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REVIEWS AND RESPONSES ON MENDELSSOHN’S ANTIGONE (BBC PROMS, JULY 2003)
• The Guardian: “Potent Antigone, in a staging by Eugenia Arsenis,
with Richard Hickox conducting the City of London Sinfonia and the BBC Singers.
[…] Zoe Waites was a dignified Antigone, calmly confronting Brian Protheroe’s
psychologically imploding Creon. Conducting and choral singing were both
electric, and the play itself – dealing with silencing of dissent in times of
war – has rarely seemed more relevant than now”. (25/7/2003)
• The Daily Telegraph: “The performance was full of telling and carefully
crafted detail, and made a convincing case for this long-buried piece”.
(23/7/2003)
• The well-known Classicist, Professor Hellmut Flashar, specialist on
Mendelssohn’s Antigone, who honoured us with his presence, as he came
from Germany especially for the performance, wrote: “I must confess that I never
saw and heard a performance of Mendelssohn's Antigone music which was
more convincing than yours. I heard this music in concert halls since 1979 (that
was the starting point in recovering) till now about a dozen times, but nearly
always in pure concert form. And there is a lack in the reception of the whole.
Your tasteful staging made clear the combination of music and drama in the sense
of a Gesamtkunstwerk”. (16/8/2003)
On June 25th, 2004, Professor Flashar invited Eugenia Arsenis at the
Antikenfestpiele in Trier, Germany, where he honoured her by speaking about her
production.
• Ta Nea: With Antigone at the heart of London - “If the hopes
of the future are being drawn from the youth of the present, Eugenia Arsenis can
fulfill such promise. Theatre-historian, director, musician, doctoral researcher
in Philosophical Aesthetics, she conceived the idea of a music-centred
performance of ancient Greek drama and staged it under ideal conditions. She
staged Sophocles’ Antigone with the forgotten music by Mendelssohn […] at
the imposing Royal Albert Hall in London, on the 23rd July 2003. The
proposal of the young Arsenis was to stage a tragedy based in music – where the
music and the aesthetics of romanticism meet the spirit of the classical text –
with eight actors, the City of London Sinfonia-orchestra of 48 musicians,
conducted by Richard Hickox and a male chorus of 40 singers. The performance was
not only noticed by the British press but was also praised with warm reviews at
the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and it was broadcast live by the BBC Radio 3.
A very big production with high standards in a very central theatre of the
British capital is already an impressive piece of news. Even more, when behind
these, there is a serious study and thought, which supports the production. “The
music gave me the inspiration for this staging. I translated the text in English
in a style that would be consistent with the aesthetics of the 19th
century music. For the dramaturgy, I kept the six main characters and all the
choral parts, which were set to music, the heroine’s lamentation and Creon’s
monologue”. Eugenia Arsenis dynamic beginning at the British stage emerged when
one of the producers attended one of her conference-talks in London, on the
subject of her doctorate in Philosophical Aesthetics and Opera, appreciated her
idea and asked her to fulfill it. But all these have a very strong ground on her
academic studies: theatre studies and directing at the Royal Holloway University
of London. Postgraduate studies in Philosophy at UCL, advanced research at the
Department of Music at Boston University, music studies -piano and composition-
at the Attiko Conservatory and at the Royal Holloway University of
London. So, we can conclude that nothing is accidental…” (11/8/2003) -E.Chatziioannou
• Adesmeutos Typos: Her
talent shown brightly - “The most essential precondition for someone to have
a career abroad is, at a general consent, the hard-work and the existence of
talent. Eugenia Arsenis seems to have tried a lot for the first and not at all
for the second. A distinguished graduate of Arsakio school, she studied […]. The
impressive reviews for Eugenia’s work prove that her talent is already started
being accepted and recognised […] and it will surely engage us in the future”.
(20/8/2003)
• Ethnos: Applause for
Eugenia Arsenis’ Antigone – “When a young Greek woman excels abroad,
one could not but feel proud for that. This is what happens with the 26 year-old
theatre-historian-director Eugenia Arseenis, an artist who –even if she is very
young – she managed to win applause and recognition of London’s audience. […].
Potent Antigone, was the performance characterised for the very
thoughtful details that unveil the central idea of the play. The Director of the
BBC Proms Mr. Nicholas Kenyon sent a letter of congratulations to the director
of Antigone and expressed his great satisfaction for the result”.
(13/8/2003)
REVIEWS ON HENZE’S EL CIMARRÓN (GREEK NATIONAL OPERA, MAY 2005)
• Ta Nea: “El Cimarrón, which was directed with sensibility and
knowledge by Eugenia Arsenis, […] was warmly received with applause”.
(23/5/2005)-Y. Sarigiannis
• Rizospastis: “ [El Cimarrón] was directed in an austere manner,
with the proper aesthetic approach, supplemented with emotion, by the young,
promising director Eugenia Arsenis”. (1/6/2005)- A. Ellinoudi
• Odos Panos (issue 130): “The dramaturgical approach and
the directing that Eugenia Arsenis stored for us […] focused our attention to
the gist of the work”. (October-December 2005) – A. Vavlidas
REVIEWS ON HARTMANN’ WAXWORKS (GREEK NATIONAL OPERA, MAY 2006)
• Express: “We were absorbed by Eugenia Arsenis’ rapid directing pace”.
(27/5/2006)-Y. Leotsakos
•
Odos Panos (issue 134): “The directing approach, noted for its
variability,actively engaged with the text, by Eugenia Arsenis […], elevated the
work” (October-December 2006) – A. Vavlidas |
