“Frida… My life”

The Experimental Scene of the Municipal and Regional Theater of Roumeli (Lamia) and the Oeta Festival presented the performance entitled “FRIDA … my life” under the aegis of the National Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Experimental Scene of the Municipal and Regional Theater of Roumeli (Lamia) and the Oeta Festival presented the performance entitled “FRIDA … my life” under the aegis of the National Museum of Contemporary Art.

The performance is the second part of the trilogy “Sexless being – human”. Following on from the “Annabel” performance that took place in the summer of 2016 in the context of the 10th Oeta Festival. The life of well-known painter Frida Kahlo is reenacted through a performance, a theatrical play and a live music performance.

Frida Cahlo: A woman who dared to differentiate, pursue her dreams, paint in the most intense colors and live a life of her own, far from anything conventional….

Another approach to the Frida Kahlo phenomenon was presented on Saturday, July 15 2017, at ArtLand “Xwra” in Leleika Ipati, on a Mexican night organized by the Oeta Festival and The Experimental Scene of the Municipal and Regional Theater of Roumeli (Lamia).

63 years since her death this woman who has conquered the world continues to inspire… musicians, visual artists, actors, directors. Her life, her works, her attitude towards her disability, her political views, her love affairs … all compose a collage that keeps creating admirers and fanatics.

Our version presented at the 11th Oeta Festival had a little bit of everything … it included a theatrical play… a great performance by the “OMAZ theater group” and the excellent Elli Chroniari, a photo exhibition by the talented Parthena Haristea and live music performance by the beloved Martha Morelleón , the Mexican artist who made Greece her second home. It also included a Performance, an impressive and atmospheric creation with artistic interventions by actors of The Experimental Scene of the Municipal and Regional Theater of Roumeli.

From earthly to metaphysical … as was Frida Cahlo’s life. Hundreds of spectators were “led” into the “surreal” world of the Mexican painter who has both biologically and emotionally suffered!

 

Theatrical Play, “Frida”

The “OMAZ” theater company presents “Frida”, a play based on the life of Frida Kahlo.

Songs: “Paloma Negra” Chavela Vargas, “La Llorona” Antonio Aguilar, “Juan Charrasquedo”, “No Volvere” Pedro Infante, “Deja que salga la luna”

Identity of the play:

On stage: Elli Chroniari

Directed by: Elena Viseri, Petros Papazis

Dramatization: Elena Viseri, Konstantina Duka-Gosi

Set Design: Dimitra Paraschou

Costume Design: Despina Guguliana

Lighting: Konstantina Douka-Gosi, Petros Papazisis

 

Performance, “Diego and his Fridas”

“There have been two major accidents in my life. One was with the trolley, and the other was Diego. The second, was by far the worst »

Frida Cahlo spent most of her life hospitalized! She knew what it means to be in pain… she knew the meaning of survival. At the age of six she became ill with polio, as a result her one leg was semi-paralyzed and shorter than the other. At the age of 18, a tram collided with the bus she was on. She was submitted at a number of surgeries and her life has been marked by pain and grief over her inability to have children, since then. Even when she lost her baby as a fetus, she had to stay in bed for some time.

Frida portrayed herself as she laid painfully in bed as a way to deal with her wounds!

Performers:

Diego: Thanasis Zikas

Frida 1: Ivi Katsouni

Frida 2: Evi Stamatiou

Frida 3: Maro Blouna

Frida 5: Evi Goya

Frida 6: Olga Kalogirou

Angel 1: Dimitris Megalios

Angel 2: Thomie Voulgari

Angel 3: Kostas Tsiboukas

Nurse 1: Vangi Galani

Nurse 2: Vangelis Tzimas

Creator – Director: Papastamoulos Georgios

Video – Editing: Akis Loukas

Assistant Director: Evi Stamatiou

Sound – lighting: Alexis Triantafyllou

 

 

Concert by Martha Moreleón & Latin Vibes

The last part of the night was dedicated to the spirit of dance!

Nobody could personify better the spirit of the feast than the passionate Mexican singer Martha Moreleón! Along with virtuoso Argentines Herman Mayr (voice, bass, guitar) and Demian Gómez (voice and drum), the Peruvian Pedro Fabián (voice and percussion) and the Greeks, Dimitris Sevdalis (piano) and Costis Vazouras (flute, saxophone) who raise the bar and promise a frenzy night, full of joy and dance, that only a “music collective” made of Latinos and Mediterraneans can offer.

 

 

PARALLEL ACTION: Photo Exhibition “Frida In Me”

As part of the performance at the same venue, Parthena Charistea’s photo exhibition, “Frida In Me”, was hosted.

“It was a June afternoon in 2014 when Frida was born inside me. I jumped off the couch, wore a colorful scarf and a pair of bronze earrings, cut some fresh roses from my garden, and took my first self-portrait. The transformation was redemptive and addictive … I adored her … because she loved her pain and clearly reflected her nightmares and her particular mental state. Frida sensitized her horror and at the same time dissolved it, setting a brilliant example of human strength, innerness and of the will to live, without the fear of death at all! This series of my self-portraits is an attempt to discover Frida within me and to be transferred into her world, a world where there is no boundary between the objectively real and the fantastically irrational”. Parthena Charistea

The following photos are from the performance “Diego and his Fridas”, by Katerina Diamanti: