In this paper we will discuss the theatrical text of Galatea Kazantzakis: While the Ship Sails. The play was written in 1932 and staged during the 1932-1933 season at the National Theatre under the direction of Fotis Politis. Movement means a change of location. In this study, it is assumed that in this play the concept of movement suggests multiple alternations of position.

First of all, the plot of the play has to do with a journey by ship. Secondly, it means that the choice of subject and of the particular dramaturgical framework with the corresponding variations is a result of the “movement” of both the subject and the dramaturgical environment we encounter in The Hairy Ape of Eugene O’Neill. Thirdly, it means movement as an allegory of the person’s ability to be identified, and finally it has to do with the renewal of playwriting, its distancing from the limits of realism that was dominant in the Greek dramaturgy of the time.

In our contribution, we attempt to show how the author uses the experience of a journey in order to highlight the ideological and social conflicts prevalent in society at the time by exerting her criticism. We will also present the similarities of Kazantzakis’s work with The Hairy Ape of Eugene O’Neil, basically highlighting their intertextual relationship. Furthermore, we examine the philosophical reflection throughout the play and how this text incorporates elements of expressionism and other aesthetic fronts. In order to achieve these goals, the reception of the play in theatre criticism was studied in addition to the literature.