On the occasion of the retrospective exhibition of works by COSMAS XENAKIS at the BENAKIS MUSEUM, Agra Publications is reprinting, in a limited number of copies, the translations by Kosmas Xenakis of two surrealistic works by Lorca that were first published in 1978 in Spain and were released in Greek in November 1981. It was the 17th book by Agra Publications.

Cover design: Kosmas Xenakis. "Very daring and with a completely new technique. It is the best I have written for the theater. (…) They understood nothing or were frightened - I understand that. The work is very difficult and cannot be performed at the moment. They are right. But in ten or twenty years it will be a huge success. You'll see." These are the words of Lorca, after the first reading of the play The Audience to his friends in the autumn of 1931.

Since then, the play has been revised but was never published in its entirety. A form of the manuscript was delivered to R. M. Nadal, who searched for many years for other versions of the play and the missing 5th scene of the manuscript. It was published for the first time in 1978 in Spain along with the one-act play Untitled Comedy, which initially was believed to be the famous missing 5th scene. The Audience, a surrealistic drama, provides another perspective on Lorca's work.

A daring exploration of a dreamlike theater with poetic flashes, where through techniques and patterns that would later be used by the avant-garde of theater (Pirandello, Cocteau, Genet, Beckett, etc.), it speaks of homosexual love, death, impotence, and chance in love, contemplating the nature of theater and the relationships between the author, work, and audience. The Untitled Comedy, a reflection of the tumultuous years 1935-36, operates within a disturbing and threatening atmosphere, and its theme is art, theater, and revolution.

The publication is accompanied by an introduction by R. M. Nadal and 12 sketches by Lorca.

Excerpt

HURRY-THOUGHT: If you go one step further, the man will seem like a blade of grass.
CHOIRMASTER: Not a blade of grass, but, yes, a sailor.
HURRY-THOUGHT: I can turn a sailor into a sewing needle.
CHOIRMASTER: That’s exactly what happens in theater. That’s why I dared to undertake a very difficult poetic game, hoping that love would interrupt it violently and give shape to the costumes.
HURRY-THOUGHT: When you say love, I get scared.
CHOIRMASTER: Scared? Of what?
HURRY-THOUGHT: I see a landscape of sand reflected in a cloudy mirror.
CHOIRMASTER: And what else?
HURRY-THOUGHT: That dawn never ends.

THE EXHIBITION AT THE BENAKIS MUSEUM
Opening: March 19, 2015, at 20:00
Duration of the exhibition: March 20 – May 10, 2015.

COSMAS XENAKIS, one of the greatest pioneers of post-war art in Greece, worked with painting, sculpture, architecture, and urban planning. Combining painting and sculpture with theater and dance, he created pioneering performances he called Polytopia. At the same time, he was a lover of folk art and a collector of functional objects, ceramics, and agricultural tools.

The exhibition represents the first substantial effort to display his work cohesively, highlighting his multifaceted personality, his vast inner wealth, and his leading contribution to the renewal of visual art in Greece. Curator, exhibition design: Georgios Chatzimichalis. Assistant curator: Dimitris Xenakis. Documentation, scientific research: Spyros Moschonas.