Aristophanes Birds

birds ornithes epidavros Theatre aristophanes

High in the sky,
hidden amid the clouds,
between men and gods,
is the land of the birds ...

The Onassis Cultural Centre”flew" for the first time in Epidaurus, on 19 & 20 August 2016, with the most comical birds of Aristophanes: the "Birds" (414 BC), within the Epidaurus Festival.

As part of our wider cooperation with the Onassis Cultural Centre and the director, the aim was to create some kind of open invitation, a visual identity that stimulates the interest of potential viewers. Our goal was to make you take a peak and to convince you to come.

Whenever we face a design challenge, we try to find one or more features that make the object, we are interested in communicating. Most of the time these features are found in the structure of the object. The theatrical interpretation of the "Birds" by Aristophanes, directed by Nikos Karathanos is one of them. In our work we decided to highlight the magical moment when the actor is 'transformed' on stage, embodying the role and in this particular case, the transformation of the actors into birds (!). The Birds signify the human's need to fly, to create a new world, to get in touch with his true desires.

"Birds" promotion video

In direct collaboration with the director and the troupe we decided to promote the Birds through the promotion of the actors. Every actor-bird is at the center of a separate image, which in combination with the others make up the overall identity of the show. The actors transform themselves into birds, the troupe is a "flock."

The choice of the different promotion on the internet managed to impress a wider audience. The surreal graphic elements in a white background that dominated the photos, gif and videos, with the vivid colors, full-body bird costumes that the actors were dressed in and the music (based on the voices of the troupe) that is pleasantly intriguing, constituted the promotion of a performance while not being necessarily aesthetically identical with the performance itself but enhancing the points that make it unique. We certainly don't overlook the fact that some people took the aesthetics we proposed "literally" and expected to see "feathers" in Epidaurus, but we still believe that most of the people understood the particularity of this promotion process.

We chose to represent the "Birds" in a realistic way, with magnificent plumage full of colors and create a visual impression, taking into account characteristics such as texture, weight and friction.

The people-birds we suggested with their the wings, the feathers, the instantaneous movements, their sound and organic freedom they were given by the ability of the flying, was in the end a trigger for the viewer in order to watch the show not only with his eyes, but as we did, with the mind and imagination.

Because these "Birds" aimed mainly in the conscious realisation of another level of existence, of the nature and the function of the theatre itself. They were a call to the senses and an invocation of the subconscious, both of the actors and the audience.