Archives: Events

“The Iranian Conference”
by Ivan Vyrypaev
by Little Things Orchestra
Directed by Christos Theodoridis
Second year at PLYFA

Following its sweeping run last season and the presentation in Thessaloniki as part of the 60th Dimitria Festival, The Iranian Conference by Ivan Vyrypaev, produced by the Little Things Orchestra and directed by Christos Theodoridis, returns to PLYFA for a new cycle of 26 performances from November 3, 2025 through January 13, 2026.

Written in 2018 and set in Denmark, the country with one of the happiest populations in the world, Vyrypaev’s play transports us to a conference lecture hall at the University of Copenhagen, where nine members of the local intellectual elite convene to discuss the complex Iranian issue and the clash between East and West. Very soon, however, “The Iranian Conference” transforms into a “Conference about Us*,” a confrontation of different worldviews surrounding the cosmos, human existence, and the eternal question: what is the meaning of life?

“And what shall I do, then?”

“What we all do — cry and love.”

Through a feverish discourse that moves from philosophy to science and from conservative to progressive thought, Vyrypaev’s play connects the “political” with the “personal,” seeking the deeper causes that have led us to today. In a fragile era when our world is shaken by war and genocide happening near us, and the rift of division deepens, the questions of the play acquire terrifying urgency: how can we truly communicate, how can we love, how can we continue to live?

“Honestly, I could barely make sense of anything. Why do I live?”

What does it mean to live? Is there an answer to this timeless question? The Little Things Orchestra invites the audience into a performance-conference, through which the viewers will come into contact with nine speakers who, trying to explain the world around them, confront the world within themselves.

CRITIQUES / PRESS ON THE PRODUCTION

“Christos Theodoridis’s direction and the ten exquisite performances show how a seemingly ‘static’ play can be so electrifying.” — Tonia Karaoglou, Athinorama

“The performance manages to captivate through its simplicity, proving that the power of theatre lies not in excess but in the meaningful communication of ideas and emotions.” — Georgia Oikonomou, News24/7

“Considering the very contemporary repertoire, it would not be an exaggeration to point out that this is the most incisive theatrical text at least of the ongoing season — deeply political, contemplative and existential all at once, with a perceptive philosophical foundation and expansive outlook, which dissects current reality, today’s life, ourselves, our planet.” — Grigoris Bekos, To Vima

“The Little Things Orchestra, under the guidance of director Christos Theodoridis and a tightly knit ensemble of young, gifted actors, achieves a scenic feat with minimal means and deep soul.” — Maria Katsounaki, Kathimerini

“I cannot recall a production by this group that failed to surprise me. I believe the secret of the ‘Orchestra’ lies in the fact that each of its performances is founded on the sincere involvement of its members, equal participation in the dramaturgy (here by Isabella Konstantinidou and Christos Theodoridis), and the mature yet selfless development of each actor in their role-position.” — Grigoris Ioannidis, Efimerida ton Syntakton

“A fully won intellectual-performance gamble. A show that shakes you and makes you ponder your own position and perspective on these issues, lingering with you long afterward.” — Giorgos Mitropoulos, Euronews

“An inspired handling of another example of Vyrypaev’s distinctive political writing by Christos Theodoridis, brought to life by the rebelliously expressive ensemble of actors.” — Stella Harami, Monopoli

“The performance THE IRANIAN CONFERENCE is exemplary with finely tuned direction, finely tuned actors, finely tuned text. Nothing superfluous in the scenography (Tina Tzoka), lighting (Tasos Palaioroutas), dramaturgical processing (Isabella Konstantinidou). It shook me as a human being and as a spectator…” — Dina Karra, Only Theater

“[…] in its final minutes, the show offers its own answer: the delegates (including the moderator), shaken by the poetic outbreak of the faithful poetess, forget their roles, disputes, differences, and unite in a coordinated dance wave sweeping the hall rhythmically, dragging us into that Country where bodies find freedom beyond speeches and ideologies, in the pure pleasure of encounter and contact, a collective pulse that rouses us.” — Louiza Arkoumanea, LiFO

“Christos Theodoridis has theatrically and astutely transformed a difficult text — to make it attractive — by penetrating its core, primarily through his actors, because upon them rests the conveyance of all that Vyrypaev addresses. Xenia Themeli’s choreography and the way it is integrated into the duration of the performance becomes the breath, the liberation, the ‘freedom from ourselves’.”

“A contemporary, substantive, profound, contemplative work — a performance that elevates it with simplicity, immediacy, and passion — in the best way possible.” — Olga Sella, O Anagnostis

“In yet another inventive direction by Christos Theodoridis, and with captivating performances, Vyrypaev’s play succeeds, finding its theatrical essence and opening an urgent dialogue, beginning in the political and reaching — as it must — the personal.” — Iro Koundadi, In2Life

“At the end of the outstanding performance, all the delegates will rise one by one to dance the feverish choreography of Xenia Themeli, transforming questions into hallucinogenic matter of a Bacchic feast, leaving the audience applauding with an aftertaste of high intellectual exhilaration and admiration.” — Nikos Xenios, Bookpress

“Both Vyrypaev’s excellent play and Christos Theodoridis’s stunning staging begin from the mirrored version of a scientific symposium with unpredictable consequences and an unexpected climax. The reader/listener/viewer is kept in constant alertness, identifies, agrees, disagrees, gets angry, searches desperately for answers.” — Nektarios-Georgios Konstantinidis, I Epohi

“The Iranian Conference, with the deeply focused directorial gaze of Christos Theodoridis and his imagination and sensitivity, becomes a collectible show, a gem of a performance.” — Lena Savva, Theatro.gr

The performance was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.

