Elli Papakonstantinou

About

Four descendants of nymphs, gorgons and goddesses bake outdated myths and bring Medusa back into life combining live animation and performance; action is processed live and projected as a surreal, animated universe.

HOLY BITCH! completes a diptych on femininity, following the acclaimed production Traces of Antigone (2020), which earned enthusiastic praise from critics

Co-produced by

Neuköllner Oper Berlin, supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Director's Note

“I was searching for a way to talk about femininities, something that truly seems difficult yet necessary. No femininity is persecuted in the West, and - theoretically speaking - "everything is allowed," nothing shocks us, but, we all know that something slips with Trump’s new regime that undermines women's rights and attacks the queer community. With what language- in the era of Trump and Elon Musk- will I talk about inclusion and love and the wild beauty of Medusa?

I turned to myth once again, which is an inexhaustible source of inspiration to me and specifically to the myth of the Gorgons. I created a surreal plot to play with stereotypes, images, and ancient traumas. I had not realized how much actual violence are contained in myths. Ancient myths naturally carry encoded principles of patriarchy. But these mythical figures are also a tremendous source of inspiration and joy.

Our actual set consists of electric kitchens that we use in a real way, and in our bakery, we bake real bread; OK-alongside that, we bake other things. And above all, we laugh. For me, the stage is a place of joy and play. We may be cool, but inside we are burning; this bakery is our soul and our body that is on fire.

Credits

Concept & Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Text compostition: Elli Papakonstantinou, Bernhard Glocksin, Nefeli Papanastasopoulou
Music composition: Petros Bouras
Original Song Composition: Maria Papageorgiou
Video art / Live Video design: Katerina Savvoglou
Set design: Maria Panourgia
Costume design: Ioanna Tsami
Dramaturgical Collaboration: Nefeli Papanastasopoulou , Eleni Gini
Light design: Stevi Koutsothanasi

Cast for Athens show: Petros Bouras, Francesca Diprima, Eleana Georgouli, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Maria Papageorgiou

Cast for Berlin show: Merve Akyildiz, Francesca Diprima, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Lisa Mader, Maria Papageorgiou

Production Manager: Tsampika Kotoula
Assistant to the director: Harikleia Petraki
Communication management: Giovanni Ruma
Photography: Alex Kat, Akis Christou Fotografia

Dates

May 4–30, 2025 Poreia Theatre Athens, Greece June 22, 26, 28–29 & July 2, 2025 Neuköllner Oper Berlin, Germany

holy bitch subclip

HOLY BITCH! - trailer

Reviews

Ecki Ramón Weber | SIEGESSÄULE Queer Berlin [DE]

“Medusa has the gift of turning abusive cis men to stone with her gaze. Music ranging from pop and can-can to opera...A celebration of diversity..”

Dimitris Tsatsoulis | Athens Voice [GR]

[...]Papakonstantinou has managed to carve out a significant trajectory abroad, with performances that begin from ancient Greek culture and arrive at its renegotiation with contemporary terms and tools, with the female body at the center, in its off-center manifestations. [...]From the moment emphasis is placed on performativity, the individual body stands at the center. […] Far from the “symbolism” of traditional theater—deconstructs codes and structures of the theatrical, ruptures representation, rejects narrativity, and embraces irony […] Even the text of the show is nothing more than fragments—a surrealist collage or pastiche, a space for Dadaist spontaneity and intertextualities. [...]The high-art live video animation by Katerina Savvoglou, projected on a large screen, gives to stage figures or scenic objects a comic-book form, often with multiple frames or with a grainy image that alters faces. At the same time, the live musical compositions by Petros Bouras provide the basis for songs of different genres, interpreted by the actors with excellent voices, while at intervals the sensitive Maria Papageorgiou intervenes with her own ballads, constantly present on stage.

Loukia Mitsakou | theaterproject365.gr [GR]

Productions like HOLY BITCH! are priceless. They expand our aesthetic and emotional horizons, opening new ways of watching and experiencing theater. [Theater], in the way Papakonstantinou makes it, becomes a tool of de-petrification giving voice to those who were silenced. With characteristic boldness, she takes gender binary and sets it on fire...In her hands, cabaret is a political forum — charged with music and (actual) splashes of color. [...]The spectator is in a dream. The experience asks for a non rational but a heartdriven approach. That is a great achievement. Papakonstantinou’s directorial gaze is of a rare quality. HOLY BITCH! does not give answers. Instead, it opens cracks as the audience is asked to reconsider what feminism is in our days—not as an abstract theory, but as a live experience.

HOLY BITCH!

Texts