Romeo and Juliet in Aigaleo

(young) Aigaleo City is the second stage of locus athens’ two-year long community project in Aigaleo, curated by locus athens, initiated and supported by NEON. A vital section of the current program of (young) Aigaleo City, Romeo and Juliet in Aigaleo, aims to introduce Shakespeare to children of all ages in Aigaleo. A series of workshops will take place in schools where Shakespearean texts will be used as a basis for a journey into movement, dance, sound, literature and coding.

Romeo and Juliet in Aigaleo, is part of a broader Shakespeare Lives program and is based on a collaboration with the British Council, the British Embassy, the municipality of Aigaleo and the Athens International Film Festival. Romeo and Juliet in Aigaleo is for the community of Aigaleo.

THEATER
The theater director Dimitris Xanthopoulos who has been working with teenagers from the 7th High School of Aigaleo over a six-month period will direct a devised version of “Romeo and Juliet” where theatrical games will be used as a starting-point for the student’s exploration of Shakespeare’s text: love, losses and rivalries. A final performance will be held in June in the courtyard of their high school.

MUSIC
The musicians Gnous will ask primary school children to create a musical score, using musical instruments and found everyday objects, for a scene from Percy Stow’s filmic adaptation of the ‘Tempest” (1908).

DIGITAL
Nikos Vogiatzis will create collaborative workshops where children will use digital tools and user generated content to collage, re-write and re-design Shakespearean texts to create 3D animations based on Macbeth.

MOVEMENT
Actresses Iris Nikolaou & Rebecca Tsiligaridou will use “A Midsummer Nights Dream” as the starting point for an exploration of improvisation and role playing through dance, music and theater.

VISUAL ARTS
The visual artist Anastasia Douka will use Peter Greenaway’s “Prospero’s books”, a filmic adaptation of the “Tempest”, as the inspiration for a workshop where school children will be invited to re-create their own ‘mythical’ books in their own version of Prospero’s library.

CINEMA
Richard the 3^rd (1995) directed by Richard Loncraine starring Ian McKellen will be screened in collaboration with the Athens Open Air Film Festival.

(Young) Aigaleo City is one of NEON’s Community Projects for 2016, part of NEON’s initiative to bring art projects into the city’s neighborhoods. ΝΕΟΝ Community Projects have been taking place since 2013 and are based on the participation of residents, groups and artists from Athenian neighborhoods. These Projects are a vital field of artistic activity, through which artists, alongside with citizens, highlight the issues that concern these local communities.