ALL GREEKS FESTIVAL

WOLF WOLF's five hypocrites take on the hypocrisy in Euripides' Hippolytos. One special day, sometime in the sixth century BC, a brave singer suddenly detached himself from the choir. He exchanged chants for spoken texts, becoming the founder of Greek tragedy. They called him hypokrites, which meant "answerer" or "actor".

Gradually, the hypokrites  lost his reputation and the word its original meaning. The actor became a pretender, a hypocrite. And his respectable craft - the art of acting - became a sham, simply pretending. But in Hippolytos, who exactly is playing (with) whom? When does playing become dangerous? When is it necessary? And of course: why do we enjoy doing it so much?

Theatre house Victoria Deluxe's collective writing and storytelling atelier, founded to share experiences of mental vulnerability and health, focuses for the third time on a Greek tragedy. Like archaeologists, the writers and actors root in the fertile soil of Euripides' Alkestis, looking for ancient shards that touch on themselves and today. Then they exchange meticulous digging for the creation of ferocious collages, like mirrors of our 21-st-century souls.

In this tragedy of Euripides, the goddess Mania drives the hero Heracles to madness. In a state of rage, he mistakes his wife and sons for the enemy and murders his entire family. Heracles' tragic mistake remains painfully topical. How many today regard others as enemies, as inhumans, as vermin to be exterminated? Collective madness destroys the lives of innocent victims and send children to their death.

Heracles' madness, however, also shows us the tragedy of vulnerable human beings who see and experience the world and others differently. During this gathering, we turn our gaze to Euripides' ancient text and objects from the Dr. Guislain Museum, which bear witness to the history of psychiatry.

How do we look today at those who see things differently? When does delusion make sense? Can it also be a creative force? And when does delusion transcend all meaning?

For years, NTGent has offered local students the chance to create their own interpretation of a theatre performance or text during a 'mirror project'. For ALL GREEKS FESTIVAL, students got to work on a Greek tragedy. On four Sundays in four districts, NTGent organises a 'mirror walk': several schools show the result of their sessions with a theatre teacher. Walkers will have the chance to admire the performances at 1pm and 3pm. The walk lasts about 75 minutes.

On Sunday 19 May 2024, around the Guislain Institute, you can admire the projects of Go! Atheneum Voskenslaan, Sint-Barbara College Ghent, Don Bosco Technisch Instituut Sint-Denijs-Westrem and Atheneum Wispelberg.