Sofia Filippidou’s subversive play “Pardon, Mr. Beckett,” which was presented to great acclaim in May 2025, returns to the “Magazaki tis T3chnis” theater.

The restless artist, who puts her personal poetic stamp on the art of theater, is once again staging her brand new play “Pardon Mr. Beckett” (published in March 2025 by Giorgos Chronas’ Odos Panos Publications) in her improvised space, “To Magazaki tis T3chnis.

She writes in the epilogue to the publication about her work:

”After my first poetry collection, FORTY POEMS by Sofia Filippidou, my old desire to write and complete a play began to blossom.

The form and issues raised by the theater of the absurd, the desolate landscape in Beckett’s Happy Days, the despair, the concept of nothingness, but also of the expected Godot, who never arrives, in Waiting for Godot, always stimulated my imagination. So I thought of putting two guys who run away from the city lights (out of fear of an extreme movement of “exterminators” of individuality) and take refuge in a burnt forest. The only thing I knew when I conceived the idea was that they would not wait for anyone. That was, let’s say, my small disagreement with the Nobel Prize-winning author. Everything else came slowly and painfully, with a lot of reading and writing (from May 2024 until February 2025, when I finished).

My heroes, sometimes hidden in the hollow of a tree and sometimes in plain sight: listen to and see the revealing secrets of passers-by, live in another dark, subconscious reality, converse with beings of fantasy and dreams, unite with nature, travel back and forth in time … witness murders, bury corpses…

Amidst this poetic anarchy and to pass the time, they decide to put on a play and deconstruct Waiting for Godot. In the improvised performance, Godot appears by mistake, as a role that breaks the convention of the expected. Beckett’s ghost cannot bear the betrayal, the action culminates in satirical monologues and songs, while the play itself leads to a theatrical impasse, which is resolved by offering a stolen classic finale, a vampire machine, a distant descendant of a great mythical actress. “

About the play

The play “Pardon Mr. Beckett,” which returns to Magazaki t3chnis, is a tragicomic parody based on the legacy left by the great writer.

Sophia Filippidou, seeking a freer form of expression, uses the materials of poetry, satire, play, and dreams, and, together with the actors of the “τ3χνη” company, stages her brand-new play, in which the twists and turns, surprises, and the characters’ outrageous existential confessions flirt with poetic lyricism, surrealism, and the theater of the absurd: a theatrical descent into the dark, unfathomable realm of the subconscious, a journey into the labyrinth of life and self-awareness, a bold emergence into the colorful world of art and theater.

Cast and Crew:

Director/Costumes/Artistic Supervision/Photographs: Sofia Filippidou

Music: Michael-Efrem Tsoumpos, Savvas Parianos

Set Designs/Poster: Κostas Fotopoulos

Assistant Director/ Lighting Design: Panagiotis Spyrou

2nd Assistant Director: Thaleia Theodoridou

Assistant costume designer: Νina Fotiadou

Make-up: Stefania Anesti

Line Producer: Αpostolis Kepesidis

Communications Department: Marianna Papaki, Nontas Douzinas

Legal advisor: Mairi Fragkiadaki

PROUCTION COMPANY Τ3ΧΝΗ

The Thespians

Marios Kalogerakis, Panagiotis Kaloudis, Apostolis Kepesidis, Konstantina Lampropoulou, Lampros Prentzas, Asimeni Tounta, Michael-Efraim Tsoumpos, Eirini Tsoli, Eftychia Fratzeskaki, Nina Fotiadou

Info:

Venue: Magazaki tis Τ3chnis, Νοταρά 60. Exarchia /Athens

Dates: Opening Night: Sunday 23 November, at: 18.00. Shows: Sundays at 18.00, Mondays at 21.00. Duration: 90΄ minutes

Free admission with optional contribution

Reservations are required (40 seats) by email: [email protected]