Beauty is Prison-Time

Within the framework of the event for Women’s Day, A4* Action Against Trafficking, the ARTos Cultural Foundation in collaboration with the Press and Information Office and the European Parliament Office in Cyprus, presents Beauty is Prison-Time, a solo play written and performed by Zoe Mavroudi and directed by Terra Vandergaw.

The production wowed audiences at the recent Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in festivals in New York as well as at the prestigious Tron Theatre in Glasgow, where it was performed by special invitation from Scotland’s Women Support Project. The show has been praised in reviews for tackling “difficult political issues in a deeply emotional way,” as well as for its “innovative” direction and “enchanting, tour-de-force” performance.

Inspired by a real event, a beauty pageant held every year in a Siberian prison in Russia, Beauty is Prison-Time deals with topical political issues such as human trafficking and violence against women. The protagonist, a young inmate in a Russian prison, competes in the annual prison beauty pageant in hopes of winning the coveted grand prize: her freedom. As she prepares for the pageant however, she gradually reveals the heartbreaking circumstances behind her incarceration and the real reason for her unshakeable determination to get out of prison.

Mixing drama and humour, Beauty is Prison-Time tells the story of a woman with an indomitable spirit and the circumstances under which she is in danger of being destroyed.

Language: English