With loads of repetitions of last year, the 2023-24 theater season is expected to begin, in which a significant share is held by works of the classical repertoire (Moliere, Chekhov, Brecht, Tennessee Williams, but also adapted Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Mary Shelley) but also readings of works by contemporary authors (by Thiago Rodriguez – “Dance of Lovers”, Suzie Miller – “Prima Facie”, Martin McDonough – “Feather”, Samuel Hunter – “Whale”, Thomas Winterberg – “Fest”).
Undoubtedly, however, the waits and the spotlights gather on the Main Stage of the Onassis Foundation Roof, which opens the new season, in less than a month, with the Greek version of the play “The Second Woman” by Nat Randall and Anna Breckon, two rising theater creators from Australia, which caused a sensation internationally (in Sydney, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Taiwan and Toronto), testing the endurance of stage and square and inviting to a theatrical vigil.
It is about one theatrical, sociological and psychological project lasting 24 hours, which does not have the narrative of a classic play, as the creators themselves explain: “Although the script is based on a narrative situation – the meeting of a woman with her lover – the dramaturgy of the scene it depends to a large extent on the actual interaction between people, who do not know each other in advance.’
Its central form performance-happening is Virginia during a scene with Morty’s lover that takes place inside a box, with the camera recording in real time every moment of their interaction. According to the conception and directorial vision of the two creators, the scene is repeated 100 times, each time with a new partner for Virginia, requiring the actress who plays her to be extremely flexible in order to respond with fast reflexes.
With the plot with the basic scene remaining constant but with its execution varying each time, the dynamic of each new couple changes, producing not only surprise but also revealing the complexity of human relationships, with an emphasis on highlighting the mechanisms of gender violence and male privilege, which reasonably ignite the atmosphere both on the stage and in the square. Thus falls the emotional and political weight on the performance effectiveness of “The Second Woman” to demonstrate the way in which power works at the level of emotional everyday life and social interaction.
This particular one performance, which does not exist before the moment of its presentation but is created each time from scratch, producing a chain of relationships and emotions, in its Greek version, will be supported by the dominant presence of the chosen Stefanias Gouliotis, with her partners chosen after an open online call to participate and it will be not only professional or amateur actors but also everyday people, of different age, nationality and profession.
To his audience of this theatrical experiment, a rare to unimaginable freedom of movement is reserved for the theater. “Stay for 24 minutes or 24 hours, enter once or return for one more scene,” say its creators, “every encounter – tender or violent, funny or moving – is an experience you want to live again.” Spectators are also given the freedom of choice: to watch only the stage or only the screen, to even choose between filmed and live action.
All the vigilantes come…!
#Theater #Woman #Men
