Two of Elli’s creations The Cave and Revolt Athens will tour at the BE Festival for the REP, Birmingham, UK (last year’s First Prize Award) and then at the Copenhagen Opera Festival and the Aalborg Opera Festival in Denmark in August. In Greece, we will see Cave at the Megaron, Concert Hall in October. Elli Papakonstantinou is currently commissioned to direct Kazin Barokk, one of the main productions of Valletta – European Capital of Culture 2018. She is also been awarded with a “Fulbright Artist’s Award 2018-19” and is proudly collaborating with CCARMA of Stanford University on her new creation Oedipus, Sex with Mom was Blinding. At the same time, the bilingual publication Vyrsodepseio, a Θeater in the Years of the Crisis about the artist’s work is released by Nefeli Publishing House, Greece.
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS WITH ELLI
09:00 – 10:00
My alarm goes on. A part of me wakes up, while another half still dreamy, solves problems and repeats made-up dialogues with collaborators or friends. I pat my dog on the head & check my emails on my cell phone, drink coffee and gradually get myself together… I keep notes about the libretto I’m working on at this moment. This takes me to the office, where for the next one hour (until the first phone call) I’ ll be writing.
10:00 – 12:00
This time is usually devoted to production; I talk with the Maltese production of the Cultural Capital of Europe who are producing my upcoming creation Kazin Barokk commissioned by Valetta 18 (due to premier in September 2018); also, with festivals in Britain and Denmark where my production the Cave will be touring in summer 2018. Questions such as: “Why does the Maltese production not respond to the queries of the French actress?” And other crisis I deal with- sometimes personal ones-: “They ‘re racists, is this why I ‘m not wanted?” I exchange emails and I try to keep my head in place with unpredictable situations such as: ”They don’t accept a santour in this aircraft, it would have to go as fright!”
12:00 – 17:00
While transferring photos to Stanford University, I am late for my rehearsal of The Cave. I look out of the window and I can see the Acropolis –send ‘her’ a morning kiss– and in no more than 15 mins I’m at the rehearsal space. In the car, I talk to friends that I love and their voice reassures me. So here I am revisiting The Cave, while reworking another show Revolt Athens that will also go on a tour. The way I see it, every creation of mine is be an open field to keep exploring.
17:30 – 18:30
Chaos at home. My dog comes over me, my daughter reads or plays the violin; at home someone always plays the music, the guitar, the violin or the ‘theremin’, or just makes noise, a lot of noise, which makes me look for quiet corners and small rooms; nevertheless, I must admit I quite like the chaos; Colleagues and friends always come round; people come and go. Someone delivers a thing, another comes to take a sound console or books. Questions like “When do I fly for Vienna? Tomorrow; And where will I stay?” are thrown in the air waiting for an answer.
18:30 – 19:30
Meetings with partners, also continuing the morning work. When I work at home, my favorite habit is to work side by side with my daughter while she is doing her homework. I help her and she helps me with her presence. I water and take care of my plants. This is my idea of meditation.
20:00 – 21:00
Skype with Stanford’s US partners for my new project to be completed in the US next year. Ideas for the designing of the new media. How will the public interact with the new technologies? How can Stanford’s simulated Hagia Sophia’s sound environment be incorporated in the new project? We hung up – “to be continued”.
21:00 – 23:00
With my friends or my family; usually relaxing watching a movie or having a nice conversation.
23:30 – 02:30
The deepest hour. Many ideas are born here, also while I sleep. When it ‘s all silent I do a lot of reading and I write. When I’m directing, I usually work til the early hours of the day. I’ve always been a night bird, and when I ‘m not out, I spend this time of the day to read in a secret cocoon of time.