Performed on a small rooftop venue at the Webster University Cultural Centre on Markou Avriliou Street in the Plaka district immediately below the northern slope of the Acropolis, the Koilon Theatre is a small Greek theatrical company that produces the only daily English-language ancient Greek theatre performance in Athens during the summer season. The company takes its name from the Greek word for the curved seating area of the ancient Greek theatre and has been producing rooftop performances at the same location since 2018. The principal current production is Medea and Other Friends I Made in Athens, a one-hour comedic retelling of the principal myths of ancient Greek theatre presented from the perspective of a contemporary tourist who has somehow been transported back to fifth-century BC Athens. The show takes many of the classic characters of ancient Greek theatre including Medea, Antigone, Oedipus, Theseus and Hercules and presents their stories with a modern comedic twist that makes the various myths accessible to contemporary international audiences. The rooftop venue itself is one of the principal attractions of the production. The Webster University Cultural Centre occupies a converted residential building on the small Markou Avriliou Street, with the upper rooftop providing a small open-air performance space directly below the northern slope of the Acropolis. The Erechtheion temple, with its famous porch of the Caryatids, dominates the backdrop of the stage, providing a particularly atmospheric setting for the performances of the ancient Greek stories. The performances run daily from mid-April through to the end of October, with a single evening show beginning at twenty-one hundred and lasting approximately one hour. The seating capacity of the rooftop is limited to around fifty audience members per show, providing a particularly intimate theatrical experience that has been seen by over ten thousand individual spectators since the start of the original production run. The company has been operating under the patronage of the Greek National Tourism Organization since 2019. Reservations for the performances must be made at least thirty-six hours in advance through the official Key Tours reservation system, with payment collected directly at the venue on the evening of the performance. The combination of an English-language script, a small intimate venue and the spectacular setting at the foot of the Acropolis makes the experience one of the more distinctive cultural offerings available to international visitors during the busy summer tourist season in central Athens.

Type: Theater / Concert Hall

Address: Markou Avriliou 5, Athens, Greece

Website: https://www.koilon.gr