Theatre: “Off topic – reloaded” – Chania 1st February

The play “Ektos Ylis Reloaded” (Greek: Εκτός Ύλης, roughly translated as “Off Topic” is an award-winning political drama by the Greek author Kostas Leimonis.
“Ektos Ylis Reloaded” returns more lively, edgy, and delightful than ever, confirming why it remains one of the most beloved political-satire performances of recent years.

WHEN: 1st February 18.30
WHERE: Mikis Theodorakis Theatre, Venetian Harbour, Chania
Tickets: €16,- – 18,- online sale: more.com

Plot and Background
The play addresses the corruption of power and the crisis of moral values. It centers on a minister who announces his resignation in a speech before the Greek Parliament. He uses this moment to offer an honest confession about his actions and failures, both professionally and personally. The work has been honored by the Panhellenic Writers’ Association and gained particular prominence as it was performed in the Greek Parliament in 2018 and in the European Parliament in Brussels in 2019.
With an exceptional pace and disarming honesty, the play touches the audience and invites them to think about their own attitude towards power and their moral responsibility.

The current version of the play is being performed under the title “Ektos Ylis Reloaded.”

Starring: The renowned Greek actor Gerasimos Skiadaresis portrays the minister.
Directed by Konstantina Nikolaidi.

Author’s note: 
“Off Topic” is a product of a need for the truth, it has almost no contact with realism, because it speaks of this very truth, however oxymoronic it may sound. 

The impetus for writing was the indignation and the insatiable need to finally find a politician who, at some point, will forget the elegant clothes that “wrap” them up and remember the person who is hidden inside them. We talk about every-day-people have forgotten the humane corner. 
The generations of the 80s and 90s have been mortgaged. However, a mortgage does not necessarily imply a sell-out, as long as there are still voices, as long as there are reasons that keep the optimistic flame of “maybe…” lit, and these voices can find their expression through children. The children of Greece, who at this moment see the country as a burning palm tree, waiting with inexhaustible patience to be reborn at some point. Only if the child is saved, there is hope… 
I am very happy that the theater audience will be given the opportunity to see the rulers, as they should be. An “apology” is due for years to a people who are being tested. Through successive findings, we also find the answers to what we should do or not do again, to see this place, which we call our homeland, flourish. 

Off topic again, then. Readings, consultations, joy, creation, inspiration and all this to try to put a piece in the collective effort to recreate our consciousnesses. How many times has it happened in a group to speak logically, honestly and truly and be misunderstood? The majority does not want the truth, does not need it. And so some graphic artists are left trying to convince non-graphic artists that 1+1 does not make 3 but 2, not because that is how they taught us in school, but because that is how it is proven in life itself. 

I thank the entire wonderful team and Gerasimos who manages to touch our souls. I also warmly thank the AVLAIA theater, which shows in practice that if Art wants, it can. I will close with a phrase from the revised text, which hides within it much of the core of the play: “If we all loved as much as we hate, our world would be better.” (Thessculture.gr , more.com)