2 September 2026, 12:00

Diachronic Museum of Larissa

Edith Hall

Classicist

Professor Durham University, UK

The distinguished Hellenist Edith Hall—who has just received the International Hellenic Prize 2025 in Athens for her book Facing Down the Furies—will visit Larissa for the very first time to honor the 1st UNDER30 Thessaly International Performing Arts Festival. In an open seminar, she will speak about the new generation of the Atrides (Orestes and Iphigenia), exploring how the younger generation negotiates and manages intergenerational trauma.

The discussion that follows will address the reception of Ancient Drama by the “Under 30” generation in Great Britain.

Edith Hall is one of the world’s leading and most influential classical philologists. Her pioneering work serves as a global benchmark for the study, interpretation, and contemporary revival of ancient Greek theater. She is a Professor at Durham University in the UK, a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Professor Hall’s approach stands out globally because she shifts ancient drama from a strictly academic framework into live theatrical practice. She views tragedy and comedy not as static texts of the past, but as dynamic, democratic institutions that speak directly to contemporary social, political, and psychological challenges. Through her research, she demonstrates how ancient theater gave a voice to marginalized groups (women, slaves, foreigners) and functioned as a space for dialogue on gender-based violence, political disobedience, and collective trauma.

She has authored and edited more than 35 books. At the heart of her theater-focused bibliography are the iconic works Greek Tragedy: Suffering Under the Sun (a comprehensive analysis of all 33 surviving tragedies) and The Theatrical Cast of Athens, alongside specialized volumes on the performance history of the Oresteia (Agamemnon in Performance) and Aristophanes (Aristophanes in Performance). In 2024, she was honored in Athens with the International Hellenic Prize for her book Facing Down the Furies: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and Me, where she utilizes Sophocles’ Ajax to approach human loss.

Uniquely bridging academia with the global theater scene, Edith Hall regularly works as a dramaturg and academic consultant for leading artistic organizations, including the Royal Shakespeare Company and London’s National Theatre, guiding directors and actors in the modern delivery of ancient texts. Furthermore, she is a frequent broadcaster for the BBC, a columnist for international media (The Guardian, The Times), and leader of the British campaign Advocating Classics Education, which fights for the return of classical studies to state schools. She is currently developing her next major research project, Unmasking Dionysus, which examines the relationship between ancient performance culture and ecology.

Municipal Art Gallery of Larissa, “G.I. Katsigras Museum”

The Topic

There is an immense desire in the United Kingdom for new versions of ancient Greek tragedies. In my lecture, I will examine the production of Euripides’ Bacchae, which was staged at the National Theatre in London in 2025, as well as the Welsh-language film Effi o Blaenau, which is based on Gary Owen’s play Iphigenia in Splott—an adaptation of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis. I will focus particularly on the ways in which these new versions aim to attract new and younger audiences, and I will explore how these ancient works can be utilized for the political education of our younger generations.

LUCY JACKSON

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Lucy Jackson is an Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University, specializing in ancient Greek literature. She has also taught at King’s College London and the University of Oxford. Her first book, published in 2019, examines the role of the chorus in ancient Greek theater following the deaths of Euripides and Sophocles. Her current research focuses on the survival and reception of ancient Greek drama in the Renaissance, the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as in modern political theory. In 2025, she curated the exhibition “The Greeks: Radical Reinvention” at the Wolfson Gallery of the National Theatre of Great Britain. Alongside her academic work, she has served as a production consultant and dramaturg for major theatrical productions, including The Odyssey (National Theatre, 2023), Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. (Royal Court Theatre, 2019), Cymbeline (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2016), The Oresteia (Shakespeare’s Globe, 2015), The Iliad (British Museum/Almeida Theatre, 2015), and Medea (National Theatre, 2014).

Municipal Art Gallery of Larissa, “G.I. Katsigras Museum”

The Topic

An exploration of digital media as reflected in the production “Can the Devil Speak True?”, a short, immersive performance based on Macbeth. In this work, the audience is placed in the position of the main character, with Banquo guiding them through the space toward the witches to hear their prophecies. Some of these prophecies are delivered by demons via virtual reality (VR). As soon as Macbeth removes the headset, the witches have vanished, and the first prophecy has already come true.

WILL SHULER

Associate Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London

Dr. Will Shuler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance, as well as Vice-Dean of Education and Student Experience in the School of Performing and Digital Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. His academic and artistic practice focuses on the intersection of performing arts with new technologies, queer theories, and Ancient Greek theatre.

He is widely recognized for his educational innovation, having been shortlisted for the Times Higher Education (THE) “Innovative Teacher of the Year” award. At Royal Holloway, he directs the pioneering course “Acting 360,” which trains actors for virtual reality environments (Cinematic VR). During the pandemic, he stood out for integrating Augmented Reality (AR) technologies into theatre education.

His teaching and research portfolio spans from ancient Greek tragedy and acting on camera to contemporary digital performances. He is currently finishing his upcoming book titled An Actor’s Guide to New Technology: AI, VR and other Digital Media, which is set to be published by Bloomsbury.