Current Projects (2024-25)

ALASKA —the pursuit of happiness & the abusive world

One of the last performances to take place in Mariupol, Ukraine, was written four months before the Russian invasion. This work gives voice to the city’s youth after their theatre was completely demolished. The performance will tour in Poland, Hungary, and Bosnia where it will meet local young actors as well as Ukrainians who live in these countries. A new troupe will be formed and the performance reinvented in a devising-documentary style through a seven-day workshop, achieving all the programme’s goals for inclusion and diversity.

A voice is given to the people of Mariupol but also to local Europeans to express their truth about the issues of war, the meaning and purpose of life, friendship, family, nation, trauma, and mental health. ‘Alaska’ is a performance about the pursuit of happiness and security in an abusive world.

Perform Europe Grant

EUR 60,000

Partners

Маріупольський Театр ляльок

Ukraine

Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre (GST)

Poland

Janus University Theater

Hungary

Sarajevo War Theatre SARTR

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Artistic Works

ALASKA —the pursuit of happiness & the abusive world

Producers: Evangelos Kosmidis

text

Why did I come to this world? What could make me happy? What is the purpose of life in general and what is my purpose?

A dive into the savage, abusive relationships between teenagers, family, nations, and school. A mapping of the issues that concern these teenagers: loneliness, friendship, love, war, trauma.

The devised-documentary polyglot performance ‘Alaska’, is a blend of research and interviews with members of the group (the first puppet theatre of the city of Mariupol), and gives an outline of their lived reality. Visiting each country, workshops are held in which new material is produced and integrated into the original work. A new multilingual version of the show is then created with local actors, incorporating their voices, testimonies and truth. In this work, the greats of literature and poetry (Roland Barthes, John Green, Sibylle Berg, Elise Wilk, Jorge Bucay, Maria Polydouri, Kostas Karyotakis, Penelope Delta) meet with the purely personal testimonies of group members.

In the performance, the languages spoken are Ukrainian, Italian, Greek, Polish, as well as Roumanci (the language/dialect of the Greek minority of Ukraine).