Louisette: The Backstage of Revolution

Elli Papakonstantinou’s Louisette (the title comes from Marat’s pet word for the guillotine) will be presented at the old oil factory of Eleusis, where viewers will watch the making of a film about bourgeois democracy and the French revolution. however, during shoot breaks, something is amiss. how do contemporary individuals relate to the tripartite motto “liberty, equality, fraternity”? the performance will draw on texts by Jean-Paul Marat, Heiner Müller, Guy Debord, Raoul Vaneigem, Nikos Gatsos, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mary Oliver, Victor Hugo, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, excerpts from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) and contemporaneous legal texts, Wachowskis’ The Matrix, and Travis Stout’s videogame Assasin’s Creed: Unity.

Ιt also draws on texts composed during improvisation with the students of special abilities from the special vocational high school of Eleusis. the latter are the true protagonists of this production, working closely together with actors, musicians, and visual artists.

This performance of ambulatory theatre, a co-production of the Eleusis 2021 European capital of culture and the Athens festival, is the end product of a fruitful collaboration between the ODC Ensemble and the students of the Special vocational high School of Eleusis and is part of the Europe Grand central project.