
Commissioned by Eleusis 21
European Capital of Culture
and Athens & Epidauros Festival
2017 / ODC / Hybrid / Site Specific / Stage Direction
European Capital of Culture
Louisette (the title comes from Marat’s pet word for the guillotine), invites viewers to enter the making of a film on the theme of bourgeois democracy and the French revolution. However, during shoot breaks, something is amiss. How do contemporary individuals relate to the tripartite motto “liberty, equality, fraternity”?
The performance drew on texts by Jean-Paul Marat, Heiner Müller, Guy Debord, Raoul Vaneigem, Nikos Gatsos, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mary Oliver, Victor Hugo, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, excerpts from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) and contemporaneous legal texts and Travis Stout’s videogame Assasin’s Creed: Unity. It also drew on texts composed during improvisation with the students of special abilities from the special vocational high school of Eleusis. The latter are the true protagonists of this production, working closely together with actors, musicians, and visual artists. This performance of ambulatory theatre, a co-production of the Athens festival and the Eleusis 2021 European capital of culture, is the end product of a fruitful collaboration between the ODC Ensemble and the students of the Special vocational high School of Eleusis and is part of the Europe Grand central project.
Concept + Adaptation + Direction: Elli Papakonstantinou
Dramaturgical Collaboration: Stella Rapti
Historical Research: Filimon Patsakis
Performers: Adrian Frieling, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Daphne Markaki, Alkistis Polychroni, Antonis Primikyris, Rosa Prodromou, Thodoris Skyftoulis, along with volunteers and teaching staff & students of the Special Vocational High School of Eleusis
Music Composition + Sound Design: Tilemachos Mousas
Live Music: The Special Vocational High School of Eleusis Band, Nefeli Markaki (violin), Nasia Gofa (vocals)
Set + Costume Design: Aristotelis Karananos & Alexandra Siafkou
Live Video + Video Mapping: Pantelis Makkas
Choreography: Athanasia Kanellopoulou
Lighting Design: Olympia Mytilinaiou
Assistant to Director: Anastasia Katsinavaki
Athens & Epidaurus Festival:
22-25.06.2017
Old Oil Mill of Eleusis, Greece
Produced by:
The project is not one of politeness and rhetoric. Neither is it, necessarily, a radical suggestion of escape. It is, however, a project charged with emotion – rage, anger, complaint, despair and a sincere awkwardness vis-à-vis the now becoming history […]
Apostolos Lakasas | Kathimerini | 21.06.2017
The performance is deeply political insofar as its ensemble functions as a political entity, its every member investing the end result with freedom, equality, and fraternity—that is, the performance’s subject matter. The goal will never be met if there is an incongruity of form and content […]
Giorgos Voudiklaris | Popaganda | 24.06.2017
Freedom – Equality – Fraternity
Vyrsodepseio, A Θeatre in Times of Crisis, Elli Papakonstantinou & ODC Ensemble
[…] Fortunately, ODC is as realist as it is romantic. If that was not the case, the Ensemble would have never gone on to tackle a project as extroverted and collectively demanding as Louisette, presented at the Old Oil Mill of Eleusis in the summer of 2017. The participation of students of the Special Vocational High School of Eleusis marked a shift from the imaginary After to a dramatic Now. By integrating students into a dramaturgy which also revolved around the making of a film, this time about the French Revolution, the performance explored how we currently relate to the still relevant tripartite motto ‘Freedom – Equality – Fraternity’. This approach worked both on a literal and a symbolic level precisely because it focused on the social reality of outcasts. The production was not just a theoretical analysis on the meaning of social exclusion and how this relates to the urge to rebel (and/or destroy), but also offered a creative response to exclusion through the artistic integration of a sensitive group. Thanks to this performance, ODC Ensemble ultimately eschewed the spatial boundaries of Vyrsodepseio, indicating that the concept of space is contingent on the human dynamics which mobilise and shape it. The Ensemble thus demonstrated that the desire of coming together does not obey any constraints set by venues and spaces. This desire moves freely, finds a way to escape, and reinvents itself. The element that brings people together is brought to the surface. And what is this element if not a pure faith that this coming together is indeed feasible? […]
Dimitra Kondylaki | Nefeli Editions | 2018
ODC Ensemble
A Θeatre in Times of Crisis
Nefeli Editions | 2018
Destiny | 2004
Happiness Unlimited | 2016
Streams of Voices | 2003
Elli Papakonstantinou
Performance Director, Activist
A Night of Secrets | 2007
The Sound of the Gun | 2008
The Mysterious Mr Love | 2005
Tree of Happiness | 2017
Faith | 2006
They’re Playing our Song | 2005
Louisette: The Backstage of Revolution | 2017
Viciousness in the Kitchen | 2010
The Cave | 2018
Każin Barokk | 2018
Nine Lives, Ten Tails | 1997
Revolt Athenς | 2015
Debtocrazy Revolutions | 2015
The Suppliants after Aeschylus after Kossovo | 1999
Richard II | 2014
Ajax | 1998
Out Cry | 2016
Out Cry | 2011
Sous l’oiel d’Oedipe | 2010
Skin [Δέρμα] | 2012
Woyzeck Quartet | 2012
From Α to Ω | 2010
The Country | 2009
The Iron | 2004
ODC …After Homer | 2002-04
ODC, after Homer’s Odyssey | 2009
Ma Vie de Chandelles | 2012
Touching the Bottom of the Sea | 2013
Oedipus: Sex with Mum was Blinding | Upcoming
Femme et Loup | 2014
The Decameron of Women | 2000
The Ships | 2005
Mετά [After] | 2011
Lettre aux Jeunes Acteurs | 2008
Vyrsodepseio
Art Space | Athens
A Winter’s Tale | 2021