Performances: November 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 2025 (Monday through Saturday at 20:30 & Sunday at 17:00) and from November 10, 2025 through January 13, 2026, every Monday and Tuesday at 20:30
Duration: 145′ (with an intermission)

“Who Killed My Father” by Édouard Louis
by the Little Things Orchestra
Directed by Christos Theodoridis

After the great success it achieved in the 2022–2023 season, when it premiered in Greece, the sharp and provocative work by Édouard Louis, Who Killed My Father, produced by the Little Things Orchestra and directed by Christos Theodoridis, returns to PLYFA with a new run of performances from November 15, 2025 through January 25, 2026.

“Papa, look, look, look!”

The autobiographical Who Killed My Father is Édouard Louis’s third book, published in 2018 (in Greece in 2020 by Antipodes Editions), and tells the story of his father’s life through the painful relationship they shared — in a dynamic of violence for both — because “the father is deprived of the ability to narrate his own life and the son would like an answer that he will never receive.” But beyond being a deeply personal and harrowing confession, through which the author attempts to re-approach, understand, and finally forgive his father, the work is also an unrelenting “indictment” of those “who escape shame through oblivion,” of governments and dominant politics which for those who have is a matter of aesthetics, while for those who don’t is a matter of life and death.

“We are what we didn’t do, because the world or society prevented us.”

Two ever-energetic actors on stage, Giorgos Kissandrakis and Dionysis (Denis) Makris, begin the story in the here and now, borrow the perspective of people who lived it, enter the incidents and attempt to reconstruct the images, traveling through memories of what happened, what did not happen, and what could have happened. Diving into memories, they confront the need for acceptance, sexuality and violence, the particular that becomes universal, the personal that leads to the social, and the political that concerns us personally — because the need for justice and equality in society is more urgent than ever.

“[…] nothing was violent anymore, because you did not call violence ‘violence,’ you called it life, you didn’t name it, it was there, it was.”

WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

“This is, indisputably, a worthy — and rare — specimen of a combative contemporary theatre that articulates an opinion and position, and functions holistically, aware that art is also politics.” — Tonia Karaoglou, Athinorama

“A fertile moment where the individual weaves with the collective and culminates in a dynamic festival-level performance.” — Stella Harami, Monopoli

“This performance constitutes a rare example of political theatre […] a solid revolution. Because theatre must take a political stance and speak even with names.” — Georgia Oikonomou, News247

“To experience dramatically a story that occurred years ago, in another country, as though it concerns you personally, is an achievement. […] Louis must surely be very proud of this production.” — Nora Ralli, Efimerida ton Syntakton

“What the Little Things Orchestra offers us with ‘Who Killed My Father’ is significant because it comes at the right moment and in the right way: with admirable balance combining the distance required by political theatre with the emotion inevitably stirred by its thematic. A superb collaborative work, with all the contributors worthy of praise. We need such performances.” — Giorgos Voudiklaris, elculture.gr

“Giorgos Kissandrakis and Denis Makris captivate in this unbridled acting recital, ‘entering’ almost instantaneously all the roles and characters, standing beside and at the same time across from them. A proposal. An achievement. And finally, a truly fresh and new Theatre.” — Kostas Zisis, Fragile

“Alternating the father-son roles and frequently intervening with the ‘voices’ of the other involved characters, the two performers mesmerize the audience: the credit for this is shared, of course, with Christos Theodoridis.” — Nikos Xenios, Bookpress.gr

“A masterful production that audiences rarely have the opportunity to see in the theatre.” — Tonia Tsamouri, CultureNow

“Christos Theodoridis delivers a lesson in direction. With work that is not just inspired but opens new paths in the presentation of non-theatrical texts.” — Giota Dimitriadou, Viewtag.gr

“The Little Things Orchestra’s production addresses an international audience, speaks to the spectator’s heart, and says the things that heal human relationships and interrupt violence.” — Naya Papapanou, Boem Radio

“This is a performance that deeply moves the viewer, a production not simply emotional but heartbreaking, one we will carry within us for years and hope will continue being staged for many years. It is a performance to which, as spectators, we feel profound gratitude.” — Loukia Mitsakou, TheaterProject365

The performance is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Duration: 95′

BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
Based on the screenplay by Radu Jude – Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival 2021
Adaptation: Katerina Papanastasiatou
Direction: Sotiris Roumeliotis

For the first time in Greece, the social comedy Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is being presented on stage. The play is based on the screenplay of the award-winning film of the same name by Radu Jude, which received the Golden Bear at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Sotiris Roumeliotis, the production will be staged at PLYFA, starting Monday, October 20. The cast features an outstanding ensemble of actors: Angelos Andriopoulos, Eleni Vaitsou, Eleni Daphni, Spyros Sourvinos.

Synopsis

When a video of a primary school teacher’s private intimate moments leaks online, the parents of the students decide to take matters into their own hands!

A school assembly or a public tribunal? Concern for the future of our children or yet another excuse for public shaming? Social drama or surreal comedy?

Based on the provocative screenplay by award-winning Romanian director Radu Jude, this theatrical adaptation brings the story into contemporary Greek society. With biting humor, unexpected twists, and constant conflicts, a simple discussion between parents and teachers transforms into a true duel over the taboos of sexuality, social roles, parental responsibility, and the boundaries between private and public life.
In a society that lives through images and snap judgments, people are increasingly exposed to voracious public critique, especially online. But when it comes time to discuss face-to-face—without screens and apps in between—the masks of progressiveness fall loudly, and deeply rooted social prejudices are revealed with tragicomic clarity.

The production is made possible with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.

Duration: 70 minutes
Recommended age: 28-50