Alkibiades

Sofie Decleir shines in ALKIBIADES, Zuidpool’s adaptation of the monumental novel by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, portraying the brilliant yet controversial Athenian politician and general who brought the world’s first democracy to the brink of collapse.
A gripping story about the most beautiful man in Greece, torn between his boundless love for himself and the common good of his suffering people.

On June 9th in the year 411 BC, the first democracy humanity ever knew is abolished indefinitely in Athens. It had existed for exactly one hundred years. The instigator is the flamboyant politician and general Alkibiades. The most beautiful man in Greece. Extravagant, androgynous, brilliant, and controversial.

On May 23rd in the year 2023 AD, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer publishes his monumental novel ALKIBIADES. In masterful prose, Pfeijffer recounts the extraordinary rise and fall of the historical figure Alkibiades. This adventurous epic of Homeric proportions is a journey through time to the world of nearly 2,500 years ago, “when more and more symptoms—disturbingly familiar to us—began to point to the decline of democracy and ultimately led to the defeat of Athens.”

On October 17th in the year 2025 AD, Zuidpool premieres the stage adaptation ALKIBIADES. In a radical reworking of the novel, Alkibiades looks us straight in the eye and accounts for his actions, his life, and his battles. Was he the populist who dismantled democracy? Or could he have been its savior? At the same time, he holds up a confronting mirror to us. Are we aware of the fragility of our democracies? Is the people capable of knowing what is best for the people?

None other than top actress Sofie Decleir brings to life one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures in world history. A poignant tale set in a world where terms like “truth” and “fact” seem to have become mere abstractions, and where the democratic contract we’ve made with one another is in constant danger of being broken.