WINNER
Music Theatre NOW 2018
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The Cave
A Piece for Five Performers
2018 / ODC / Awarded / Classic / Hybrid Performance / Opera / Visual Arts / Stage Direction / Librettist
The Cave is a cyber punk opera on a popular theme Matrix. An oratorical opera in the intersection between opera, cinema and new technologies, this radical performance calls for critical reflection on fake news and post truth. It’s a contemporary reinterpretation of Plato’s famous allegory of the “Cave”. Shadow puppetry, new media, visuals and music are all performed in real time by a cast of four. Nothing is ever still.
Credits
Concept + Libretto + Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Performers: Marilena Chrisohoidi, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Pantelis Makkas, Vivi Petsi, Blaine L. Reininger
Musical composition + Orchestration: Tilemachos Mousas
Piano + Music Coaching: Anastasia Katsinavaki
Santoor: Marilena Chrisohoidi
Pedals + Effects: Blaine L. Reininger
Video Design + Real-time Video + Set and Costume Design: Pantelis Makkas
Dramaturgical Collaboration: Stella Rapti, Tanja Diers
Shadow Puppet Designer: Tassos Konstas
Lighting Design: Olympia Mytilinaiou
Assistant to Director: Katerina Drakopoulou
Production Manager: Konstantina Angeletou
Communication: Nicol Votsi
Danish producer: Tanja Diers
Produced by:
Tour
Technis Theatre: 31.01-11.02.2018
Athens, Greece
BE Festival: 07.07.2018
Birmingham, UK
Operafestival @ Folketeatret: 07.08.2018
Copenhagen, Denmark
Operafestival @ Teater Nordkraft:
09-10.08.2018
Aalborg, Denmark
Athens Concert Hall, Megaron: 09-10.10.2018
Athens, Greece
Operadagen Festival: 19.05.2019
Aischylia Festival (GR) 09.09.2019
Dimitria Festival, Thessaloniki Concert Hall (GR) 07-08.10.2019
Festival Nueva Opera Buenos Aires (AR) (tba)
NOA Festival (LT) (tba)
New Media Department, Stanford University (USA) (tba)
Supported by:
© Karol Jarek
© Karol Jarek
© Elias Moraitis
© Karol Jarek
© Karol Jarek
© Karol Jarek
Videos
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Reviews
Papakonstantinou took the allegory of The Cave from Plato's 'Republic'…
What we perceive as reality is exactly this: our perception. We don’t know the real reality. In The Cave by Elli Papakonstantinou – ODC Ensemble, this line is continued and applied to the discussion about fake news, the influence of social media, virtual reality and the concept of ‘post truth’. The music of Mousas is more than adequate: by creating loud, thumping noise, he creates a very claustrophobic musical landscape, perfectly suited to our imprisonment in the cave. And yes, this piece raises interesting questions, for example about the concept of ‘choice’. Just as we can choose a new phone, so we can choose to believe or not believe a certain conspiracy theory. Knowledge and facts have also become a product that we can handle freely and that are interchangeable. We can ‘like’ and ‘follow’. Through the overwhelming music, the flashing images and the swirling pace, the five performers manage to take us on an exciting, but also disturbing, trip.
Ben Taffijn | Nieuwe Noten | 21.05.2019
"The Cave" takes us by storm with its powerful sound and visuals from the very first minute…
What we perceive as reality is exactly this: our perception. We don’t know the real reality. In The Cave by Elli Papakonstantinou – ODC Ensemble, this line is continued and applied to the discussion about fake news, the influence of social media, virtual reality and the concept of ‘post truth’. The music of Mousas is more than adequate: by creating loud, thumping noise, he creates a very claustrophobic musical landscape, perfectly suited to our imprisonment in the cave. And yes, this piece raises interesting questions, for example about the concept of ‘choice’. Just as we can choose a new phone, so we can choose to believe or not believe a certain conspiracy theory. Knowledge and facts have also become a product that we can handle freely and that are interchangeable. We can ‘like’ and ‘follow’. Through the overwhelming music, the flashing images and the swirling pace, the five performers manage to take us on an exciting, but also disturbing, trip.
Peter ‘t Hart | Place de l’Opera | 20.05.2019
"The Cave" takes us by storm with its powerful sound and visuals from the very first minute…
Very much like today’s worldwide “reality”: a cacophony of social media, “news”, non-stop visual information, and the voices of the multiple channels of information that bombard us from dawn to dusk. But, is this “reality” or are we still trapped in Socrates’s cave?
Shoshana Polanco | Jury Statement of the 2018 edition of Music Theatre NOW competition | 2018
An amazing cyber-punk new opera…
Korina Farmakori | Lifo | 02.10.2018
Tremendous aesthetic craft… a perfect combination of different arts…
[…] Elli Papakonstantinou does not juxtapose the ideal of the Platonic truth with the fake news era (as it is so easily made by the “valid” information providers) […] Papakonstantinou seems to imply that the solution is linked to the search for a third dimension, which will reintroduce the sense of perspective into a universe where the subject of knowledge itself is dissolved into light […]
Manolis Patiniotis | Avgi | 11.02.2018
A veritable bombardment of all senses…
Eye, ear and not least brain fought to keep up.It’s strange and beautiful, ugly and cloudy….like everyone else in the chamber, I was blown away…
Bent Stenbakken | Nordjyske | 11.08.2018
Redefining the meaning of modern musical theater with a social discourse, far from any realistic reference and trivial protest. Αn essential aesthetic event…
Dimitris Tsatsoulis
Greek-Theatre | Greek Play Project | 13.10.2018
Elli Papakonstantinou: The persistent representative of the Greek avant-garde…
ELLI’s THREE STRONG POINTS:
1. Interactivity with the audience: Elli shapes theatre into live experiences driving audiences to long promenades within industrial spaces.
2. Music: Music works in a transcendental way taking audiences into a space-time beyond the ordinary.
3. Extroversion: Her work evolves through international residencies and collaborations over time, while touring internationally.
Maria Kryou | Athinorama | 27.01.2018
A substantial aesthetic event…
[…] Redefines the meaning of contemporary musical theatre with a social message away from any reference to prosaic complaints.
Dimitris Tsatsoulis
Greek-Theatre | Greek Play Project | 13.10.2018
A disruptive interpretation of Platon’s allegory, with punk, video art and shadow theater…
A mix of opera, video, sound effects, shadow theater and soundtrack from Trump’s press conference, and if you think you’re true to reality, think again. Or should you?
Sceneblog | 08.08.2018
The Cave – active and dynamic – I saw it and definitely recommend it…
[…] I saw it and definitely recommend it. Combining new media with new opera, this is an overwhelming show of visuals and music taking us through the philosophical perspective of a suffocating, dark era. From Plato’s allegorical cave to facebook’s fake life […]
Maria Markouli | 09.02.2018