Through the smoke of reality and the mirrors of perception, the Theatre Workshop “Karolos Koun” of HESTIA Neas Smyrnis dives into the metaphysical paradox of Luigi Pirandello, presenting the emblematic play So it is (if you think so) under the direction of Lysandros Spetsieris.

The play – Is it a comedy of metaphysical uncertainty?

Written in the midst of the First World War (1917), So It Is (if you think so) is a triumph of the “dramaturgy of uncertainty”. It was first performed at the Teatro Filodrammatici in Milan by Nanni Nistri’s company.
After the presentation, Pirandello himself was criticized for undermining theatrical “reality” by playing with illusions, subjectivity and the relativity of truth.

Since then, it has been staged, with immediate success, in dozens of countries, deeply influencing the European dramatic art of the 20th century. In the midst of a Europe that was seeing its constants crumble, Pirandello’s play is not just theatrical. It is an experiment in the philosophy of Being and the Present.

At its heart, a microcosm city, a mystery with three narratives, and the passionate insistence of the “rational” to uncover the “truth”. A play without resolution – for what is at stake is man’s very ability to know the real. Pirandello, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934, sets up a fluid, almost incomprehensible world, full of figures asserting the correctness of their own subjectivity. His theatrical writing, perceptive and heartbreakingly ironic, denies the security of meaning, illuminating the contradictions of human consciousness.

Theatre Workshop “Karolos Koun” – Is it a process of embodying learning?

The Theatrical Workshop functions not only as a place of artistic expression but also as a place of philosophical and physical research. The methodology of the workshop focuses on the “experiential reading of the text” and the “embodied perception of theatre as an encounter”.

Through improvisation, physical composition and memory exercises, the participants are trained to approach the work not as performance but as active engagement. The goal of the process is not “performance” but an inner shift. Acting functions as a tool for self-awareness and otherness.

The actors:
Lena Angelotopoulou, Dimitra Gratsia, Niki Dimopoulou, Sofia Theodorou, Katerina Kaliniktaki, Konstantina Komianou, Yota Kopidou, Annita Koutrouli, Kaiti Malli, Lefteris Manetas, Iliana Matziava, Themistocles Michalakos, Georgios Michos, Nina Baka, Pericles Bakas, Toula Moraitou, Lamprina Nikolaou, Stella Pagouna, Alexandros Papakostas, Stella Petraki, Lydia Rousi, Eleni Terezaki

-Singer: Sofia Theodorou

– Director: Spetsieris Lysandros

– Assistant Director: Lydia Theodoridou

– Music selections: Sofia Theodorou

– Set construction by: Aristides Gratsias

– Costumes: Theatrical Workshop, HESTIA Ν. Smyrnis- Κarolos Koun

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