O Giannis to voudi

Specially Designed Underground Space

206, Piraeus Str.(near Chamosternas Str.) Tavros Tel.: +30 210 341 8550.

“O Giannis to voudi”

by Evangelia Gatsoti

Scheduled premiere: Monday the 26^thof January 2026

The touching-yet cruel story of “Yannis” comes to life once again for a second season, at the specially designed underground space of Michael Cacoyannis Foundation starting the 26th of January 2026 for a limited number of performances, directed by Panagiotis Liaropoulos. The play which deeply moved the Athenian audiences last year was written by Evangelia Gatsoti as part of the 3rd Outreach Project, under the guidance of the author Vasilis Katsikonouris, and was created from transcriptions of real interviews, which served as the raw material for the creation of an original dramaturgy. It aims to redefine the perception of the unseen local micro-history through fiction.

The play

A folklorist and a young woman drop anchor on a touristic island, hoping to gather juicy fruits from the fertile meadows of local folklore. The two embark on their folkloric quest, interviewing the locals. The narrations that come to light, however, completely overturn the image of the good-natured peasant that they have in mind. Following the successive revelations, our protagonists plunge into a spiral of events from a world of silence and complicity that will whirl them agonizingly to the final point of catharsis.

The play seeks to bring to light the true story of a young boy that the collective memory of his home village tried to erase him from its registry.

The actors: Philippos Kontogiorgis, Thanasis Lysandropoulos, Stavria Nikolaou and Grigoris Pantazis, alternate in all the roles of the play, giving the feeling that they experience all the events of their lives in the four corners of a courtyard in a rural house.

The play “O Giannis to voudi” is published by the Aparsis Publications, along with three other contemporary modern Greek plays.

Author’s note

“Revisiting this story, the joy of the discoverer coexists within me with the guilt of the let’s say -grave robber-. I am ultimately liberated and relieved by the sense of fulfilling a duty to the restoration of a person’s memory.”

Director’s note

“I worked with the aim of making the story heard as clearly as possible. I wanted to allow the audience to imagine the location of the events, the smells, the sounds, the images. I did not direct a period piece, but a true story that speaks constantly in present tense about the present day. At the same time, I tried to approach the psyche of the characters as authentically as possible, without anachronisms and extravagant interpretations. I was very interested in how these characters fall in love, how they get hurt, how they express themselves, how they think, without having the media references of a person nowadays’ person. There’s a blurred line between “now” and “then” in the flow of the performance. The linear narrative is abolished and the audience does not always understand exactly when all this is happening, is it 2024?, is it 1960?, is it evening, noon, dawn, morning…? –O Giannis to voudi- is my second child. I consider this play to be the most important text I have brought to the stage so far. I am very lucky and grateful that Evangelia trusted me with this text, her play, and I feel lucky also to have found such a dynamic group of artists to participate in this creation”.

CREATIVE TEAM

Author: Evangelia Gatsoti

Direction: Panagiotis Liaropoulos

Set Design: Alkyone Divari & Lia Mantouvalou

Costume Design: Archontoula Tsatsoulaki

On stage Musician: Alexis Efraimidis (Hydrama)

Lighting Design: Semina Papalexandropoulou

Assistant Director & Production: Anthia Moustaka-Kolyva

Photos/Trailer/Poster Art: Daniel Voreakos

Updated Poster: Christos Lentzaris

Production Company: Ison Theatrical Projects

CAST