Our Productions

‘Manfred Echoes’ was initially performed at King's College London on the 26 January 2024 and at Trinity College Cambridge 16 November 2024. The performance staged at Great Hall and Wren Library repsectively, was part of the events commemorating the bicentenary of Lord Byron's death in Messolonghi, Greece in 1824. 'Manfre Echoes' is a performative work in progress on Byron's Manfred. Manfred is each and every one of us and represents the ongoing journey of a person’s soul and spirit and the battles we all face during our lives. He chooses the tough path and he walks it alone as he feels that the Siren-like echoes prevent us from becoming better versions of ourselves and aim to dim the potential and the light of our spirit.

Inspired and directed by Kyriaki Mitsou

Presented by Vassileia Kenanoglou and Konstantinos Delidimoudis. 

Accompanied by the cellist Thodoris Papadimitriou. 

(Special thanks to Mrs Rosa Florou, President of The Messolonghi Byron Society, for her hospitality during the research phase and for providing the Greek translation of Manfred.)

We invite you to experience our new and bold theatre play titled For Three Refrigerators and a Washing Machine, a ground-breaking production that offers a fresh perspective on the complex history of child adoption and family formation, on perennial questions of identity and belonging.

Our stage production, the world premiere of For Three Refrigerators and a Washing Machine, brought a testimony theatre piece to the heart of London in October 2024. The thought-provoking show was directed by the experienced Kyriaki Mitsou, who delivered the stage adaptation in close collaboration with the dramaturgists Renata Sofrona and Romina Spyraki. The play was presented in three languages (with English surtitles), and it includes filmic components.

Featuring a diverse cast of actors of various ages and nationalities, the production includes well-known actors and artists from Greece, such as Yvonni Maltezou, Giannis Dalianis, and Spyros Bibilas, who, as they told us, were ‘deeply moved by the subject matter because it touches on the personal histories of so many Greek families’. Adoptees themselves also contributed to the performance, since our goal has been to amplify their voices. The historical research underlying the play was conducted by Professor Gonda Van Steen (Koraes Professor, Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College London). Professor Van Steen has spent 13 years researching the details of the ‘historic’ postwar adoptions from Greece, meeting and interviewing adopted persons, and collecting relevant archival materials in the most elusive places—some of which appear in the playscript. She has identified 4,500 cases of international adoptions from Greece, which took place between 1950 and 1975 and affected every Greek diaspora community in the United States. Six hundred Greek children were sent to the Netherlands. Others were adopted in the UK, Sweden, Cyprus, Australia, Canada, and other countries. Many of these adopted persons are in touch with Prof. Van Steen and Kyriaki Mitsou, take an interest in the play, and follow any developments in the media closely.

‘Historic’ adoptions have emerged as a major topic of discussion in the current decade, with controversies appearing in the media across many Western countries and headlines surfacing daily. However, nothing has truly entered ‘history’ for those who still experience a turbulent adoption trajectory. Our pioneering play examines the data and pieces together personal stories about child adoption, framing it as a key social issue of 20th-century Greece. Specifically, for Greece of the 1950s, this is the complex story of families who had every opportunity and those who had none at all—a story that has, unfortunately, been repeated in many countries worldwide. From the perspective of the adopted, the play portrays the difficulties faced by those sent abroad with minimal documentation while confronted by excessive expectations. Thus, this theatrical production raises critical questions about the existential issues of ‘identity’ and ‘belonging’, which extend beyond the Greek context and remain relevant today. We celebrate the fact that Greece, in May 2025, finally acknowledged its own postwar adoption history and issued a new law that allows Greek-born adoptees to restore their Greek citizenship. Our London premiere was instrumental in the campaign advocating for this momentous policy change, called Nostos for Greek Adoptees.

The show was initially performed on 24, 25, 26 October 2024, at the Greenwood Theatre, King’s College London, 55 Weston St, London SE1 3RA.

Programme:

Film-Stage Direction/Scenography:  Kyriaki Mitsou

Dramaturgy/Stage Adaptation:    

 Kyriaki Mitsou, Renata Sofrona, Romina Spyraki

Historical Research: 

  Prof. Gonda Van Steen

Producers:

Culture In Action / King’s College London

Copyright to the stage production: Kyriaki Mitsou

Chrysa Spilioti’s “Who discovered America?” is an important example of contemporary Greek writing. It is a miniature masterpiece whose utterly real and convincing relationships and characters are drawn with psychological precision. With a light and humorous touch, her heroines succeed in getting down an entire society and generation. The rapid dialogues drawn the audience into a journey that seems to be over in a flash. Just like life itself.

Kambanellis' Neighborhoods' is a tribute performance to the Great Father, as they call him, of Greek post war theatre, Iakovos Kambanellis. Through scenes from three different plays ' The Seventh Day of Creation', 'The Courtyard of Miracles' and 'The  Age of Night' we get the feeling of a different era and the class structure of Athens at that time. The scenes are accompanied by songs written by Kambanellis and performed live by the actors.

Four women are at a decisive point in their lives: they need to face their future with power and strength. Their love lives and their relationships with the opposite sex have taken pivotal turns.  With Power from Kifisia is an uplifting comedy, with an escalating sequence of events, twists and secret reveals. Love and friendship conquer it all- in a hilarious, paranoic, and tender way!

A drama play based on William Mastrosimone’s play ‘the Wool gatherer’

Jake’s taxi breaks down in front of Amy’s flat. Two people seemingly from completely different worlds manage to let go and connect in an unexpected way.

A game where identities are lost ,personalities interchange, power and dreams collide and self awareness is non existent.

A swallow converses with a sparrow and is dazzled by the description of the festive atmosphere of Christmas. So he decides not to follow his people on their journey to the warm south, but to stay to experience the wonderful things he heard. During his stay he is at risk from the cold, but finally he sees the beauty of the holy days, feels human care and understands the deepest meaning of Christmas, Love!