PRESS RELEASE - UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS

Date:  21/11/2025

Powerful, Wicked, and Female: The Gendered Construction of Byzantine Women in Modern Greek Theatre

25 November, 16:00-18:00

University of Cyprus, Learning Resource Centre (LRC 012 – Amphitheatre ‘Philippos Tsimpoglou’)

This workshop examines the gender-based treatment of Byzantine influential women who act as protagonists in theatrical works written in Greek between the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Participants are invited to explore with us the following questions:

-         Which Byzantine characters provide inspiration for theatrical authors and how are their choices reflective of a gender-based politics?

-         How are these characters staged and portrayed?

-         Which purposes (aesthetic, political, intellectual) did the particular portrayal of Byzantine women in this kind of theatre serve?

The event is open to the public free of charge and will be conducted in English. It will be led by Dr. Andria Andreou (University of Cyprus) and Prof. Avra Sidiropoulou (Open University of Cyprus) and will comprise a theoretical session and a creative writing session.

The lecture is inspired by the research conducted in the context of the research programme “Byzantines on Stage: Reimagining Byzantium in the Modern Greek Theatrical Production” (BStage). The programme, coordinated by Dr. Andreou through the Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals (CeMAR) of the University of Cyprus is co-funded by by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Foundation of Research and Innovation (Programme “EXCELLENCE HUBS”: EXCELLENCE/0524/0251).

For more information, please visit the programme’s official Website: www.ucy.ac.cy/bstage/.

End of announcement