CLVI International Theatrical Festival of Anthene

[Pelasgia]

CLVI International Theatrical Festival of Anthene - ΡΝΣΤ' Διεθνὴς Θεατρικὸς Διαγωνισμὸς Ἀνθήνης
To be held August 10-14, 1956, in Anthene's Tiburan Theatre - Opere and Theatrical Plays from all of Europe

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As has been done since 1800 AD, the Tiburan Herodium Theatre of Anthene is opening its doors to theatrical plays & opere from across Europe, as part of the Anthenean celebrations in honour of the city's patron Goddess, Athena, which traditionally involve Theatrical Competitions in Her honour. Having started at the height of the Philopelasgian Englightenment Era, the festival is coming to us for the 156th time. Being hosted from August 1-14, right before the start of the Athenaïka, for which the Theatre will need to be used, the festival offers a unique experience for locals and foreigners alike. Originally limited to plays from Gallo-Germania, Latinium and Northern Himyar, due to distance and time constraints, the wonders of modern technology allow for contestants and audiences from all edges of Europe to reach us.

Submission format:

Title: [title] (Opera/Theatrical Play - please specify)
Main Actors: [main actors]
Author(s): [writer], [composer] etc.
Plot: [plot]
Significance: (if any)

NOTE: Opere and Theatrical Plays will be judged seperately, according to an open vote (contestants and non-contestants alike can vote). Feel free to submit as many as you want of either kind, though one of each would be preferable.

 

[Pelasgia]

Title: The Outcast (Theatrical Play)
Main Actors: Odysseus Iakobides, Orestias Melissokomou, Laonikos Prasinos, Andronike Makellarissa, Petros Miltiadou
Author(s): Teiresias Opsikios (script & costumes), Nikolaos Phrangos (music & scenery)
Plot: A small Pelasgian village in Brennia has suffered three continuous bad harvests, with winters getting harsher and the risk of a famine looming over the small community. The local mayor convinces the people of the village to gather their money to purchase an experimental chemical product from a nearby city, to help make their crops more resistant. The local Doctor, who has recently returned from the Thematic (Provincial) capital, Euroia, brings with him research that proves the chemical might turn the crops sterile, meaning that the village will not have a harvest next year, along with certain birth defects being linked to its use. The mayor, his brother, uses the Press to label the Doctor a liar. Following a fiery debate in the city's café, the Doctor is voted an outcast and almost lynched by an angry mob. The play closes with the Doctor preparing to leave and go to the capital, while a mob approaches his house.
Significance: The play itself was written in the 19th century, but the writers' use of Demotic meant it was prevented from being submitted to any official competitions to this point. The play has been hailed for its critique of mob-politics and has recently gotten new meaning, being commonly performed by expatriates of countries with authoritarian, mainly Communist, régimes to challenge their ideology and manipulation of the masses.

Title: The Blonde Girl (Opera)
Main Actors: Dionysios Thalassinos, Georgia Psele, Markos Sarakenos, Laonike Dramatikou, Athanasia Theatrike, Gregorios Asketikos
Author(s): Spyridon Samaras
Plot: A faltering, near-bankrupt, insular noble family from Acte hopes to marry their beautiful, young daughter to a rich merchant, so as to save their family name and finances. The girl herself is in love with another man and does not want to be married to the merchant, but has no say in the matter. The family of the girl conspires to make her loved one think she does not love him and to make the girl think that he has abandoned her and left her for another woman in Acroterium. The girl agrees to the marriage with the merchant, only to find out that her loved one has been lost at sea and that in his will he left everything to her out of love. Heartbroken, the girl takes her own life and her family laments how instead of saving their line, they have ended it forever.
Significance: While having a rather basic plot, the play itself offers insight into the harsh and otherwise romanticised reality of 19th century insular life, especially that of the Archipelago's nobles, having been praised for its extraordinary musical quality. Often considered one of the best examples of Pelasgian Opera by its contemporaries, most copies of the play were lost in a fire and a ultra-conservative riot caused by an Empress' decision to publish a Demotic version of the New Testament. Having been recently re-discovered, the Opera is considered a fine specimen of Demotic Pelasgian art, by one of Pelasgia's most internationally renowned artists.

 

[Saaremaa]

Title: Kadiki Trysts (Theatrical Play)

Main Actors: Muriel MacPherson, Andres Le Goff, Loic Tanguy, Yannick Le Briss.

