Sons and Daughters (Sforaris Theatre Company)

After the success of its performance “Paralogés or Small Everyday Tragedies”, the Sforaris Theatre Company returns to Axiothea to present the play “Sons and Daughters” based on 80 interviews, which five young actors took from youngsters of the past, i.e. elderly people from all over Greece and Cyprus who were asked to recall the story that marked their lives.

The stories thus collected come from Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Larnaca, Komotini, Kefalonia, Amorgos, Karpenisi, Crete, Kilkis, Chalkidiki, Larissa, Kavala, Ithaca and elsewhere, and cover a period from 1910 until the opening of the Athens Olympic Games on August 13, 2004.

Leaving aside some startling yet highly specific cases, director Yannis Kalavrianos selected those personal stories, which took place against the backdrop of official recorded history and brought them to stage assigning each actor the role of the person they interviewed.
The Second World War, the Greek Civil War, the earthquakes in the Ionian Islands, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the rise of PASOK in power and the Athens Olympic Games, apart from dry chapters in school textbooks, emerge as seminal events in the personal lives of the play’s protagonists.

The comforting message in all stories – one that acquires astoundingly topical implications nowadays – is that life, in one way or another, always continues. Even after a difficult and crucial experience the daily routine always finds its way. Ultimately, we all strive to achieve the common goal of making our lives better. Hence the motto, “a play about the pursuit of happiness”.

Text, stage direction: Yannis Kalavrianos
Set and costumes: Alexandra Bousoulenga, Rania Yfantidou
Music: Chrysanthos Christodoulou
Songs: Yorgos Glastras, Christina Maxouri
Lighting: Tasos Palaioroutas
Choreography: Alexia Beziki
Cast: Anna Elefanti, Maria Koskina, Alexia Beziki, Constantinos Dellas, Yorgos Papapavlou