THE BIRTHDAY
by Georges Sari

THE BIRTHDAY
by Georges Sari
Adapted and directed by Dimitris Agartzidis & Despina Anastasoglou
From 19 October 2024

One of the greatest works of Greek literature for children and young people, Georges Sari's The Birthday, is now staged for the first time by the National Theatre of Greece in a production directed by Dimitris Agartzidis and Despina Anastasoglou. From 19 October at the Rex Theatre's Eleni Papadaki Stage, an eight-year-old girl will guide young and old alike through a period that scarred our country like no other. It is a production about collective memory, the value of freedom, democracy and human dignity, but also about the price paid by those who fight for their ideals against an authoritarian regime.

About the play
Anna is asleep, dreaming of her birthday party and the colourful balloons decorating her home. But, BANG! She is woken by a loud noise. Has one of the balloons burst? No, no, they are all where they should be, but the party will never take place. It is early morning on 21 April 1967 and Anna's life is about to be turned upside down. Her parents are distraught, friends of the family either go into hiding, are arrested, or run away, while the children have to watch what they say. And her beloved godfather, who she relies on to make sense of her confusion, is put in prison. In the seven years of the colonels' junta, Anna will live in a regime of illiberality and fear, growing up before her time and experiencing all the consequences of the new political situation. The little girl matures, questions, reacts, resists, and becomes a fifteen-year-old who knows what it means to fight for the highest ideals: for liberty and democracy.

About Georges Sari
"I like to write my life, to describe my truth."

Born on 22 August 1923 in Athens, Georges Sari grew up in a multicultural family whose unconventional background shaped her personality, life and work. Her mother was French, from Senegal, and her father from Aivali, in Asia Minor. They lived together in Constantinople, Odessa and Athens and had three daughters, Ninette, Irene and Georges, whom they raised with a free spirit, independence, strength and perseverance in the conservative Greek society of the 1930s. Georges spent her early years in Greece. During the Second World War she joined the Resistance and the United Panhellenic Youth Organisation (EPON), while during the Nazi Occupation she attended the Dimitris Rondiris Drama School. In 1947, she was forced into exile in Paris, where she met important figures such as Kostas Axelos, Melina Mercouri, Marcel Marceau, and her future husband, Marcel Karakosta, with whom she had two children, Alexis and Melina.

In 1962, she returned to Greece and continued to act until the dictatorship, when she and some friends decided to engage in passive resistance by no longer performing in the theatre. That summer, unable to express herself through her chosen profession, she began to write her first novel, The Treasure of Vaghia. It was such a success that she decided to devote herself to writing full-time, which she did until her death in June 2012. She was a prolific author, penning twenty-one books for young people, as well as many stories and fairy tales, novels for adults, and a children's play. Georges Sari is a name intrinsically linked with the literature of this country, and she has left her mark on modern Greek children's fiction. For additional information see here

Adaptation, Directors: Dimitris Agartzidis & Despina Anastasoglou
Set and costume design: Magdalini Avgerinou
Music, Voice coach: Christos Theodorou
Movement: Vitoria Kotsalou
Lighting design: Tasos Palaioroutas
Production dramaturgs: Maria Karananou, Eftichia Charalambaki
Directing assistant: Fedra Fasoula
Set and costume design assistant: Xenia Papatriantafyllou
Makeup design: Olga Faleichyk
Hair design: Konstantinos Koliousis

The cast (in alphabetical order): Dimitris Agartzidis, Diamantis Adamantidis, Andromachi Foundoulidou, Stavrianos Gatzios, Marina Malliou, Katerina Peki, Tatiana-Anna Pitta