Socrates and his Clouds. William Lyons

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       SOCRATES AND HIS CLOUDS

       BY WILLIAM LYONS

      Socrates and his Clouds was first produced at Jermyn Street Theatre from 4 June 2013 to 22 June 2013.

Socrates	Alexander Andreou
Strepsiades	Paul Hutton
Phidippides	Jack Montgomery
Chorus	Riana Athanasiou
	Lucyelle Cliffe
	Rahil Liapopoulou

      The parts of Student, Reason, Persuasion and Pandora are played by the Chorus.

Director	Melina Theocharidou
Designer	Katerina Angelopoulou
Lighting Designer	Karolina Spyrou
Composer/Orchestrator	Olivios Karaolides
Vocal Supervisor	Constantine Andronikou
Choreographer	Sandra Maturana
Casting Director	Constantine Andronikou
Assistant Director	Ruth Mariner
Assistant Designer	Ariadne Kritonos
Stage Manager	Nathalie Gunzlé
Associate Producer	Sofia Apospori
Associate Producer	Lucy Pattison
Associate Producer	Jennifer Winder-Baggot
Associate Producer	Mara Lockowandt
Press Agent	David Burns

      Design of the poster and trailer by Nastazia Lampropoulou.

      All music composed and orchestrated by Olivios Karaolides, and recorded at Hook Recording Art Studio, Cyprus, with the following orchestra: Nikos Pittas (violin), Peter Gospodinov (cello), George Georgiou (clarinet), Marios Nikolaou (xylophone) and Olivios Karaolides (piano).

      Production website wwww.socratesandhisclouds.com developed by Stathis Aposporis with illustrations by Nastazia Lampropoulou.

       DIRECTOR’S NOTE

      It is my great privilege to bring to the stage in this world premiere William Lyons’ Socrates and his Clouds. Inspired by and paying homage to the ancient heritage of the Hellenistic world, Aristophanes’ Clouds and Plato’s Dialogues, Lyons fashions a serio-comic drama about the fragility of morality, the hazards of education and the tyranny of economics.

      Socrates and his Clouds is a hearty comedy in the Aristophanic style; a philosophical debate staged for the people; a compelling story of a father, a son and a teacher; a near-tragedy that uses our past to reflect our present and foretell our future.

      Staging this play at a time when Greece and Cyprus are coming under unrelenting attack on all fronts, at a time when the people of Europe are asked to live on less and less and dream no more, our team – an international ensemble with a core of Greek-Cypriot and Greek theatre makers – is urging Europe, is urging the world, to proclaim that people’s suffering cannot be carelessly meted out as if it’s an irrelevance, that money cannot rule our world.

      Melina Theocharidou

       THANKS

      The Meddlers Theatre Company would like to thank the people, companies and organisations who have donated funds and made this production possible: The ‘Dublin 3 Fs Fund’, Ciara de Mora and Marie de Mora Eivers, The Kerry Group plc., Ciaran and Nicole Power, Valerie Pierce – Clear Critical Thinking, John M Dillon, Belinda McKeon, Ms Marie-Christine Keith, The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (London), Professor Béla Szabados, Jane Flanagan, Elinor Lloyd – It’s All Greek, John Stanley, Susan A J Stuart, Yasmine Van Wilt, Gayle Smith, Alex Tsiatsos, Ioli Andreadi, Randal Marlin, Constanza Ruff, Prof George Huxley MRIA, Annabel Bates and David Cordon – Future Got No Past, Linda Brown, Chloe Stephens, Kurt Van Wilt, Aphrodite Constantinou, Martin Hilliard, Stephen Winder-Baggot and Angela Cotter.

      We would also like to warmly thank Anthony Biggs and Penny Horner at Jermyn Street Theatre for giving our production such a distinguished home and for generously supporting our efforts.

      We thank the following companies, organisations and people for their in kind support in marketing this production: Gyles Brandreth, The Philosophy Foundation, Philosophy Now, Geopoliticraticus, ALP (A Level Philosophy), Stephen Jenkins and The Classics Library, It’s All Greek and RADA Alumni.

      Thank you also to JEu Productions for their advice and support, The Life Goddess: Greek Deli Divine (www.thelifegoddess.com) for kindly hosting our Press Night Party, Lovestruck for providing clothing for the use of the team and cast at public events (www.lovestruckclothing.co.uk) and Stephen Chandler for advising on corporate sponsorship packages (www.barberandchandler.com).

      The Meddlers would also like to personally thank Tania Malek for providing assistance to both Melina Theocharidou and Olivios Karaolides; Maria Lambrou for designing our electronic advertisements based on Nastazia Lampropoulou’s illustrations; Yasmine Van Wilt for her support of the production in more ways than we could name; Robert Heller, Ioli Andreadi, Elena Psara, Nicolas Onoufriou, Alli Smith, Anastasia Revi and Konstantinos Kavakiotis for their advice and support.

      Finally, thank you to the actors who participated in the first research and development workshops of the play in January 2012 (Constanza Ruff, Clive Arrindell and Rahil Liapopoulou); Anne Cattaneo for choosing Socrates and his Clouds as one of the plays explored at the Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab in July 2012; the directors and actors who worked on the play at the Lincoln Center (Julia Hart Dittrich, Dylan Key, Lillian Meredith, Sandeep Shikhar, Carter Gill, Liam Craig and David Margulies); and Andrew Walby, James Hogan, Charles Glanville, Sophie O’Reirdan and the entire team at Oberon Books.

       THE CAST

       Alexander Andreou

      Socrates

      Alexander Andreou’s acting career has included diverse parts, from Islamist hate preacher (The Black Album, National Theatre) to Gypsy King (The Wolfman, Paramount) and New York docker (A View from the Bridge, Manchester Royal Exchange); from Othello (Othello, Pacific Playhouse) to Caiaphas (Jesus Christ Superstar, Ljubljana Festival) to Queen Margaret (Princess Ivona, Waterloo Tunnels). He made his directing debut with Mamet’s Boston Marriage for Sturdy Beggars. He writes regularly for the New Statesman, the Guardian and Radio 4. After a career in law, Alex trained at The Poor School and has taught and directed there.

       Paul Hutton

      Strepsiades

      Paul trained at Laine Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include: King Kevin in Sleeping Beauty (The Castle Theatre, Wellingbourgh), Freddie in Mack & Mabel (Southwark Playhouse), Durdles in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Landor Theatre & Arts Theatre), Herr Flick in ’Allo ‘Allo (Swan Theatre), Flat Top in Starlight Express (Apollo Victoria), Mark in Rent (Swan Theatre), Huntsman in Giselle (Royal Opera House), Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof (Malvern Theatre), Bill Snibson in Me and My Girl (Swan Theatre), Bobby Child in Crazy for You (Malvern Theatres), Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Spires Theatre), Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain (Malvern Theatres), Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors (Norbury Theatre), Slim/Fusspot in Sleeping Beauty (Roses Theatre), Freckles in Puss in Boots (Swan Theatre), Archie Goose in Mother Goose (Swan Theatre), Smelly in Dick Whittington (Roses Theatre), Wishee Washee in Aladdin (Swan Theatre) and Buttons in Cinderella (Swan Theatre). Television credits include: Bob Says Opportunity Knocks (BBC TV), Noah’s Ark (Carlton TV) and The Royal Variety Performance (ITV). Choreography credits