The production of Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women dominated over the Second Delphic Festival of 1930. Eva Palmer-Sikelianos directed the production based on the translation of Ioannis Gryparis. Palmer’s key concern was the function of the Chorus, who had the leading role in this particular play. The meticulous movement of the women of the Chorus followed the Byzantine music which, according to Palmer, was the only suitable for the revival of Greek tragedy. Eva Palmer wrote directorial notes on the transcript of Gryparis’s translation concerning the Chorus’s delivery of the lines of the text in the accompaniment of Konstantinos Psachos’s music. With regard to the music, Palmer rejected the orchestral music composed by Psachos and intended to be performed by a hidden orchestra. Instead, she placed on stage a small orchestra visible to the members of the Chorus, consisted of two harps and wind instruments. Ιn directing the Suppliant Women Eva Palmer-Sikelianos highlighted the important role and function of the Chorus as a protagonist in the play through her consistent and methodical teaching.
