Performance at ancient theatre of Salamis

The ancient Greek tragedy “Hippolytus” by Euripides, was staged on September 11 by the Theatrical Organization of South Cyprus (THOC) at the ancient open amphitheatre of Salamis.

Hippolytus was performed in Greek, with English and Turkish subtitles. It was organized in collaboration with the Famagusta Walled City Association (MASDER) and was under the auspices of the Bi-communal Technical Committee on Culture.

The number of the audience at the ancient theatre of Salamis exceeded their expectations, Serdar Atai, coordinator of the Turkish Cypriot NGO of MASDER Famagusta said he estimated that there were 3.500 viewers, 2.800 Greek Cypriots and about 700 Turkish Cypriots. “It was a very nice evening. We together made a journey to our roots, to our common cultural heritage”. “It was a very emotional night, really we felt all very nostalgic,” he said.

The performance of Hippolytus at the ancient theatre of Salamis proved that culture has the power and the spirit to create a new chapter in the history of Cyprus, Chairman of the Board of the THOC, Yiannis Toumazis told.

Toumazis regarded this as an important step in organizing high-level cultural events by the bi-communal Technical Committee on Culture. “Culture is the main weapon in our quiver as a European country in a very troubled region of Southeast Mediterranean and we must develop and exploit this weapon with our cultural heritage and cultural power,” he said.