POUSTARA

POUSTARA

Evangelos Lalos

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Poof
Pervert
Faggot
Fruit
Sissy
Bender

The first time someone called me something like that, I didn’t even know what it meant. I was seven years old, in second grade, and before the school bell rang, I liked walking side by side with a classmate and talking.

Since then, I’ve heard it many times throughout my life. Every time I didn’t do what they wanted, every time I didn’t behave the way they expected me to, every time they wanted to hurt me, every time they wanted to change the way I am and the way I exist.

Years have passed, and now at least I can answer back: I’m not a faggot. I’m a poustara.

Poustara is a documentary theatre performance based on the testimonies of the actors involved, exploring what it means to be a gay man in Greece today. What has changed over the past 20 years? From fines imposed over televised kisses to marriage equality and adoption rights.

A political work that is also entertaining, a big party celebrating everything we have achieved, and a protest for everything we still have left to fight for. A colourful collective journey towards who we truly are, because you don’t have to be gay to be denied the freedom to be yourself.

The most viral performance of the summer returns on December 28 for a run of 10 performances, and we want all of you there!

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Director’s Note

“In 2023–24, when we presented the Spanish version of the play in theatres and at festivals across the country, many people came up to us and told us how timely and necessary performances like this were. In Spain… a global pioneer in LGBTQI+ rights, the third country in Europe to legislate marriage equality and adoption rights, back in 2005.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to create a similar performance in Greece. At first, I tried to follow the structure of the Spanish version, until I realised that it made no sense. I was in a different country, dealing with different issues and a different culture. What would be the point of bringing symbols to the stage that nobody here would understand?

And that was when the work became very Greek, very local, and at the same time, very international. Because what could be more interesting than taking a close look at a microcosm that exists within a much larger universe?

Poustara, then, is deeply Greek. It speaks of everything we have lived through, everything we wanted to experience but couldn’t, and everything we are now able to experience thanks to those who came before us. It also incorporates many traditional elements, not in the sense of an obsession with antiquity or naive national pride, but in the sense that tradition belongs to all of us. We can redefine it and make it our own, just as we do with words that were once used to hurt us and that we now celebrate.

So Poustara is a celebration, a party to celebrate the fact that we are here and that we are all here together.”

– Evangelos Lalos

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The press wrote about the performance:

• elculture.gr
• Monopoli
• Neolaia.gr
• OW
• EfSyn

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Duration: 75 minutes
Age recommendation: 15+