My mother cast me into the sea

On Wednesday, 1 July 2026, we return for our second encounter this year with the Athens Epidaurus Festival at Pireos 260. This time, we meet a theatrical work: the monologue “My mother cast me into the sea” by Themis Panou and Vilia Chantzopoulou. For this performance, liminal designs and delivers accessibility services for audiences with sensory disabilities.

Three photographs faintly overlap a stormy sea in a collage of images. On the left, a woman pulls a white thread from the lace collar of her black garment. In the center, a man with light eyes, bald and wearing glasses, looks straight ahead with a serious expression. On the right, a girl with long braids and an ethereal white dress stands with her back to us, pressed against a wall. One of her braids is hooked onto a nail on the wall beside her.

What will we see

1950. In her first official posting, a young schoolteacher leaves mainland Greece and heads to a small island in the Cyclades to teach in a one-room primary school. The shift across the map sets in motion an inner monologue, born either of urgent necessity or of a deep, previously unarticulated desire. It is, in any case, the only means she possesses to bridge the distance between what has been left behind and what is just beginning.

The narrative unfolds along two paths. The first traces the heroine’s inner geography: a hinterland of thoughts, memories, faces, and relationships that refuse to fade into obscurity – like a wound that persists, refusing to heal.

My greatest discovery was the sea First, I learned what it means to live beside it – to see it, to breathe it in all day long, to hear it every night. The sea was always there, everywhere

The second is the outer landscape – the blinding light of the Cyclades in the 1950s, the sea, the isolation, the open line of the horizon. And between the two paths, the island. Yet there is also another island: a stone’s throw away, a tiny speck on the map that will soon confront her with a decision capable of transforming her, compelling her to become who she is.

The role of the teacher is performed by Themis Panou. Poised between the two islands of the story, he stretches his body like a bridge, striving to connect the two shores divided by the sea for the sake of those who suffer. It is an honest struggle, an anguish that becomes a measure of what it means to be human.

Set and lighting follow the heroine through both her inner suspension and the openness of the landscape: on land, at sea, and on the far shore. The soundscape remains elemental and spare – the human voice, speech and song, footsteps, the body entering the water – conjuring a world in which interior and exterior converge.

Performance accessibility

liminal designs and delivers accessibility services, ensuring barrier-free audiovisual access for all audiences. The services include:

  • Interpretation in Greek Sign Language and
  • SDH Surtitles for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing people
  • Guided Touch Tour and
  • Audio Description for people with visual disabilities.

Credits

Direction: Themis Panou, Vilia Chatzopoulou Text: Vilia Chatzopoulou Set & costume design: Dimitra Liakoura Lighting: Stevi Koutsothanasi Assistant to the director: Maria Stavropoulou Assistant to the set designer: Giannis Tsouchlos

Performed by Themis Panou

Production management: Αrs Ex Machina / Naya Mitsakou

Accessibility credits

Surtitling for the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing: Grigoris Stathopoulos Audio Description Script: Anna Dimkou, Maria Thrasyvoulidi Audio Description Narration and Guided Touch Tour: Maria Thrasyvoulidi Interpretation in Greek Sign Language: Andreas Plemmenos, Androniki Xanthopoulou Quality Check: Eva Gkritzali Surtitling software: supertitles.gr Accessibility Services Design: liminal Co-ordination: Christos Papamichael

Useful information

Days and times of accessible performance: Wednesday 1 July 2026 at 21:30 Guided Touch Tour: 20:30 Location: Pireos 260, Venue B Duration: 70 minutes

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

🎟️ Although this performance may appear as SOLD OUT, you can still make a reservation:

Via e-mail: [email protected] By phone: 2104834913 (Monday – Friday 10:00-17:00)

When making your reservation, please specify which accessibility services you need.

For assistance with the reservation process, please contact us by email at [email protected].