Synopsis
The playwright’s first attempt at writing for the stage, in 2007, is a triptych of self-contained monologues connected by internal references and intertextual play. Common theme is relationships with an age gap, as the writer explores desire, memories and loneliness beyond social stereotypes. In “Jocasta, Forty Years Old”, the mythical character passionately claims her right to live and to love. In “Ramblings”, an ordinary woman, Nitsa, reminisces with disarming candour a love affair long past. “My Beloved Washing Machine” completes the cycle, presenting a solitary older man confessing his unfulfilled desires. Through an ingenious self-referential game, the three stories finally meet in the theater itself. A tender, subversive piece about love, loneliness and the right to desire regardless of age.
In our interpretation, the playwright accompanies his creations on stage. In a non-place and a non-time, the characters burst in and overwhelm both the stage and his world.
Accessibility
- In Greek, with German and Greek surtitles
The playwright
Antonis Georgiou was born in Cyprus in 1969. He studied law in Moscow and works as a lawyer in Limassol. He is a graduate of the Master’s Programme in Theatre Studies of the Open University of Cyprus and a member of the editorial board of the journal Nea Epochí.
He has published the books Almost a Full Moon (poems, Gavriilidis 2006), Sweet Bloody Life (short stories, To Rodakio 2006, Cyprus State Prize for the Short Story), An Album of Stories (To Rodakio 2014, Cyprus State Prize for the Novel, European Union Prize for Literature 2016), I Am Like a Butterfly (poems, To Rodakio 2019) and The Breath of Those Next Door (short stories, To Rodakio 2022).
His staged plays to date include: My Beloved Washing Machine, 2007 (Theatre Prize of the Cyprus Theatre Organisation, THOK), The Illness, 2009, Our Garden, 2011, La Belote, 2014, I Was Lysistrata, 2016, Uncle Giannis, 2019, The Bath, 2020, and In Critical Condition, 2021 (THOK Author of the Year Award). An Album of Stories was adapted for the stage and performed in 2016.
He has contributed to collective volumes of short stories and poetry both in Cyprus and abroad, and his work has been translated and published in other languages.
Credits
Cast
Creative team
After the performance · 17.00
Talkback with the audience
In conversation with the playwright Antonis Georgiou
Moderation: Stylianos Benetos
Following the performance, the playwright of “My Beloved Washing Machine” talks openly with the audience. Three monologues: a Jocasta who refuses to mourn, a Nitsa who remembers, and a man who pours his heart out to a household appliance. How are these voices connected? What does it mean to write about love despite the age conventions? And how does the first play of a lawyer who writes both poetry and prose look like? The conversation takes its course from the questions of those present.