THE SEA AND THE OLD MAN
Based on Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”
Rhodes – Moat Theatre Friday, August 08, 2025 Start time: 21:15
Adaptation – Direction: Marlén Kaminsky Starring: Tasos Nousias
2ND YEAR OF PERFORMANCES
Following a hugely successful summer tour across Greece and a second winter cycle of sold-out performances in Thessaloniki and other major cities, the critically acclaimed play “The Sea and the Old Man” will embark on its 2nd year of touring select theaters.
The leading role is performed by Tasos Nousias.
THE WORK
“The Sea and the Old Man” is an adaptation based on Ernest Hemingway’s classic and Pulitzer Prize-winning work “The Old Man and the Sea,” for which he was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This work is considered a masterpiece of world literature and is likened to a Homeric epic.
It describes the story of a fisherman, Santiago—portrayed by Tasos Nousias—and his journey into the unexplored and vast sea. His epic encounter with a magnificent blue marlin, which the hero managed to catch after 84 days without a single fish. The fish is very strong; Santiago cannot kill it, and it, hooked to his line, pulls him and his small boat deeper and deeper into the sea for three days and three nights. Santiago finally manages to kill the fish, but because it is too large to fit in the boat, he ties it to the side. On the way back, sharks attack and eat all the flesh of the enormous fish. Beneath this simple story lies a world rich in symbolism and metaphors about the search for purpose, the endurance of the human spirit, and humanity’s conflicting relationship with the natural environment.
Manolin, portrayed by Vasilis Milionis, is Santiago’s devoted young apprentice. As his father no longer allows him to go fishing with Santiago, Manolin can only visit him in his daydreams and nighttime dreams at sea, thus establishing the connection between memory, present, and future.
Hemingway wrote the story in 1951, and Marlén Kaminsky brings it into our modern era. Inspired by the title, the figure of the Sea was added, to be interpreted by dancer Phaedra Soutou with the voice of Evelyn Assouad.
“The emergence of the self into wild nature is an escape from the security and atrophy of the spirit that security produces. It is for the sake of liberating the human spirit, and, in the process, man becomes part of the deep harmony of the natural universe.” — Leo Gurko, “The Heroic Impulse in The Old Man and the Sea”
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Reading the story from the perspective of the industrialized and modern 21st-century environment, the primordial struggle and harmony between Man and Nature came to mind. If one has learned how to work with and within nature instead of trying to conquer and destroy it, there is no limit to the depth of a true understanding of its mysteries. Humanity’s fate cannot be separated from the fate of the oceans. Nevertheless, 70 years after the story was written, direct or indirect human impact has damaged ocean health, which in turn affects life on land. By combining text with dance and 3D animation projections, I hope to invite the audience to immerse themselves in a holistic stage universe where they might remember our inevitable and enigmatic connection to nature.
According to the words of Lemi Ponifasio (Samoan theatre director and choreographer) “it is not possible to change human behavior without revising our spirituality.” We cannot simply hope that by only using technology, spending money, enacting guidelines, we will avoid climate emergency and anthropogenic destruction of natural habitats and biodiversity.
As artists, it is our duty to find ways to improve the quality of how people feel, hear, see, and touch the world. What is our role on earth? We are part of the earth’s processes, and these processes happened long before us and will continue long after we are gone.
PERFORMANCE IDENTITY
THE SEA AND THE OLD MAN Based on Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”
Concept, Adaptation, Dramaturgy: Marlén Kaminsky Adaptation Translation, Dramaturgy Assistant: Natasa Petropoulou Direction: Marlén Kaminsky 3D Animation / Video Mapping Design: Yiannis Dousiopoulos Music: Stavros Tsoumanis Lighting Design: Aliki Danezi Knutsen Set Design – Costume Design: Angelina Papachatizaki, Marlén Kaminsky Assistant Director: Natasa Petropoulou Puppet Construction: Myrto Kosmopoulou Trailer: Alexis Falantas Promotion Photos: Fani Maria Chatzi Communication: Eirini Lagourou Production Organization: Efthymis Christou Tour Organization: THEATER ART COMPANY EE – Sakis and Fotis Manafi Production: Theatrical Productions Dimitris Fotopoulos IKE
Cast: Santiago: Tasos Nousias Manolin: Vasilis Milionis Sea: Phaedra Soutou Voice of: Evelyn Assouad
Event Organization: Fantasia Production
