On the RM10,032-per-night Kalesma Mykonos, friends are searching for extra than simply nightlife. This RM510,720 manufacturing suits the invoice
IN MYKONOS, the latest type of dinner theatre has nothing to do with people-watching on the town. Nor does it happen totally at dinner.
The Gentle of Apollo is a brand new manufacturing co-created by Kalesma Mykonos, a boutique resort whose 25 whitewashed suites usually command a charge of US$2,200 (RM10,032) per night time. Consider it as Sleep No Extra meets the Greek gods — advised in a two-act efficiency that surrounds (and includes) diners each at breakfast and dinner. The present stretches practically three hours in complete. It’s produced in collaboration with
Greek theatrical troupe Tracing Echoes and principally carried out by way of tune and dance, with stay voiceover narration in English.
Whereas immersive theatre was valued as a US$61 million trade within the US in 2019, this manufacturing isn’t turning a transparent revenue. It’s taking place weekly by way of July at no cost for resort friends or different diners who occur to ebook tables for Thursday on the Pere Ubu Restaurant, which serves Greek delicacies in an open-air courtyard on the resort’s core.
Technically, says Sofia Kousathana, co-owner of the resort, anybody can come see it — even when they aren’t paying for lodging or a meal.
For Kousathana, co-creating The Gentle of Apollo was an eight-month, €100,000 (RM505,000) labour of affection meant to separate Kalesma from the island’s more and more luxurious competitors, draw friends into the resort’s eating places and interact travellers with native tradition.
“They just like the story, the mythology, the custom,” she says of her friends, who’re 80% from the US through the summer season months and have began to search for experiences that transcend the island’s well-known nightlife. “They need to know extra about the place we’re.”
Immersive theatre continues to be a reasonably avant-garde idea for resorts, seen solely in such locations as Faena Miami Seaside or the Instances Sq. Version, motels with efficiency areas which have at instances hosted spectacular interactive productions. Kalesma’s model is exclusive in doubling as an schooling in native tradition and historical past.
The manufacturing centres on the story of Apollo — mythological god of sunshine, poetry and music — with orchestrations impressed by conventional Greek songs and up to date choreography referencing the pyrrhichios, a Greek army dance that originated in historic instances.
The primary act, at breakfast, introduces numerous Greek gods including Apollo and his dad and mom Zeus and his mistress Leto; Apollo’s his twin sister Artemis; and Hera and Pythia. The efficiency meanders throughout the restaurant and adjoining pool deck.
Within the second act, round sundown, friends are greeted with “nectar of the gods”, a cocktail made with such island-grown components as cucumber, rosemary and piney mastiha extract. They’re additionally given tarot playing cards which determine within the motion that unfolds.
The present goals to transcend regurgitating information that may be discovered on-line about Mykonos and Delos, the place the gods’ tales are set. “What you get is an expertise linked to the previous [ancient] Mykonos,” Georgia Tsangaraki, the manufacturing’s director, says, “so instantly, you join your self in one other method with the island”.
Kousathana says friends up to now have been shocked and delighted — to make use of a hospitality trade catchphrase.
“I noticed my friends are very emotionally touched with all these surprising issues which can be taking place in entrance of their eyes,” she says, referring to extremely visible components of the manufacturing that contain sculpted horse headpieces and costumes that embody ancient-looking Cycladic masks.
It might not be churning ticket gross sales, however it’s producing buzz-and some dinner business-according to Kousathana. “The reality is that every one the island speaks concerning the efficiency. It’s very distinctive and completely different.”
Subsequent summer season, The Gentle of Apollo shall be again, and Kousathana sees a risk of together with it as a part of the island’s annual summer season arts competition, which has occasions spanning from June into September. Success, she says, would imply giving much more islanders and guests entry to the manufacturing — with any profit that involves the resort serving as icing on the (olive oil) cake. — Bloomberg
- This text first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print version
