Aristophanes' EIRINI/PEACE

Peace/Eirini is a celebration of a vanished agrarian world, a hilarious and irresistible argument for humanity, a festival of ordinary people built from the very smoke of war, a brightly lit stage standing defiantly amid horror.

Director Nikos Karathanos, together with Phoebus Delivorias and Angelos Triantafyllou, are the principal creative collaborators behind this new production, a fresh adaptation that answers to madness with madness.

Aristophanes' original comedy was first presented at the City Dionysia in 421 BC, where it won second prize. It was written at a pivotal historical moment, shortly before the Peace of Nicias, in response to the growing hope for an end to hostilities following the deaths of the pro-war generals, the Athenian Cleon and the Spartan Brasidas, at the Battle of Amphipolis.

Reflecting the profound exhaustion of Athenian society during the Peloponnesian War, Peace explores, with Aristophanes' signature wit, lyrical brilliance, and biting satire, the irrational obsession with war and its devastating impact on everyday life, work, and human happiness. The playwright contrasts the violence and profiteering of warmongers with the fertility, love, and collective prosperity that peace makes possible. Although its resolution may appear utopian, the comedy is far from naive. It recognises the resistance, vested interests, and inertia that stand in the way of lasting peace.

Peace occupies a pivotal place in Aristophanes' body of work as his most conciliatory and optimistic political comedy. While deeply rooted in the historical circumstances of its time, the play remains remarkably relevant because it exposes a recurring pattern that persists to this day: wars prolonged at the expense of the many for the benefit of the few. The determination of an ordinary citizen to pursue peace, even in defiance of political power and conventional logic, makes the play profoundly resonant in today's world, where invasions, violence, threats, insecurity, and cynicism continue to be presented as unavoidable realities.