John and the Ox

GIANNIS AND THE OX – by Evangelia Gatsoti

After a series of successful performances in Athens, Patras and Ioannina, the moving and at the same time cruel story of "Yiannis" comes to life again at Pyrgos Bazeou, on August 24, 2025, directed by Panagiotis Liaropoulos. The play was written by Evangelia Gatsoti and emerged from transcripts of real interviews, which formed the raw material for the creation of an original dramaturgy, aiming to redefine the invisible local microhistory.

The performance seeks to bring to light the true story of a child whom the collective memory of his place wanted to erase from its books. Following the successive revelations, our protagonists dive into a spiral of events from the world of silence and complicity, which will swirl them torturously to the final point of catharsis. The four actors alternate in all the roles of the play, giving the feeling that they are experiencing all the events of their lives in the four corners of a courtyard of a rural house.

A story about people whose truth of life is hidden in the whispers of a provincial society.

Author's note
«As I recount this story, the joy of the discoverer coexists with the guilt of the gravedigger. What ultimately redeems and relieves me is the sense of fulfilling a duty towards restoring the memory of a person.».

The work "Yiannis and the Ox" is published together with three other contemporary modern Greek works by Aparsis Publications.

CAST
Text/Conception: Evangelia Gatsoti
Directed by: Panagiotis Liaropoulos
Set designers: Alkyoni Divari, Lia Mantouvalou
Costume designer: Archontoula Tsatsoulaki
Musician on stage: Hydrama
Lighting design: Semina Papalexandropoulou
Assistant director: Anthia Moustaka-Koliva
Photos- Trailer-Poster artwork: Daniel Voreakos
Social Media Manager: Nancy Panagoulopoulou

PLAYING
Philippos Kontogiorgis, Thanasis Lysandropoulos, Stavria Nikolaou, Grigoris Pantazis.