“SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME”

The Nicosia International Festival team continues its off-festival programming and presents Frank McGuinness’s play “Someone who'll watch over me”. Following consecutive sold-out performances at Theatro Avlaia in Thessaloniki and at Sychrono Theatro in Athens, Athanasia Karagiannopoulou’s acclaimed production will be staged at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre on 28 April 2023 at 8:30 p.m. Starring Antinoos Almpanis, Dimitris Marizas and Peter Rundle.
 
The play “Someone who’ll watch over me” stands out for McGuinness’s masterful twists. He constructs a drama about three hostages in a Lebanese cell that is by turns uproariously funny and deeply moving. It begins with the supposed stereotypes of a boorish Englishman, an unstable Irishman and a serious American, only to then undermine them one by one.
 
McGuinness explores multiple themes: the power of imagination as a mechanism for survival, the consolation - or lack thereof - that religion may offer, and the endurance of great works of literature. Above all, it is a play about three men of different nationalities who discover themselves while confined to a cell under the unblinking gaze of their terrorist captors. Through clashes, emotional outbursts and devilish humour, the three will drink “imaginary” cocktails, grow to love one another and forge bonds of friendship stronger than the chains that hold them.
 
Director Athanasia Karagiannopoulou notes: “A story about fear and identity that dissolves gender boundaries and carefully examines what it means to be human - and how one can survive an unimaginably traumatic ordeal. The play belongs to our times: an age of uprisings, terrorism and the re-definition of masculine behaviour. It is a story that few know first-hand, yet it speaks to what all people carry in their hearts.”
 
Credits
Translation: Athanasia Karagiannopoulou
Direction: Athanasia Karagiannopoulou
Sets & costumes: Mary Tsangari
Lighting: Lefteris Pavlopoulos
Music supervision: Athanasia Karagiannopoulou
Photography: Nikos Vardakastanis
Press & communications: Giannis Dalakas
Cast: Antinoos Almpanis, Dimitris Marizas, Peter Rundle
Production: Theatro AVLAIA, Thessaloniki
 
Tickets: via Soldoutticketbox.com and at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre box office (Mon–Fri, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.)
Info: 22797979 (Mon–Fri, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.), nicosia.org.cy