First I wanted to find out a little more about the ensemble itself and their repertoire. “We have developed four projects: Macbeth without words (2015), Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry (2016), Love (2017) which is based on Shakespeare's Sonnets and Forbidden Stories (2017). Our work has toured internationally with great success resulting in invitations to perform our future productions at the destinations we have visited so far.” Many successful tours around the globe, and Ludens Ensemble, found themselves back in the country of their founding and in our little seaside town.
In 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus and occupied 37% of the island. This came about after years of international interference in Cyprus, ethnic conflict between Greek and Turkish citizens, and an attempted to coup to bring about enosis (union) with Greece, by the Greek Junta and Greek Cypriot EOKA B. The invasion displaced 200,000 Greek Cypriots from the north and 60,000 Turkish Cypriots in the south. Today, 45 years later, the island remains divided, in fact it is the last remaining divided capital in the world. 'Forbidden Stories' is a melancholy reflection of a tragedy that still scars the island. It is focused solely on personal accounts of the war rather than the political.
The choice to focus on the personal accounts and largely leave out the wider political picture is an interesting one. I asked Philippos about the inspiration for this approach. “The idea was to focus on refugee stories from both sides, Greek and Turkish Cypriots” and in doing so, the group hoped to reveal stories that Philippos noted have remained hidden for almost half a century. I cannot help but agree. I have family who were caught up in the war but they often reluctant to relive these experiences. We see this in some of the personal testimonies in 'Forbidden Stories'. The approach humanises the individual experiences of war and conflict that are often left out of News coverage.
Given that the conflict in Cyprus is on-going I wanted to find out what the director thought the role of art can be in helping to find solutions. “Art is keeping our collective memory alive”, Philippos replies to my question, pieces such as 'Forbidden Stories' stop the experiences of people being lost to a small passage in a history book. They can also allow for a metaphorical space to expunge ourselves of negative emotions, rather than holding onto them and letting them harbor more hate. Forbidden Stories recounts many instances of suffering from Greek and Turkish Cypriots. However, there is a thread of hope throughout the performance, coming from stories of kindness and communities of both ethnicities that refuse to be broken up.
The sound and set are implementing sparingly but effectively, enhancing rather than distracting from the personal testimonies. Most striking is the opening. The four actors are gathered around the table and the stage is in blackout, apart from a projection at the back. Across grey screens a timeline of the history of Cyprus slowly unfolds at a slow and steady pace. The image creates a sense of fore-boading. The projection, looking like a sort of stone tablet, makes it apparent that the seeds of the Cyprus Issue were planted long ago. A history of colonisation and rule by numerous empires set in motion, in some part, the events of 1974.
Despite the power of the personal testimonies, I only wish that more was made of the history and politics of the invasion. I would want audiences not familiar with Cypriot history to understand the full context of the war and ongoing Turkish occupation. However, this is a lot to ask of a 60 minute piece of theatre. Perhaps it is on us, the audience, to go away and educate ourselves. Overall I appreciate Ludens Ensemble for challenging certain prejudices I had going into the performance, and for giving voice to those caught up in a conflict that has often been sidelined.
Ludens Ensemble are impressive for taking individual stories and from them forming such an emotive and fluid piece of theatre. To close, I’ll leave it to Philippos to tell you what Ludens Ensemble have lined up in the future, “We are working on a new tour from our pool of performances, new ideas for new performances and some workshops on the mask play at the ancient greek drama”. I will certainly be following their future endeavours with admiration.
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