The theatre performance The Glass Mountains and the Ivory Plains brings to life a special fairy tale from the Cyclades through modern theatrical methods and a profound emotional connection to tradition, featuring storytelling, music, live painting, and physical theatre.
A young shepherd and an August fairy fall in love and create a family in the Overworld. When she and their child disappear, the shepherd sets out on a painful journey to find them. Guided by the four winds, he travels through a symbolic landscape of “glass mountains” and “ivory camps”, which stand for a process of maturation and hope.
The Mycenaean Acropolis of Agios Andreas on Sifnos turns into a vibrant fairy tale, inviting children, teenagers, and adults to a multi-sensory experience that connects different generations and brings out the power of folk storytelling. Accompanying activities enhance this experience: an experiential approach, the creation and performance of traditional music by a local instrumentalist, the reading and telling of local fairy tales by members of a local amateur group, and the visual art workshop “Zografigisi,” which is inspired by the practice of live painting used during the performance.
Combining theatre with 3D animation, The Will is a subversive performance for young audiences featuring an unexpected finale that addresses the significance of our civilization along with numerous other contemporary issues that will concern our society in the future.
Two siblings, Poseidon and Aurora, live in the virtual world of the internet. They neither work nor socialize; for every decision they are called upon to make, from the smallest to the most important, they rely on Artificial Intelligence for answers and solutions to the issues concerning them. Their daily routine unfolds within four walls until they receive news from a notary that alters the course of their lives. They inherit a historically significant castle from an uncle, which they view as an opportunity to help them realize their consumers’ dreams, once they utilize and exploit it. However, as they haven’t learnt how to think for themselves and make decisions, they turn to Artificial Intelligence for suggestions on how to make the most of the inheritance.
Following the successful performance of The Birthday by Georges Sari at the National Theatre of Greece, the group Elephas tiliensis (Dimitris Agartzidis and Despoina Anastasoglou) presents a new music production for children and grown-ups titled True Story or A Journey to the Island of the Moon. The performance is based on Lucian’s work, True Story, which is globally acknowledged as the first science fiction novel ever written.
Following the trend of his contemporary writers who crafted stories filled with incredible adventures to far-away and unexplored lands, Lucian describes the imaginary journey of a young man and his ship’s crew to the unknown. It features a fascinating voyage to the Moon, an interstellar war with immense extraterrestrial monsters, a giant sea creature that swallows the heroes’ ship, pirates and sea monsters, a trip to the land of the Makari and the Accursed, and the discovery of an unknown continent – all part of an incredible adventure. A human journey to the stars, the future, and the unfathomable, uncharted universe, even to this day. Truth or lies? Truth! As long as we can believe in fairy tales together.
Set in the heart of one of the Mediterranean’s most significant archaeological sites, the Cape of Santorini, the performance Sliding Slalom/Stroggyli is a site-specific event inspired by Nitsa Tzortzoglou’s novel When the Earth is Enraged.
Four actors guide the audience through a “slalom” that explores four eras: the prehistoric Stroggyli, Thera in 1978, the seven years of excavations from 1967 to 1974, and modern Santorini. The narrative unfolds at the archaeological site, incorporating insights from the traces left by people and natural disasters.
Spectators are not merely observers. They move through the space, connect to the story, follow the traces of a mysterious necklace, and participate in a scenic journey, where the past is not viewed as a museum element but as a vibrant and moving experience, open to reinterpretation. This journey culminates in an open contest of creative writing, where audience members become “storytellers,” and their most exceptional stories will be published in a collective volume, leaving a new mark on the grand narrative of this remarkable place.
The Mododentro Theatre Group presents an original and interactive music theatre performance based on Mania Douka’s book The Prince’s Crown and Other Stories (Kastaniotis Publishing, illustrated by Daniela Stamatiadi). An ordinary school trip to a museum transforms into an adventure for two children, Mania and Daniel, when, all of a sudden, a mysterious woman named Mrs Clo appears in front of them. In her hands, she holds an old, small flywheel that can awaken art objects with just one turn. As the flywheel turns for the first time, a sword trembles, ready to recount battles and triumphs. A crown is illuminated by an invisible light, revealing the lost glory of a forgotten kingdom. A golden bead whispers secret vows, and a vessel filled with warriors comes to life, ready for new adventures. A fairy-tale-like wandering unfolds across the prehistoric civilizations of Greece and a journey through the museum’s magical world, where art objects come out of their display cases, breathe, and move, becoming the heroes of an unpredictable story!
