Review: 'HELEN' at The Tank

Review: “Helen” at The Tank—A Mesmerizing Ritual of Voice, Body, and Myth

Thursday, June 19 and Saturday, June 21, 2025

The Tank Theater’s production of "Helen" offered an unforgettable journey into the heart of Greek myth, reimagined through a contemporary lens by the prolific playwrights Ioli Andreadi and Aris Asproulis. The result was nothing short of electrifying—a vivid testament to the enduring power of classical stories and the virtuosity of the artists who bring them to life.

At the center of this remarkable staging was the acclaimed Greek actress, Vasiliki Troufakou, whose performance was a tour de force. Troufakou inhabited every role—gods, heroes, and mortals alike—moving fluidly and fearlessly among them. Without a single prop or costume change, she transformed her voice, gesture, and physical bearing into a kaleidoscope of characters. One moment, she was the radiant Helen herself, burdened by myth and male desire; the next, she was Menelaus or a chorus of embittered soldiers. Her capacity to delineate these figures with a flicker of the eye or a subtle shift of posture was simply astonishing, holding the audience spellbound throughout.

Joining her onstage was Nikos Touliatos, Greece’s leading percussionist, who conjured a live, ritualistic soundscape that elevated the production to something primal and transcendent. Touliatos’s drumming did not merely underscore the action—it became an active force in the storytelling, a pulsing heartbeat that summoned the ghosts of antiquity into the theater.

This adaptation of *Helen* was both faithful to its ancient roots and strikingly modern in execution. The stripped-down aesthetic—a bare stage, a single performer, live percussion—created a space where imagination and myth collided. Under the direction of Andreadi and Asproulis, the play illuminated Helen’s story not only as an epic of beauty and betrayal, but as a meditation on identity and the stories we inherit.

The production was made possible through the kind sponsorship of The George and Victoria Karelias Foundation, the support of the Carnegie Diner & Cafe, and under the auspices of The Consulate General of Greece in New York. Their generosity and commitment to cultural exchange brought this extraordinary performance to the city’s audiences.

Helen at The Tank was a rare theatrical experience: immediate, intimate, and deeply resonant. Troufakou and Touliatos proved themselves alchemists of the stage, reminding us that the most powerful theater can arise from nothing but the human body, the human voice, and the primal call of a drum.