Earthquake
Is it a vaudeville show? Α concert? A confessional manifesto? A panel interview around a big table, broadcasted on a public network? An awards ceremony where no one shows up to receive the award? An official premiere that perpetually repeats itself?
It is certainly a bone-shaking, seismic performance, bringing together trans femininities, non-binary people, fat bodies, immigrants, and sex workers on stage so that they can sing the hate speech they’ve suffered just cause they are who they are.
Run time 110 minutes
Genre theatre
Language Greek
Age category 16+
Dutch premiere Tue 30 Jan
Earthquake
This “Earthquake” takes the stage to cause that rift in which hormone therapies, resident permit paperwork, OnlyFans, cheesy love songs, lost virginities, Albanian wide foreheads, gender identities, police identity cards, dom tops, submissive bottoms, love migrants, conversion therapies, crash diets, pronouns, Grindr, trash TV culture, and make-up tutorials. A set of experiences which reminds us that, contrary to the dominant narrative that things are getting better year by year, the pain might remain the same when you grow up as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a country that systematically cultivates racism and all types of phobic behavior towards the brightest and most fearless individuals.
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Earthquake – the second part in a trilogy that launched with the work Plague (2022) and is set to be completed by the work Deluge – tackles such issues as sexuality, gendered violence, gender identity, and hateful behavior towards anything that deviates from heteronormativity.
Vasilis Vilaras first partnered with Onassis Stegi for the online work RED RIDING SHOES, presented on the Onassis Channel on YouTube as part of the Onassis Young Choreographers Festival – ONC8 in 2021.
About Vasilis Vilaras
Vasilis Vilaras was born in Athens in 1983. He directs for the stage and screen, performs on stage and screen, and is a photographer. He has worked, among others, with Onassis Stegi, the National Theater of Greece, the Greek National Opera, and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. His films have been screened at Onassis Stegi and the Athens Porn Film Festival. He has worked with the Greek Deaf Theater for a number of years. He makes use of his training as a social worker to teach educational drama to children with autism and learning difficulties.
Credits
director Vasilis Vilaras
dramaturgy Lemonia Gianniri
music Ecati
set design Dimos Klimenof
lightining design Vasya Attarian
translation English surtitles Memi Katsoni
costume design Filippos Missas
line production Thalia Griva
with Motsi Georgiou, Iacovos, Agim Tzimis Mitsi, Artemisa Reppa. The original cast also included the performer Adam Khalil
photography Andreas Simopoulos
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Onassis STEGI Team
tours and international coproductions coordinator Christina Liata
tours and international coproductions assistant Polyxeni Sotirchou
tour technical manager Stavros Kariotoglou
Commissioned and produced by Onassis STEGI.
Brandhaarden is co-produced by Onassis STEGI’s Outward Turn Program.
12th edition
BRANDHAARDEN FESTIVAL
Brandhaarden is an international theatre festival that brings performances by remarkable theatre makers from abroad to Amsterdam. The festival offers a unique overview of one creator, house, writer, region or theme. Previous editions have spotlighted directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau and the Rimini Protokoll collective, writer Édouard Louis, the Southern European region (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece) and city theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin and Peter Brooks Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.
ONASSIS STEGI
The Onassis Stegi in Athens, serving as the hub of the Onassis Foundation’s cultural activities, encourages the talent and energy of local and international artists to thrive and starts conversations that aim to shake and shape society. Onassis Stegi is a center of global contemporary culture that, through a series of initiatives and works, promotes dialogue about democracy, social and environmental justice, racial and gender equality, and LGBTQIA+ rights.
Fringe programme: Modern Myths
The fringe programme of Brandhaarden 2024 is all about Modern Myths. The word 'myth' has two meanings today. On the one hand, it denotes stories that contain a certain wisdom, and we speak with wonder about what we then call 'mythological'. On the other hand, we use the word to talk about lies and misconceptions. We invite the audience to reflect on the power of shared stories, but together will also look at how this can turn into widespread ideas that are not necessarily true and can thus further marginalise vulnerable communities.
Co-produced by