Author(s): Loic Tanguy (script), Corentin Menez (scenery & costumes)

Plot: It is the Kadikistan of 1907 and revolution is in the air. Aleksandrina Fedorova is now the young matron of an impoverished but still wealth noble family. Her father and uncles have been killed in the first three revolutions so now it is her mission to keep her family safe by any means necessary. One day, Aleksa accidentally meets Maksym Leninov, the member of one of the noble families, now turned revolutionary. As the political situation is becoming more and more hellish, she receives a note from the Revolutionary Committee, from one "Comrade Rurik", who calls her and her family to the committee to have a "little chat". She knows that this would be her final end, so she calls Leninov to the rescue. After listening to her, Maksym decided to call his colleagues, the Tsjekovas, the Burukovas and the Obryanovs to end all the madness of those "comrades". Seeing that she doesn't come, Comrade Rurik assembles a mob and goes to the Fedorov mansion, where they are waited by the noble families. In an argument that ensures, Maksym kills Comrade Rurik and his band disbands. But the problems don't end there for Aleksandrina as now, after they have interacted with Comrade Rurik, what she calls "communist bedbugs", they members of the noble families are infected with his ideals. Some, who were closer to her keep their noble characters, some become more and more "proletarian" and at the end of this metamorphosis, Aleksandrina observes that she created 4 great monsters. Deciding to commit suicide, she throws herself from the window saying: "Destroy the world, as you destroyed me".

Significance: In the tragicomic play, Alkesandrina represents old Kadikistan and conservatism, while Comrade Rurik represents the wind of change. Even though the dialogue is designed as a comedy, as many of the things the characters say make no sense, showing that even if they represent themselves as great politicians, none has any idea what they are saying, this is especially shown when Comrade Rurik calls for the Committee to declare the watermelon as the national fruit of Kadikistan, saying that the green shell represents prosperity and the red pulp represents communism. He even asks biologists to declare from now on that the shell is green especially because the pulp is red. Other than that, the play is also criticizing the politics of the Democratic Republic of Kadikistan, especially the family politics of it. The last reply of the character Aleksandrina is also a critic to the external policies of the republic. The play is also thought as a general critic to violent revolution, showing how in the agitation of it, the idealists lose themselves, while the pragmatists not only survive it, but lead it. Loic Tanguy, the script writer and actor who plays Maksym Leninov said that he sees it as a Prometheist Response to the political violence supported by the International Association of Marxist-Leninovist Parties, saying that civilized people respond through culture and art, not through guns.

 

[Furlanìe]

Title: La siorella de Tiburia - The young woman from Tiburia (Opera)

Main Actors: Geltrude Valerio

Author(s):
-------------writer: Giuliano Verga
-------------composer: Natalîa Boerio

Plot: in a late medieval village, in the densely populated Corno peninsula of Justiza, the citizens are all crowding the streets as a fair has started, but after coming back home a family finds one of their children dead in front of their home, after the sorrow the entire village starts investigating and is found out that he was killed in the nearby village; after some years of misunderstandings a deep hate escalated between two hamlets, many fight and many die. One day a merchant from the surviving southern part of the Tiburan empire (today Propontis) arrives in the region with his wife, and while he explores the peninsula to find good trade the wife, Aspasia, set to watch over the ship, starts talking with the locals and decides to put an end to the fights by making in contact the two rivals, she manages to find the actual killer and both villages stop fighting.

Significance: This recent opera was an attempt by the well known writer Giuliano Verga to express his nation's gratitude to Propontis which helped to put an end to the justinian-kadiki crysis




Title: 'L rex barbaro - The barbarian king (Theatrical Play)

Main Actors: Jacomo Traversini, Ernesto Armonni

Author: Ernesto Aureorum

Plot: The first barbarian king, Ekkehard, takes power over Justiza destroying villages and killing thousands of people but has to face the desire of vengeance of Julianus, the very close friend and councilor of the former governor of the island killed as well by the barbarians. Julianus will have revenge by killing king Ekkehard and, with the help of the islanders, he succeed to expel his army from Justiza, but as one barbarian leaves another, Sankar, arrives from the east, Julianus' forces are defeated and he gets killed on the battlefield.

Significance: A real, dramatic part of the justinian history, written with great mastery in 1794 by Ernesto Aureorum

 

[Pelasgia]

Unless there are any further sumbissions, I'll start the poll tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for participating.
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