Giorgis Zarkos: Three Stones, One Display Window, and an Imprisonment

Giorgis Zarkos, a writer from the inter-war period generation, submits one of his short stories for publication in the Great Hellenic Encyclopedia in the late 1920s. The story is indeed published, but under someone else’s name. After trying in vain to rectify this injustice at his own expense, he ends up breaking the shop window of the publishing house “Pyrsos” three times.

This action, along with his unconventional character, leads to him being placed under “watch” at the Public Psychiatric Hospital of Athens (Dafni), under DA’s orders. His experience of being confined in Dafni for 54 days, as recorded by he himself in his books, sheds light on the bleak conditions of psychiatric institutions and their inmates.

The performance Giorgis Zarkos: Three Stones, a Shop Window, and a Confinement, which will be presented at the Castle of Patras, explores the writer’s personality and oeuvre, as well as his conflict with the literary, cultural, judicial, and psychiatric establishments of his era. 

*Contains graphic descriptions