Never In New York

Journey of Dionysus
This documentary shows Theodoros Terzopoulos's 1986 production of "Bacchae" and the audience's reaction. The piece defined the Greek director's singular style and vaulted him to international acclaim. He uses repetitive movements and sounds to represent collective trauma, authoritarianism, and loss - whether he's working with the Greek classics or contemporary stories. Part of Never in New York.
TRANSCRIPT
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The ancient texts should be in the hands of people
who can make them living
and who are the representatives of the modern art.
I think that he has, in some of the techniques
that he has observed in Northern Greece, say,
and techniques of the human body
and integrated these with the texts in a way
that he's made the overall experience of the viewer
and the performers almost religious experience,
which is, I think, what happened in ancient times,
that one had sacred festivals.
It always began with the processional,
the sacred processional in Athens, the drama festival,
and also you have Dionysus, some altar for him,
so there's always a religious aspect to the drama.
I think that he has been able to integrate this religious aspect
and showing, also, that god is in man.
What so many, well, Euripides in particular
has been able to bring out the divine that is man,
and that means an integration of the human body
with the human mind, and I think that this is...
He's exploited the dynamic potential of the text
to make it something living for people nowadays.
[ Speaking French ]
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In his production, I think he has a kind
of symphony approach
where he converts the users, I think,
some very interesting traditional chant,
humming sounds
and, what interested me most, that he explores the subtext,
and the great Greek tragedies
dealing with the great myths are not only texts
on a printed page, especially --
and also for, especially, an audience.
When it goes to watch a performance,
the audience is more interested
in the subtext, which is giving visual images,
sighting, sounds, colors, patterns, movement.
I think there his production was very distinctive
and very different from others.
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