The National Theater of Northern Greece is hosting its annual Forest Festival in Thessaloniki for its 12th year. This year, it expands to another location, the Royal Theatre which sits on the city’s waterfront promenade, next to the White Tower, a historical landmark.
Running from May to September, the Festival offers music, theater, dancing performances just to name a few. Performances will take place at both historic stages and open-air theater, with concerts concentrated in June such as the Greek icon Vasilis Papakonstantinou, and theater productions dominating July. The festival will host a variety of different theater performances ranging from the Greek tragedy Antigone, to contemporary comedies, covering all corners of the creative spectrum.
One of the performances generating the most buzz, is a three way co-production between NTNG, the Athens Epidaurus festival, and the Bulgaria’s national theatre of Euripides’ Bacchae. Moreover, the British band the Tiger Lillies are playing the entire score of the performance, emphasizing the multicultural nature of this festival. The production will take place at the Earth Theater on July 20 and 22.
Asteris Peltekis, the artistic director of NTNG, sees this production as a vital step forward in developing cultural connections across the Balkans. This would place Thessaloniki at the epicenter of this Balkan performing arts network that is beginning to form.
