What to do

How free are we, really, to determine our destiny and our identity? What can we put forward, as lived experience and as a way of life, in response to today’s retreat of values and the increasing conservatization of Western society?

With questions such as these, the performance turns to the novel What Is to Be Done? (1863) by the Russian philosopher and writer Nikolai Chernyshevsky. Taking as its point of departure the story of Vera—at the crossroads between the heroines of George Sand and the utopian socialism of Charles Fourier—and through an engaging plot that transforms impasse into realized utopia, the work explores the ambivalent nature of love and connects it to each individual’s broader ethical stance and their choices within society and the family.

Not aspiring to a faithful theatrical adaptation of the novel—an undertaking discouraged both by its monumental scale and by the radical differences from its historical era—the performance draws inspiration and material from Chernyshevsky’s work in order to engage in dialogue with today’s audience and to challenge contemporary social “dead ends,” which continue to rest on enduring patriarchal stereotypes.

Emphasizing the use of real-time video as its primary narrative medium, the production alternates between theatrical and cinematic language: the four actors “shoot” selected scenes, with the final image composing cinematic, period-style vignettes combined with live speech. Seeking to capture the erotic, existential, and political dimensions that intersect along a difficult path of female emancipation, the stage work articulates a contemporary “what is to be done?”—who we are and who we want to be—through a personal and experiential perspective.

Theatrical Adaptation: Dimitra Kondylaki
Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Dramaturgy: Dimitra Kondylaki - Elli Papakonstantinou

Music: Labros Pigounis
Set Design: Loukia Martha
Costume Design: Fotini Georgiou
Video Art: Katerina Savvoglou
Assistant Director: Spyros Sourvinos
Assistant Set Designer: Tzanos Mazis

Cast: Dimitris Georgiadis, Theodora Loukas, Sofia Priovolou, Vasilis Safos

Poster & Rehearsal Photography: Alex Kat