Sirenos'26: Home

The tiles always looked as if they were about to explode - as if behind the wall they had been hiding the hands, lips and feet of those who had once lived there. But they never did explode - they stayed there like a diary, bearing witness to the imprints of former residents and fragments of our own everyday life. "Home" is a performative parable about violence, the addiction to images, and the collapse of illusions - in other words, about a reality that, however hard you try to avoid it, will catch up with you sooner or later. Our home. A small patch of the world that belongs to us. We are safe here. Or are we? Director Dimitris Karantzas and his creative collaborators construct an elliptical production that seems to revolve silently around the action, with few dialogues but plenty of tension. Two actors, Alexia Kaltsiki and Fidel Talampoukas, appear to be going about the ordinary rituals of domestic life, while a wave of violence is shaking the world and changing everything we know about it. In "Home", two characters - a man and a woman (brother and sister? flatmates? partners?) - simply spend time at home, which may be in Athens, or Tokyo, Madrid or Vilnius. As in any large city, people here live in apartment buildings where everything looks almost identical. We see a man and a woman planning a shopping trip, paying bills, tidying the flat. In the most poetic sense, nothing seems to be happening, so routine takes centre stage. The characters go about their daily tasks with great eagerness, as if trying to forget everything that is happening beyond the walls of their flat. But the window does not allow them to forget the changes. The window, through which a quiet street and the occasional passer-by are visible, becomes a reflection of the world. Dimitris Karantzas was born in Athens in 1987. He studied at the Embros Drama School and the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Athens. He has worked with the National Theatre, Onassis Stegi, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Greek National Opera and other institutions. He has directed works of both Greek and world literature, including Dimitris Dimitriadis's "Phaethon" and "Round Square", Euripides' "Helen" and "Medea", Thomas Bernhard's "Heldenplatz", William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and many others. His productions have been shown at the Avignon Festival, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Le Lieu Unique in Nantes and the Oslo National Theatre. Karantzas was also nominated for the European Theatre Prize (XVI edition) in the category "New Theatrical Realities". Since 2020 he has been the artistic director of the Proskinio Theatre in Athens. Text and direction: Dimitris Karantzas Concept: Dimitris Karantzas, Geli Kalampaka, Tassos Karachalios Cast: Alexia Kaltsiki, Fidel Talampoukas Video projections: Geli Kalampaka Set design: Clio Boboti Costume design: Ioanna Tsami Movement: Tasos Karachalios Music: George Ramantanis Lighting: Dimitris Kasimatis Premiere: 20 September 2023 The show's performances in Lithuania are supported by the Onassis Stegi Touring Program. The festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality. Tickets available here.

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