Ancient Theatre at the Asclepieion of Epidaurus — Attraction in Municipality of Epidaurus

A beautiful venue marred by poor organization.

I recently attended the Epidaurus Theater Festival, and while the theater itself is breathtaking and well worth visiting, the logistics of the festival were a major letdown.

To begin with, the event started 30 minutes later than scheduled. This was after the organizers had already sent out an email urging everyone to arrive early due to the show being sold out. While minor delays are understandable, a whole 30 minutes is unacceptable. We heard from some people that the parking queue was about an hour long. Someone arrived at 8pm but couldn't park until after 9pm, and then there's the walk to the teather. No wonder everyone experienced the frustrating sight of hundreds of people still trickling in for 20 minutes after the show had already begun.

What made the situation worse was the complete lack of communication from the organizers. There were no announcements about the delay or any efforts to keep the audience informed or reassured. When an announcement finally came, it was to ask people to be careful on their way up to their seats—something that felt entirely pointless with 95% of the theater already seated. This only added insult to injury.

As for the play itself, it was fine. However, the placement of the subtitles was poorly thought out. They were positioned in such a way that it was difficult to focus on both the action on stage and the text. I found myself constantly shifting my gaze up and down, which was exhausting. Subtitles would have been much better placed within the line of sight of the stage.

Another significant issue was the toilet facilities. The queues were comically long, clearly inadequate for the number of theatergoers. While this might be sufficient for historical tours, it certainly isn’t for a packed festival event.

They provided us with a cushion to sit on the stone steps. I appreciate it the effort but it's just not sufficient padding for such a long time seated. I do recommend to bring your own comfy cushion to sit. Even better if you have one of those with a back rest. You lower back will thank you.

Additionally, if you come to the theatre in the summer bring mosquito repellent and a fan. It gets hot and there's lots of bugs.

The restaurant and other available shop for drinks and snacks are overpriced.

In the end, we decided to leave a little early to avoid the inevitable chaos once...

Theater is beautiful but the staff are real jerks. There are apparently unposted rules that you aren’t allowed to dance, sing, or even recite standing on the stage without someone blowing a whistle at you and telling you off. There are no signs anywhere alerting you to this. After seeing a guard tell off another person for playing music (quietly), I asked if singing was ok and she said no, only speaking. I had been excited to sing but I changed my plan and started reciting something for all of 5 seconds for my family who were sitting up high in the seats before she angrily told me off because apparently she wanted me to listen to a tour guide? He wasn't even speaking, just clapping his hands. I pointed out I wasn't there on a tour and I didn't understand his language but she rudely said to just listen anyway. Not "please wait until he's done". Just a clear, annoyed "stop". Obviously they have a clear preference here for tour groups over individual visitors, which is stupid because we’ve all paid the same entrance fee. I'm a playwright and was over the moon excited to see the space. If they have a rule about no speaking or singing or dancing, why isn't this posted? People have come from all over the world to see the theater and to have some grumpy old lady blowing a whistle at us like we're misbehaving kids in a swimming pool is just so... demeaning. I had even clarified the rules with her only to be angrily told off for doing exactly what she said I could do. I was thrilled to be there and she really ruined the experience. She blew whistles at like at least 4 other people in the ten minutes I was there, for singing (for 5 seconds), holding a dance pose for a photo, talking too loudly.... I couldn't even enjoy the rest of the site. Honestly, I would probably skip this one and go see a different theater. Based on other reviews, it's not even clear to me whether this is a real rule or just some staff having a power trip. I hope the management pays...

Medea by Franc Castorf Eurepedes performed at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus July 21-22 2023.

The female actresses were superb in what they were directed to deliver. Creon, was also convincing. Jason….fell short as historic presence and as dramatic deliverance. Costumes were interchangeable trying to connect the ancient drama with on going war and with industrial images of today projected on a large screen. Although a super large screen dominating the ancient stage was effective in presenting to the spectators high up a close up of the actor’s expressions, it felt out of place. A broken down neon sight of Coca Cola at the top right of the screen possibly predicting a demise of today’s multinational corporations and their “ugly shore” social effect but I fail to see any connection with the ancient drama by Euripides. The stage was covered with plastic trashed water bottles some of them bundled and palletised among some multicoloured camping tents. I have to suppose that was another statement for the “ugly shore”. The whole play was so long and Euripides’s ancient text was so absent - well everybody knows the story- the director must have presumed that on the second hour of continued playing the departing viewers creating a steady stream rivalling the one that took place during the previous week play by Aristophanes “sfikes”. Who might be responsible for this fiasco of “exposing” our ancient theatrical masterpieces to us Greeks and to ancient theatre foreign lovers I am not sure. But mr Castorf the German director had warned us about this. So, good luck mr Castorf for putting on stage your next “fallacies”. The one left behind to bare the weight of disappointment of the theatre loving people must be the artistic director at the Athens Epidaurus Festival ms Katerina Evangelatos, daughter of one of the greatest theatrical directors who passed...