (SM) is delivering that wisdom in a one-man show called Socrates Now. He’s performed the show to tens of thousands of people (460 performances in 22 countries), sometimes in small, intimate venues and sometimes in places as large as the Acropolis itself.
Based on Plato’s Apology, the performance is delivered in English or Greek (with projected translations in the local language, if necessary). The audience is invited to “take a seat in the court of ancient Athens as Socrates goes on trial for his life. He responds to his accusers with his trademark wit, cutting logic and the courage of his ideals.”
Audiences consider the arguments on virtue, justice, politics, corruption, civic duty, love of life and hope, even in the face of death.
Yannis, ever the teacher at heart, offers a post-performance discussion of the play with interested audience members.
He outlines the methods and goals of both the play and the broader work of Elliniko Theatro in a TEDx talk during 2012. .
Yannis is founder (1979) and Executive Director of Elliniko Theatro (or Hellenic Theatre, meaning “Greek Theatre”), which is dedicated to cultural diplomacy in the USA and around the world. It is an international non-profit performing arts organization based in New York and Athens. Its mission is to present multilingual and multimedia productions of the classical and modern Greek repertory to audiences of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities.
An experimental theatre, Elliniko Theatro presents other programs, including Euripides’s Bacchae in the Maori language, which they are doing in conjunction with several arts’ organizations in New Zealand.
Perhaps the most challenging recent production was Odyssey 2017, where performers and audience members recited the entirety of Homer’s epic poem, including sections sung by Athenians, accompanied by haunting music. See the live stream video here. The program starts at 28:10 — introductory comments are in both English and Greek.
There are more productions of Odyssey being negotiated for 2018. There’s one dedicated to women, using two new translations by women. And there is another effort organized by the UN High Commission for Refugees which may involve 6 simultaneous Odysseys being mounted in New York, Norway, Turkey, Portugal, France and Greece.
There is a Socrates Now being planned for Feb 24 at St John’s College in Annapolis, MD, and a few more being discussed for spring-summer-fall in NYC, Athens, the Aegean islands, Cyprus, and one in Yerevan, Armenia, in Armenian.
See more about Yannis on his profile. Financial support for Elliniko Theatro can be donated here.
Other productions available at Elliniko Theatro:
