Eleftheria’s mother Kiki is illiterate. She was born into poverty and was forced to grow up too fast. She started working early on and had no opportunity to go to school. The letters of the alphabet remained mysterious. Secret curlicues. A boundary between herself and the initiated. But the sagas that echoed within her needed to come out, to live on, to be told to others. A necessity so undeniable that Kiki managed to invent her own alphabet.

This is the story of that mother, but also of her child. Of the child’s growing up in an impoverished village which she had to leave to realize her dream. And of how her mother’s sagas about survival gave her hope and a feeling of security along the way.

The little girl with gortsa is a personal and poetic play with memories of childhood sagas about finding oneself through telling and performing stories. About the magical power in the ability to give of oneself and of one’s mental images. But also about what it is that spurs the imagination, that makes the child, now grown up, still anxious to hear the sagas again and again. That which perhaps always remains, pushing the stories, and perhaps life itself, forward – namely, anxiety. The anxiety that hasn’t  calmed down although the journey is over.

”During recent years I’ve understood that my mother’s sagas have been increasingly circulating in my consciousness. I often return to them for a sense of calm. Sometimes I call her and ask that she read me one of them. At those times she happily runs off to get her notebook and asks me: Which one should I read for you? Do you want to hear Pavlaki’s Dream? Or maybe The Girl and the Wild Pear? And then she tells the tale.” – Eleftheria Gerofoka

Eleftheria Gerofoka was born and raised in Greece. She received her acting education at the acting school in Athens and has taken part in numerous productions in Sweden and internationally.

She has studied physical theatre and methods of the contemporary performing arts at Goethe University in Frankfurt and in Moscow and London with Théâtre Complicité. In 2011 she moved to Sweden and has worked here at Angereds Theatre and Swedish Radio Drama and, since 2017, is a member of the Backa Theatre ensemble.

Eleftheria has also performed in a wealth of films and television series, among others “Butiken” by Ami-Ro Sköld, ”Forever” by Anders Hazelius, ”Ring mamma” (Call Mom) and ”Det vita folket” (The White People) by Lisa Aschan.

By: Eleftheria Gerofoka
Director: Rasmus Lindgren and Eleftheria Gerofoka
Light and room: Bella Oldenquist
Sound: Jonas Redig
Dramatic text: Christina Ouzounidis
Producer: Lisa Nowotny
Artistic mentor: Lola Arias
Performers: Eleftheria Gerofoka and Vasiliki Kiki Gerofoka

This piece will be performed in English, Swedish and greek with subtitles.

Co-produced with Backa Theatre.