of Dr. Georgiou Orphanidis*
Despite the multifaceted difficulties faced by the Cypriot theater field, the year 2025 emerged as a particularly creative and qualitatively remarkable period. Theatrical production was diverse, covering both the classical and contemporary repertoire, with works by Cypriot and international dramatists. Then, in chronological order within the year, only some of the performances that, in our opinion, significantly differentiated themselves and contributed significantly to the artistic dialogue of the time are presented.
"Hamlet II" DENTRO Theater and HYPOGAIA Cultural Organization
The DENTRO Theater and the HYPOGAIA Cultural Organization presented to the Cypriot public, in May-June, Samuel Bobrick's play "Hamlet II", translated and directed by Leandros Taliotis.
The work is not limited to a comic version of the Shakespearean original, but moves on the edge of farce and parody, balancing, as Linda Hutcheon argues in her iconic work for Western drama A theory of parody: The teachings of twentieth-century art forms (University of Illinois press, 2023), talking about the theory of parody, between respecting and subverting the classic text. The directorial approach intensifies this dynamic through a practice that draws theoretically from Jacques Derrida's thought of deconstruction. The traditional roles, hierarchies, and fixed meanings of the Shakespearean universe are not treated as unquestionable, but are constantly challenged.
The constant rhythmic shifts, combined with the strongly emphasized physicality of the performers, produce a high-energy stage environment that destabilizes conventional forms of representation and makes visible the social tensions that lurk behind the seemingly familiar and recognizable.
Laughter is not employed as a means of relaxation or superficial fun, but as a tool of understanding and critical alertness, revealing the contradictions, insecurities and ideological delusions that make up the petty-bourgeois way of thinking and behaving.
The actors moved comfortably between the grotesque and the caricature, without losing the human dimension of the characters. The troupe consisted of Valentinos Kokkinos, Katerina Loura, Vasiliki Kypraiou, Vassilis Charalambous, Athena Savva, Andreas Karoubas, Michalis Kazakas and Leandros Taliotis.
"Recipe for Misery" Theatrical Group Korniza
The comedy "Recipe for Misery" for all those who take life too seriously was presented in May by the Korniza Theater Group, based on the iconic book by the Austrian-American psychiatrist and philosopher Paul Vaczlavik "Make your own misery", adapted by Natasha Fai Kosmidou and directed by Kostas Gakis.
An intelligent comedy full of irony, sarcasm and tenderness, which analyzes, with detailed instructions, the mechanisms by which we humans manage to systematically sabotage our own lives. As the author points out, in The situation is hopeless but not serious: The pursuit of unhappiness (W. W. Norton, 1983), unhappiness is often not the result of circumstances, but of the ways in which we mistakenly try to control them. There is a way to be unhappy; and some of us have perfected it.
The show illuminates with humor the mechanism of self-harm. Η σκηνική δράση αναδεικνύει τον τρόπο με τον οποίο τα άτομα επινοούν και εγκαθιδρύουν εμπόδια στον ίδιο τους τον εαυτό, προκειμένου να προλάβουν το ενδεχόμενο της αποτυχίας και να διασώσουν μια εύθραυστη, αλλά κοινωνικά αναγκαία, εικόνα του εαυτού τους.
The performances of Polina Matthaiou and Augustina Stylianou offered us a deliciously bitter exploration of human behavior.
"Skylight" Cypriot Artistic Group
The theatrical performance "Skylight" by the Cyprides Artistic Group, written by Marilena Achilleos and directed by Stavros X. Petros, was presented in September - October, initially at the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Strovolos and then at the Flea Theatre, in Nicosia.
The return of a singer of the classical repertoire to her home and her sudden meeting with an unknown young man, who has already settled there, holding a guitar as almost the only support of identity, act as a catalyst for the development of a stage condition that moves on the border between the surreal and the comic-tragic. Old and new, logic and instinct, control and impulse emerge as equal and interpenetrating forces.
The directorial writing of Stavros X. Petros consciously moves between the realistic and the poetic, creating a scene where the contradictions are not resolved, but coexist in a state of constant tension. At the core of the dramaturgy is a reflection akin to the existential thought of Jean-Paul Sartre and the philosophy of Irvin Yalom: who are we when the social and professional roles that define us collapse and what remains when the subject is called to co-exist with the unknown, unfamiliar and sometimes threatening element of himself. The encounter with the "other" thus functions as a mirror of an internal rupture, where identity ceases to be given and turns into an open, precarious question.
The characters were interpreted by Stefanos Kasapi and Angela Rizaki, giving body and voice to two figures who function more as existential situations than as realistic persons.
"The Elephant Man" Satirical Theater and Audere Productions
The theater season ended, in November - December, with the performance "The Elephant Man" by Bernard Pomerance, from the Satirical Theater and Audere Productions, translated - adapted by Frixos Masouras, directed by Andreas Kyriakos.
The play tells the true story of John Merrick, a severely disfigured man in 1880s Victorian London, who is exhibited as a "monster" at fairs until Dr. Treeves discovers him and offers him care and space to exist as a human.
The narrative and stage development of the story is inscribed in a clear theoretical dialogue with the concept of "stigma", as analyzed by Erving Goffman, in Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity (Simon and Schuster, 2009). Society is not limited to the simple recognition of deviance, but actively participates in its construction, giving the "different" a role of visibility that is often equated with spectacle. At the same time, the perspective of the performance converses fruitfully with the humanism and critical thinking of Michel Foucault (Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-76. Picador, 2003), the body emerges as a field for recording normative discourses, medical categorizations and social evaluations, which are not neutral, but carry an ideological and political charge.
Through a contemporary staged reading, with a variety of alternating roles and live on-stage music and singing, the show tells the story in a way that does not seek easy sentimentality, but meaningful reflection. A key moment of the performance was the song of the young actress and singer Georgia Nikolaou. Her performance acted as a form of catharsis, in the Aristotelian sense of the term, releasing the emotions that had accumulated throughout the performance and turning the silent suffering into a shared experience.
The actors Christodoulos Martas, Vassilis Michael, Penny Foiniri, Polixeni Savva, Georgia Nikolaou, Eleni Zanti, Andreas Georgiou, Giorgos Lizos, Maria Hara Trusa performed.
*Art Theoretician – Art Director
