The theatrical performance “Da” in Thessaloniki – Aristotelion Theatre

The award-winning play by Irish playwright Hugh Leonard “DA” is coming to Thessaloniki, at the Aristotelion Theatre, in February 2024, after the huge success in Athens

Grigoris Valentinos performs the title and lead role, which was loved by the audience and won him the Athenorama Award for Male Role.

He is accompanied by Michalis Economou, Giorgos Soukses, Nektaria Giannoudaki, Konstantina Klapsinou, Lambros Constanteas and Vassilis Papadimitriou. In the role of the mother, Tamilla Koulieva.

The Irish author’s autobiographical play is set in 1968 in Ireland with many flashbacks that bring to life on stage a unique story of love, tenderness, self-knowledge and emotions of all kinds.

Premise:

Charlie Tynan, a London expatriate writer, an adopted child, returns home after the death of his father. At his parents’ home, his parents, his young self, special moments, events and some people from his past that marked his life and still influence him in his present, come to life.

The “DA” (from the English daddy) is the most defining person in his life. With a cinematic elliptical narrative, pieces of a recognizable family life are recreated.

Dreams, conflicts, disappointments and joys come to the mind of the author and create “scenes” on stage.

The imaginary is linked to the real and they give birth to a theatrical feast of colours, a powerful puzzle of contrasting moments, a stage universe where the human cry alternates with the whisper and laughter with crying.

In Hugh Leonard’s masterfully structured writing, kindness and love are the steady burning beacon that illuminates the multiple darknesses of our hearts and minds. Yesterday, today, tomorrow! As long as there are humans on this planet called earth, each of us’ DA will lead the way to a better life, a better tomorrow.

The play “DA” premiered in 1973, in the USA, in Ooney, Maryland, and later transferred to Broadway, where it was performed for almost two years, winning four theatre awards in 1978.

In 1988 the play was transferred to the cinema by Martin Clark. In Greece it was first staged in the 1979/1980 theatre season, with Manos Katrakis in the lead role, directed by Takis Mouzenidis, with great success.

Starring: Grigoris Valentinos, Michalis Economou, George Soukses, Nektaria Giannoudaki, Konstantina Klapsinou, Lambros Constanteas, Vassilis Papadimitriou
Tamilla Koulieva as the mother
Performance ID:
Translation: Antonis Galeos
Director – Production – Peter Zoulias
Original Music: Evanthia Rebutsika
The production designers: Mary Tsagari
Costumes: Nikos Harlaftis
Lighting: Melina Masha
Assistant Director: Mariza Liontaki
Assistant Director: George Loxas
Photos of the performance.
Poster Designer: Aris Sobotis
Hairstyle & Make Up: Le Boudoir
Contact – Viewing: Marcella Kazamia
Production Management: Nikiforos Baltinos
Production: Theasis Cultural Actions

Director’s note:
“DA”, the daddy in Greek, is a vivid memory of a world that is disappearing and that we all need to hold on to at all costs, in the violent and cruel reality we live in.

The DA is the hero of our innocence. The benevolent grandfather, the simple, pure man of values and good intentions.

The one who kneads with the earth. The one who knows how to find happiness in simple, everyday things. One who loves without restraint, without selfishness. Hugh Leonard’s masterpiece straddles the line between life and death, past and present, presence and absence, comedy and drama.

One is the author’s constant goal. To bring out the human condition in all its range of emotions. To touch the universal, the timeless, the essence and the meaning of our passing presence in this fast-changing futile world.