Theater performance: “Diary of a Madman”

The performance “The diary of a Madman” with Marios Ioannou and Stephanie Neophytou will take place at Technopolis 20 garden, on Thursday, 3rd of August, at 8:30pm.

“This ‘edition’ of the performance that you will have the opportunity to see at Technopolis 20 is the result of 15 years of work. It curries with it countless memories from the venues that has been played; from Rialto Theatre in Limassol to the El Salah Theatre in Cairo, from the Ancient Odeum of Kato Paphos to the Hellenic Centre in London, from churches and traditional coffee shops ‘kafenia’ in Cyprus villages (from Lasa to Derynia, from Alassa to Tersefanou) to Palio Xydadiko, from my house in Limassol during lockdown to different bars, the diary shared its truth and continues..

For five years now, this monologue, invites beloved musicians to participate with the aim to improvise on stage. This time, the Diary of a Madman invites Stephanie Neophytou who will improvise with her voice on music that George Christodoulides composed.

The timing is magical, since when Stefani first saw this performance was only ten years old and it always moved her a lot. Fifteen years later, I meet her on stage in her initial steps as a performing artist.

I want to add that in 2007, when the play was first staged in Artos, Giorgos Tsiakkas did the production, Spyros Charalambous the direction, George Christodoulides, who is no longer with us, the music and songs, Sossee Eskidjian the sets/costumes and Dinos Othonos the lighting.

It is, of course, Gogol's classic masterpiece that follows the path of a melancholic and confused civil servant to his isolation, madness, and fateful redemption.

The play is adapted in Cypriot (by me and Spyros Charalambous) and it was one of the first attempts to use Cypriot dialogue in the theatre.”

Diary of a Madman centres on the life of a low-ranking civil servant (titular counsellor) who yearns to be noticed by a beautiful woman, the daughter of a senior official, with whom he has fallen in love. As he said in his first sight of her, just after being a beast of a civil servant himself, “A footman opened the carriage door and out she fluttered, just like a little bird.”

His diary records his gradual slide into insanity. As his madness deepens, he begins to "understand" the conversations of two dogs and believes he has discovered letters sent between them. Finally, he begins to believe himself to be the heir to the throne of Spain. When he is hauled off and maltreated in the asylum, the madman believes he is taking part in a strange coronation to the Spanish throne. Only in his madness does the lowly anti-hero attain greatness.

The story satirizes the rampant petty officialdom of the bureaucracy in the 1830s in St Petersburg, and some have interpreted it as going beyond this to become an allegory about the political state of Russia at the time, revealing Gogol's view of the government from the standpoint of a lowly citizen. The story also portrays the average man's quest for individuality in a seemingly indifferent, urban environment.

Entrance: 12 euro

Reservations are necessary at 70002420.

The performance will be in Greek.

Marios Ioannou was born and raised in Paphos, Cyprus. He graduated from the Drama School of the National Theater in Athens in 1994, where he stayed for fourteen years. During that period, he took part in numerous theatre works.

Marios lives in Cyprus for the past years. His adaption of Gogol's Diary of a madman in Cypriot dialect has toured over the whole island and in London with great success. For this monologue he was nominated for the Theatre Awards of THOC.

In Limassol he has collaborated with the Mitos Theatre Group in dramatizing the texts of Leontios Macheras Chronicles and other devised works. Together with director Achim Wieland he created the group SRSLYyours in 2008. Their works Woyzeck by Büchner and The Fear Industry were presented on stages in Cyprus and many European cities. He collaborated with Lia Charaki in Active Spectator, which was presented so far at "The Performance Shop" in the framework of the Pop Up Festival Nicosia, in Limassol, and at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival in 2018.

In August 2017 he presented the play Uniting the Mediterranean Sea, which he wrote and directed in the framework of Pafos 2017 – European Capital of Culture, in which he also had the main role. The play is an international production with actors from five Mediterranean cities.

Marios has also starred in numerous film productions. In 2004 he won the Best Actor Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for his lead in Kalabush by Adonis Florides and Theodoros Nicolaides. In 2012 he received the Honorary Mention for outstanding performance for his lead in Fish 'n Chips.