“Oxygen” fully accessible

liminal in the most ecstatic performance of the year! “Oxygen” on the Main Stage of Onassis Stegi , directed by Giorgos Koutlis, is presented in conditions of universal accessibility by liminal on 20 and 21 December and 2 and 3 January with interpretation in Greek sign language and subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing people, as well as a touch tour of the stage and an audio description for people with visual disabilities.

A crowd of young people in brightly coloured clothes or shiny fabrics, with jewellery and bright make-up dance in sweat, touching each other greedily in a moving mass. Their faces reflect an ecstatic delight. A topless young man in the centre wears a gas mask, while another beside him, eyes closed, voluptuously sucks the oxygen in the air.

What is oxygen to you?

A theatrical manifesto of the 00s generation, “Oxygen” by Ivan Vyrypaev was written as a prose narrated by two characters—a girl and a boy bearing the same name—accompanied by a live dj-set to allow its staging in theatrical venues and clubs equally. Structured in ten chapters, like a transcription of the Ten Commandments and a novel New Testament, it launched from a reversed “Thou shalt not kill” to culminate into a biblical Revelation, all the while permeated by the agonizing question, “What is oxygen to you?”

What makes you breathe? What deprives you of air?
What do you believe in? Where do you swear by?

Twenty years later, the popular Greek director George Koutlis transcribes the work into today in the form of a Generation Z reflection, transforming the stage from November the 21st to January the 12th, into a rave party with dj’s Reign of Time on the decks and a young troupe that, like a post-dramatic chorus, seeks through the lens of blasphemous poetics the antidote to the psychopolitical suffocation of our times.

In a smoky atmosphere and under orange lights, a man with gold glitter on his chest and orange sunglasses smiles as a girl dances in front of him. The girl with glitter on her cheeks leans back and her sweaty face appears upside down in the foreground. A vein pops out slightly from her forehead, her eyes and lips are half-open and her expression is surrendered.

George Koutlis on “Oxygen”

A rave party, a bacchanalian non-stop beat, a generational manifesto, beings vibrating to the DJ’s music, searching for a lost religiosity, giving the impression that if they stop dancing, they will stop breathing. They are looking for what oxygen is, what makes us breathe, and what deprives us of air. They try to talk to the audience alongside music, which brings the body into a trance.

Two DJs at the decks, 11 actors, and a 12-member chorus of dancers. All of them are members of Generation Z. They dance non-stop, they get drunk, they fall in love, and some of them grab the microphones and talk. Based on Ivan Vyrypaev’s play, “Oxygen,” with texts devised by the actors, we will tell the story of Sasha and Sasha, who open their souls―all the dirt, cruelty, and beauty of human nature―trying to answer a primordial, unanswerable question: “What is your oxygen?”

Credits

Writer: Ivan Vyrypaev
Direction, Translation, Adaptation: George Koutlis
Adaptation, Dramaturgy: Vasilis Magouliotis
Assistant Director: Eleni Koutsioumpa

Set Design: Constantine Skourletis
Costumes Design: Eva Goulakou and Dimos Klimenof
Music composition and Sound design: Jeph Vanger
Lighting design: Eliza Alexandropoulou
Choreography: Alexandros Stavropoulos
Movement: Alkistis Polychroni

Performers (alphabetically): Gavriela Antonopoulou, Electra Barouta, Ioannis Bastas, Nikolas Chatzivasiliadis, Chara Giota, Nikos Gonidis, Marios Hadjiantoni, Eleftheria Iliopoulou, Panos Kladis, Despina Lagoudaki, Marianna Mathia, Alexandros Nouskas Varelas, Evini Pantelaki, Kostas Phoenix, Antonia Pitoulidou, Gal A. Robissa, Katerina Samara, Natalia Swift, Thodoris Theodorakopoulos, Giannis Tomazos, Anastasia Valsamaki, Noemi Vasileiadou, Jason Vrochidis

In a semi-lit space like a basement club with yellow light, two young people stand facing each other. Gas masks cover their entire faces.

Accessibility to “Oxygen”

liminal creates conditions of universal accessibility with:

  • Interpretation in the Greek Sign Language and
  • Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH)

And with:

  • Touch tour on the stage and
  • Audio Description for people with visual disabilities

Accessibility Credits

Interpretation in the GSL: Androniki Xanthopoulou, Antonis Christoforou
Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH): Grigoris Stathopoulos
Audio Description: Alexandra Georgovasili, Maria Thrasyvoulidi
Narration and Touch Tour: Maria Thrasyvoulidi
Quality Check: Yannis Vitsos, Eva Gkritzali
Accessibility Services coordinated by liminal

Useful information

Universal accessibility to “Oxygen”
Suitable for ages 16+.
Duration: 80 minutes
Location: Onassis Stegi
Accessible performances: 20 and 21 December 2024 and 2 and 3 January 2025.
Interpretation in Greek sign language and subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing people
Touch tour of the stage and audio description for people with visual disabilities.
Start time: 20:30
Touch Guided Tour: 19:30
Reservations for accessible performances at [email protected] and 213 017 8036.

Accessibility services are provided with the support of the Europe Beyond Access network, co-funded by the “Creative Europe” program of the European Union.