An ancient Greek philosopher who searched for happiness, modern writers who encountered problems on the way to it, five actors who give their own relevant testimonies and some instruction sheets for the use of anti-depressant, anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety drugs, “come together”, under the direction of director Damianos Konstantinidis. From this mixture, a theatrical performance or otherwise a … pausilipoos comedy results.

This is the project “Toward Menoikea”, which will be staged in Thessaloniki from next Friday, with the aim of “illuminating” the road to happiness, so that everyone can walk it. “How we can live well was something that concerned Damian for a long time, so he went to the well-known and almost famous Epicurus, who in his letter to Menoice tries to show us in very simple words the way to a good life, to the happy life Where does it end? In that there are two necessary conditions: mental health and calmness in everyday life” the director of production and communication of the show Stella Teneketsi states to the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency.

The director makes this text “converse”, as he says, “with excerpts from testimonies and interviews of people who suffered from mental illnesses, such as: Elena Akrita, Fotis Thalassinou, Margarita Karapanou and Fotini Tsalikoglou, Nikos Karouzou, Lena Kitsopoulou , August Corto, Venis Papadimitriou, Dante Alighieri, Samuel Beckett, Stig Dagerman, Dorothy Parker, Sylvia Plath, William Styron”. “So on the one hand we have the philosophy – in the detached way it’s always presented to us and on the other hand we see the personal view of people who have been through depression – and even more brutal things, and how they managed to survive and find a way out” he explains Ms. Teneketsi.

According to her, the “even more exciting” element that makes up the extension is that the actors involved also put their own stamp on it.

“The actors, through their own texts, provide their own perspective, their personal voice for their difficult moments, without necessarily being based on some disease,” he adds.

The “residents” are therefore some mentally ill people, while the “Garden of Epicurus”, where they go to seek the connection with happiness, is a sanatorium, which is essentially the setting for the play. Stella Teneketsi also points out the director’s desire to show that we are living in a time that is “crushing”, but the revolutionary thing is not to give up, not to leave the difficult moments on the sidelines but to share them without guilt, to be able to remain an equal member of the community.

The new production of Angelus Novus “To Menoikea”, which has the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, premieres on Friday, April 5, at 9:30 p.m., at the Transcendence art gallery, at 4 Polyxenis Antoniou Street, in Thessaloniki. It will remain there until April 21, with performances every Friday at 9:30, every Saturday at 8 and 10 and every Sunday at 8 in the evening.