Europa comes to GNO TV

Two unique screenings on 18 and 19 December 2020 on nationalopera.gr/GNOTV
Start at: 20.30
Europa’s screening on GNO TV is free to the public but requires an online pre-registration that will provide you with an access password to GNO TV through www.ticketservices.gr.
Pre-registration will start a week before the screening on 11 December 2020, at 12.00. First come, first served. 

Eccentric Danish director Lars von Trier’s masterpiece Europa (1991) comes to life through the eyes of Kostas Papakostopoulos, distinguished director and founder and artistic director of the Deutsch Griechisches Theater in Köln [DGT Köln], which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Europa’s theatrical adaptation, a co-production of the Deutsch Griechisches Theatre - Köln and the GNO Alternative Stage, will be presented on GNO TV, the new web TV of the Greek National Opera, for two unique screenings on 18 and 19 December at 20.30. Europa will be available to watch for free - exclusively for the Greek public - on nationalopera.gr/GNOTV. The performance will be in German with Greek subtitles.

Τhe international production of Europa and its presentation in Greece and Germany is made possible thanks to a (SNF) [www.SNF.org] Stavros Niarchos Foundation grant to the Deutsch Griechisches Theatre, while the launch and operation of GNO TV is realized thanks to the SNF grant for the enhancement of GNO’s artistic outreach.

“You will now listen to my voice. My voice will help you and guide you still deeper into Europa. I shall now count from one to ten. On the count of ten, you will be in Europa.”

(from Lars von Trier’s film Europa)

Set in the ruins of destroyed Germany after the second world war, at the so-called Stunde Null (zero hour), Europa (1991), Lars von Trier’s third film after The element of crime and Epidemic, presents the strenuous efforts for the reconstruction of a new Europe on the ashes left over by its violent past through an allegorical journey. The film stars a young idealist man of German-American descent who comes to Germany in 1945 and unintentionally becomes an object of exploitation by two rivaling camps: the fanatical Nazis, the so-called “Werewolf” guerrillas, and the American secret services.

The premiere of Europa’s theatrical adaptation was held on 2 November 2019 in Cologne. The play portrays a modern-day citizen taking the same journey to that era’s postwar Germany. The protagonist is fascinated by unexpected meetings and tormented by painful memories, which will lead him to put his values to the test and, in the end, reject them.

Herbert Mitschke’s music and John Seidler’s black and white videos create an evocative Kafkaesque atmosphere in this nightmare journey through Europe’s history. In a time of increasingly bigger disputes, controversies and doubts about the future of the European Union, the director borrows Lars von Trier’s motifs to bring out the dangers lurking in its future through Europe’s violent past.

The train runs as if it is possessed, with its shutters down, across Europe’s bombarded landscape. Can anyone change its course?

Theatre / Greek premiere
Europa
Based on Lars von Trier’s film of the same title
Co-production of the Deutsch Griechisches Theatre–Kostas Papakostopoulos and the GNO Alternative Stage
Video recorded on the GNO Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on 9 October 2020

Music: Herbert Mitschke
Concept, director: Kostas Papakostopoulos
Sets, costumes: Zezo Dinekov
Video: John Seidler
Lighting: Julia Kaindl
Dramaturge: Christina Ripeanu
Graphic designer: Andreas Tsortanidis
Cast: Thomas Franke, Florian Gierlichs, Nikos Goudanakis, Stefan Kleinert, Lisa Sophie Kusz, Antonis Michalopoulos, Vassilis Nalbantis, Bondo Primus

With the support of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture of  North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the City of Cologne

Founding donor of the Alternative Stage/ Performance sponsor:
Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]