The Little Girl in the Dark Forest

Original title Η Μικρή μέσα στο Σκοτεινό Δάσος
Première 20. januar 2020, KET, Atene
Running time 1 hour. No intermission.
The performance is in Greek with English and Slovenian subtitles.

Text Philippe Minyana
Translator Dimitra Kondylaki
Director Pantelis Dentakis
Creator of sculptures Kleio Gizeli
Creator of video Apostolis Koutsianikoulis
Set designer Nikos Dentakis
Costume designer Kiki Grammatikopoulou
Composer Stavros Gasparatos in collaboration with Yorgos Mizithras

Subtitles SuperTitles.gr
English translation Ioanna Papakonstantinou
Technique Panagiotis Fourtounis
Communication Giorgia Zoumpa
Photography Domniki Mitropoulou  

Co-producers Black Forest, Polychoros KET, Neos Kosmos Theatre

With support from the French Institute of Athens

The text is published by L’Arche Editeur 

Performers
Polydoros Vogiatzis, Katerina Louvari-Fasoi

The Little Girl in the Dark Forest is an adaptation of the myth Procne and Philomela from Ovid’s Metamorphoses by the French writer Philippe Minyana. The reworked text has been transformed into a multimedia performance that entails micro sculpture, video art, cinematography and music. The story’s setting resembles a dark chess game, where the pieces come to life, and the players experience the game most cruelly. In this miniature world, a fantasy microcosm is created in which all the characters are trapped, and their fate depends on the omnipotent, God-like animator. Each medium forms a separate entity and could tell the story, albeit in part, on its own. However, when combined, all the media create a transcendental, poetic field in which the audience and its imagination come to work, thus completing the world of the play. The Uncontrolled is set at the heart of the performance. No matter how much the heroes wish to control the course of events, Life makes its own decisions. As the King, devastated, says shortly before he turns into a bird: "Our plans are always overturned. We think that we rule things, and they trample on us". And yet, just admitting that things are out of our control, however horrifying and painful that may be, can be ultimately liberating by bearing a transformative quality that reminds us to seize the moment and live our lives to the fullest.