Dying as a Country – Dimitris Dimitriadis

A co-production between the “Praxis” and “Notos” theatre companies.

Kefallinias Street Theatre — Stage B

First performance: February 22, 1995

Last performance: April 16, 1995

[…] When I wrote Dying as a Country in January 1978, the motivating stimulus behind the piece had manifested itself some four years earlier, with the conscription of 1974. No event in my personal life until then had matched the impact of this external event. However, its significance (very much otherworldly but with major interpersonal consequences) did not become immediately apparent. The event itself had its own evident meaning when it took place. What I could not at that point in time foresee – how could I? – was the magnitude of its impact. […] Nonetheless, even if I remained unaware of its future consequences for myself, the July 1974 incident and my subsequent stay at that camp until September, where, after endless boredom and restlessness, especially in the last days, we eventually returned to the previous state of things, was very much a reality that had by now been internalised, well beyond its external aspects. It was a fully lived “experience”, recorded as an integral part of my life and of my personal history, but it was more than that — and that made all the difference in the world.

Excerpt from “Imagination Embodied” by Dimitris Dimitriadis. From the performance programme.