Drawing inspiration from The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov—where the end of an era meets the fear of an unknown future—Stafidokampos (The Currant Fields) relocates the story to a place where memory seems deeply rooted in the soil itself. The Poulopoulos family returns to their ancestral estate after a long absence abroad, only to confront financial dead ends, family secrets and silences, and the looming threat of selling a land that carries their history and identity. The conflict is not merely about the loss of property, but about the painful transition from a disappearing world to one that is forcefully emerging. Using the symbol of Stafidokampos (The Currant Fields) as its point of departure, the performance explores the meaning of roots, home, and homeland today, shedding light on both the economic and emotional dimensions of exploitation, the clash between generations and eras, and the human need to hold on to something that seems destined to vanish forever.
Sirens, A Collective Song is a walking movement and sound installation that maps a landscape of bodies, dances, melodies, and songs, tracing its route through a sequence of transitional actions and states. Like a contemporary ritual, it engages with our inner desires, our present-day melancholy, and a shared grief for what has already been lost.
Referencing the dual meaning of the word “siren”—both as deception and seduction in mythology, and as a warning signal—a choir/choreographic collective of women transforms into contemporary “sirens” who listen closely to the present and imagine a future. It is an invocation of the present moment, at once a cry of anguish and an invitation to gathering, connection, and shared understanding.
In Ancient Olympia, the sacred ground of agonizesthai – the art of striving -the performance seeks to illuminate the timeless struggle of women to claim their own “place in the stadium.” Our point of departure is the story of Kallipateira: the woman who passed into history because she dared -defying the prohibitions of antiquity and risking death – to disguise herself as a man in order to enter the stadium and watch her son compete in the Olympic Games. Within the performance, her voice returns as the memory of a body that was put on trial for crossing the boundaries imposed on her gender. At the same time, three contemporary women appear before us: training, falling, rising again, measuring themselves against the limits of their own bodies. Rhythm, perseverance, repetition, and the ever-present risk of falling are transformed into a choreography that speaks of the balance women still struggle to claim – between the permitted and the desired, the invisible and the visible – in a struggle that is far from over.
This summer, the IONIA Orchestra and Choir of Nea Ionia, Volos presents a dynamic and diverse Music Theatre performance titled RΟ. on the edge of Time. The 13-member orchestra of traditional instruments, the 20-member mixed choir and 11 actors will take audiences on a ritual journey where tradition meets the present day. “Humans are not human if they feel no fear at all; they are human because they fear, because they fall and bend and yet they rise and go on again.” On the occasion of Menander’s verse, “Ὡς χαρίεν ἔστ’ ἄνθρωπος, ὅταν ἄνθρωπος ᾖ” (“How graceful is man when they are really a man”) and drawing inspiration from the Lady of Ro, our own Ro is the Guardian of Love. She stands on the edge of Time, just before the world comes to an end, and guards Love. Her ally is the Chorus, the people who express her fear, her hope, her joy, but also the dialogue with society and its voices. In our time, when war rages everywhere and in every possible form, our performance invites the audience into a ritual of peace, so that we may remember from the very beginning, all together, to guard Love.
“ANASKAFI / EXCAVATION” is an original site-specific performance and in situ art installation that transforms the Archaeological Museum of Aigio into a space of experiential inquiry. Starting from the transition from the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary to the permanent exhibition, the work is organized as a journey from surface to depth: procession, entrance, observation, excavation, documentation, exhibition. At the core of the performance lies the parallel between the stratigraphy of the ground and the stratigraphy of human memory. Through a staged monologue, the work enters into dialogue with the exhibits and with the art installation of the “Excavation Pit”, highlighting the fragment as an active document of wear, loss, endurance, and care. The performance proposes an initiation into attention, where historical memory, body, and shared experience meet before the human trace.
A boat at the center of the stage, two actors, and a musician create a theatrical world inspired by Middle Eastern poetry about the journey of displacement and refuge. The performance is based on real testimonies of refugees and migrants, while recorded voices of the people themselves recounting their experiences in their native languages are heard throughout the play. Through storytelling, multilingual soundscapes, and music inspired by their homelands, the work sheds light on the trauma of displacement, the fear of loss, and the persistent human need to hope and carry on. The sea is transformed into a place of anguish and prayer — an in-between space where humanity is constantly tested, yet continues to seek ways to survive through solidarity, memory, and hope.
In an era where the relationship between artists, their craft, and their survival is being redefined, a company of three actors and a musician grapple with Chekhov’s iconic text. Structured on the principle of “theatre within theatre” the production transforms the stage into a field of existential conflict.
The Seagull is, fundamentally, a play about theatre itself: art, vanity, and failure. Through dramaturgical condensation, the performance highlights the desperate struggle for communication and the rift created by age and the clash between older and younger generations.
On stage, two men, one woman, and a cello alternate roles, capturing the creator’s most intimate confession regarding aesthetics and life. The performance becomes a living mirror reflecting the agony of existence through creation, the erosion of everyday life, and the vital need for expression against the non-negotiable demands of reality.
Are there male and female “purposes,” gender-based inclinations and talents? Are fields like science, pharmaceuticals, architecture, or astrophysics suitable for girls?
Spring 1960, Missolonghi. A group of students from the Girls’ Junior High School crosses the city streets in protest against the establishment of a Practical Junior High School exclusively for boys, which would exclude them from STEM subjects. This is a story about women born in the Greek countryside after World War II and during the outbreak of the Civil War, who envisioned a life equal to that of men for themselves. Self-luminous girls, and therefore strange for their time and ours, in a world where gender roles still define the dominant national narrative, despite their superficial transformation. A work about youth and the talents that nature hides within people, regardless of time, place, gender, or social mores. An original performance inspired by true and (truly Greek) stories.
ENIGMA is an acrobatic-theatrical performance. Utilizing theatre and aerial acrobatics as valuable tools, three performers bring the myth of Oedipus to light. Through a contemporary stage interpretation, the myth calls for an informed and creative engagement with major existential questions.
Everything begins and unfolds in the thorny realm of the Enigma. The Sphinx hovers continuously, reminding us of the constant conflict between chaos and reason, between unchangeable destiny and human will, and between the painful path of searching for truth and self-awareness. The Sphinx “treads” on Oedipus’ ruins, unless the opposite occurs. Always within the boundaries of the Enigma, which is intertwined with human existence. What are the contemporary Enigmas/Sphinxes that contemporary Individuals/Oedipuses are called upon to solve? Who gives birth to enigmas, the “Monster” or Humanity? Is the solution to the Enigma redemption or hubris?
How does a contemporary text sound when it engages in dialogue with an older one, such as an excerpt from Odysseus Elytis’ poem Axion Esti (Worthy it is), after an oral testimony? How could all these elements come together in an emblematic composition by Dmitri Shostakovich about World War II? Musicians Faidon Miliadis, Laertis Kokolanis, Enkela Kokolani, and Angelios Liakakis will perform Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in an open dialogue with actor Dimitris Mandrinos. A new theatrical monologue by Thodoris Iosifidis, intended for the Ancient Theatre of Pleuron, will attempt to express through words what music conveys as experienced emotions. The sources for this piece, which converses with music, include survivors’ accounts, as well as earlier and more recent literary texts associated with war. Literary and musical motifs blend in an effort to acknowledge the collective trauma caused by World War II.