Nearly 18,000 people travelled to the ancient Epidaurus amphitheatre outside Athens this weekend (August 21-22) to see the final two performances of the Winter's Tale, part of the critically acclaimed inaugural year of The Bridge Project, a transatlantic company directed by Sam Mendes.
An unprecedented number of tickets were sold in the short space of three weeks, resulting in the Saturday performance selling all 9,200 seats- the first time in memory for a non-Greek production. In the wake of such extraordinary sales, Festival organizers took the unusual step of taking to the airwaves to advise non ticket holders from Athens not to travel to Epidaurus as no tickets would be available.
The Bridge Project, is a unique three-year series of co-productions between The Old Vic, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and Neal Street Productions devoted to producing large-scale, classical theatre for international audiences.
The 2009 Bridge Project (The Cherry Orchard and The Winter's Tale) began its journey in New York in January, embarking on an international tour taking residencies in Singapore (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Auckland (The Edge), Madrid (Teatro Espanol), Germany (Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen), The Old Vic in London and finally in Epidaurus as part of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival.
The second season of The Bridge Project was recently announced and will launch at BAM in January 2010 with As You Like it & The Tempest.
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