MANIPULATION
AND OTHER ROMANTIC STORIES

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While societies continue to justify violence under the pretext of love, the relationship of a couple is revealed within a futuristic-baroque universe. A psychologist-DJ helps a woman to see how lucky she is that her husband gives her his hand when they need to dance in front of others or when he distinguishes spiders from insects. The work explores the manipulativeness of psychologicalization and the arrogance of knowledge without love, through an absurd narration about relationships in need of revision. Social pressure, ideologies and conspiracy theories cultivated by patriarchy are obscured through a rebellion of original text, electronic compositions and polyphonic songs, glorifying the utility of washing machines or a painting in Uffizi Palace. Climate change, femicides and human vanity establish the need for cultivating a tenderly courageous look at the world, influencing the play and reminding of a psychiatric session, a concert, a mystical gathering or a manual of instructions.

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Do you feel this emptiness too?

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Written, Directed by Artemis Chrysostomidou

Music by Lia Stavropoulou

Performed by Leigh Sayers, Lia Stavropoulou, Matina Pergioudaki

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ITALY

21, 22, 23 June 2024

Altofest, International Performing Arts Festival
Palazzo Marigliano, Napoli
 

GERMANY

29 September 2021

Frankfurt LAB

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Funded by Frankfurt LAB, Das Musik, Theater und Tanzlabor der Moderne für Frankfurt Rhein Main, Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Altofest, International Contemporary Live Arts Festival Naples, TeatrInGestAzione, Embassy of Cyprus in Rome, Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture