Once declared illiterate in a single 24‑hour purge, Kyriakos Charitos is now rewriting ancient drama—and his own reputation—on the stage of the Little Theatre of Epidaurus. His new work, Thebes Loneliness, flips Sophocles’ Antigone on its head to spotlight the characters’ isolation: not just Antigone, but Creon, Haemon, Tiresias—and even the city of Thebes, left hollow in the aftermath. The title sprung to him like graffiti on a lorry passing through the Oinofyta tolls—“Thiva Monaxia”—a name bold as an interstate billboard, poetic as an adjective, painting fate as roadside fiction. Charitos, a versatile author of award‑winning children’s books like Little Encyclopedia of Death and Letters to the Virgin Mary, now stages a literary rebellion: a pared‑down myth that seeks emotional truth in stripped‑back storytelling. Self‑branded as a writer who justifies his place on Earth, Charitos places his pen as both existential anchor and creative passport. And this summer, Antigone gets her lonely debut—far from Thebes, but unmistakably human.
Το ΒΗΜΑ, 04 July 2025