The Oneirodrama group, widely known for its polished, original, and interactive performances and experiential workshops, has created a conceptual performance for the whole family, titled PANDΩRA_25//AI //AI. Inspired by ancient Greek mythology, this production explores the enduring impact of myths on art and contemporary society. Through an original theatrical composition, the myths of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Pandora, the Minotaur, Icarus, and Phaethon acquire new conceptual meaning while raising questions about the evolution of humanity, science, knowledge, technology, hubris, and individual responsibility. Centred around the character of Pandora – the first hybrid woman sent by the gods into the world – these myths enter the realm of Artificial Intelligence, standing alongside her or against her while exploring a new reality, a new perspective on technological advancement. How are children, as the citizens of tomorrow, positioned within this context, and how do adults ensure that this happens? Is Pandora a guilty woman, a destroyer, or someone who, through her sexual dynamics, becomes a synonym for evolution?
* The Oneirodrama group will launch parallel activities featuring experiential workshops for children and adults from the surrounding area starting on 10 July 2025.
The work Autumn Youth is an original theatre performance for teenagers, inspired by the youthful memories of people who grew up in Trikala and still live there today as members of the elderly community. It is the result of a broader artistic venture that combines oral storytelling, theatrical creation, and intergenerational encounters.
The group visited homes, coffee shops, and Open Care Centres for the Elderly in Trikala, conversing and recording stories, myths, and experiences of older residents about their teenage years (how they had fun, which places they frequented, which songs they loved, how they fell in love, etc).
Following the completion of the performances on 18 July 2025, an intergenerational workshop will take place where teenagers and elderly individuals will exchange stories, questions, and experiences, exploring concerns about the present and the past while revealing aspects of the local cultural heritage. Through this artistic activity, the past of Trikala returns to the present, aiming to create a shared space for connection, understanding, and creativity among different generations.
An experiential event for children, with elements of dramatised documentary and narrative performance and with original music, revolving around the games in the neighbourhoods of Asia Minor, which “tell” in their own way the everyday life of the communities prior to the 1922 Catastrophe. Games that seem forgotten, played without ever being told, left to perish along with the hope for the return to the motherland.
The thread of collective memory unfolds through a story that travels in time, through playing with children games that were passed down by those who saw pain in refugee yards, along with the smile of a carefree childhood.
Stories of integration and rebirth in a new land as well as ways used to express resourcefulness, the grace and imagination of a people, will be presented with the help of contemporary audiovisual means and restored old toys.
Catch-22 – the title of Joseph Heller’s novel – means “vicious circle” and has become established as an expression denoting the irrational of human existence, the irrational of war, where success and disaster are inextricably linked.
For what else is war but one more Sisyphus rolling his rock up the mountain and then repeating the process all over again? Catch (19)22 explores the Asia Minor Catastrophe, through the irrationality of war and dares to contrast it with the peak and decline of the Macedonian civilization. There, over the tombs of the great kings, where grandeur and death are the two sides of the same coin.
The site-specific performance Catch (19)22 unfolds in the archaeological site of the Royal Burial Clusters of Aigai, based on a collection of oral and written testimonies about life in Asia Minor and with the artistic contribution of students of the 1st Junior High School of Veria.
On the occasion of the centenary of the Asian Minor Catastrophe, we commemorate the uprooting of innocent civilians through a project that aims at making children from Kos historically aware about the events that occurred during the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
The children will participate in a two-week seminar (29/8/22 – 9/9/22), where they will construct “hero”-puppets depicting refugees from 1922 and onwards, while also learning how to animate them. Through theatrical improvisations, children will express the pain, violence, and cruel treatment experienced by immigrants. The workshops will come complete with a performance that will be held at the Roman Conservatory in Kos (10 and 11/9/22).
The purpose of these performances is to raise awareness and invite people to reflect on peace and show solidarity towards refugees of wars of the past and of the present.