All Greeks Festival
All Greeks Festival
01.05.24 — 23.06.24The All Greeks Festival organised by NTGent and numerous partners ran from 1 May to 23 June 2024. Over a period of eight weeks, dozens of actors and amateur performers staged all 32 surviving Greek tragedies in their own unique versions. Each performance took place at the start of the day, in the open air and scattered throughout the city.
Imagine: you are walking through the awakening streets of Ghent early in the morning. Suddenly, in a secluded spot, a colourful choir appears and sings cheerfully to you. It sings about how humans are both wonderful and violent, about pushing boundaries and our finitude. You close your eyes and listen attentively. The choir leader comes up to you and offers you a cup of coffee and a piece of baklava.
This is the start of the All Greeks Festival, the city festival organised by NTGent and many partners. Every day of the festival, at sunrise, a brand new Greek tragedy is born in the open air, as a recurring ritual for and by the city. Various groups from Ghent and beyond will focus on specific tragedies, from diverse artistic and social perspectives. All 32 remaining tragedies will be performed in four districts of Ghent in May and June 2024.
All Greeks Festival offers an inclusive, super-diverse and utopian public space in which we hold up a mirror to the city and society. The classical stories are interwoven with the diverse Ghent of today. The contrasts from Greek tragedy still resonate, such as reason and intoxication, familiar and foreign, democracy and tyranny.
🏺 A groundbreaking festival that features all 32 remaining Greek tragedies, re-interpreted in numerous forms, from small scale interventions or installations in close collaboration with the people of Ghent to full-blown performances by acclaimed directors and collectives.
🏺 A completely free festival. All performances take place in the public space, often at dawn, exactly like in ancient times. The public is free to come and go as they please.
🏺 All performances take place outdoors. Spring sun or cloudburst: we will continue, under the Ghent motto nie neute, nie pleuje (don't complain, don't give in).
🏺 A recurring ritual for and by the city. Every festival day, a brand new Greek tragedy is born. Various groups from Ghent and beyond get carte blanche and focus on specific tragedies from various artistic and social perspectives.
🏺 An 8-week city festival taking place in 8 different districts of Ghent. 32 tragedies equal 32 performances with an unmissable collective ritual as dessert.
🏺 An inclusive, super-diverse, and utopian public space in which we hold up a mirror to the city and society. Classic stories are interwoven with today's diverse Ghent. Together, we build a different, post-capitalist future.
🏺 A unique event that brings together the people of Ghent with an impressive list of collaborators including - among others - Milo Rau, Tiago Rodrigues, Kris Verdonck, tg Stan & Olympique Dramatique / Toneelhuis, de Roovers, VOETVOLK and BERLIN!
Practical info
They saw the play and said:
More than just a fun outing for visitors, the All Greeks Festival brings the city's residents together for stories that still resonate today. In a modern adaptation by a contemporary director, these plays, which form the foundation of our cultural civilisation, can give us a whole new perspective on our lives
Trouw (NL), Read the articleAthens will be in Ghent for the next few weeks, where the open-air festival All Greeks will be serving up adaptations of Greek tragedies almost every morning. More than 2,500 years later, the stories of wars and infanticide still hold the same appeal
De Tijd (BE), Read the article