Romáland – Once upon a time, between real and unreal

Carefree nomads? Great artists? Victims of social structures, or dangerous and delinquent? What, after all, are Roma? And what are they not? According to historians, the community of Greek Roma can be traced back to the 15th century, making it one of the oldest in Europe. Based on the number of Greek words within the Romany language, linguistics studies reveal its historical connection to Byzantium and the Greek territory. Yet, until the end of the Greek dictatorship (1974), Greek Roma were stateless. Despite their naturalization in 1979 and the steps taken since then, a great part continues to live exposed to extreme poverty conditions and multiple vulnerabilities in ghettoized areas or camps, bearing the stigma of the dangerous "other/stranger," forever condemned to an intermediate state, a constant "between real and unreal,” as the catchphrase with which the gypsy tales begin goes.

During the past year, the killings of two young Roma following a police pursuit occupied public opinion and mass media: Nikos Sampanis in Athens and Kostas Fragoulis in Thessaloniki. The two cases will soon be tried by the Greek justice system, and together they form two iconic events with Roma as victims, who, however, are not the only ones.

From the worker accident at the collapsed bridge in Patras to the eight-year-old Olga in Keratsini, who was trapped by a sliding factory gate and died helpless, monstrous incidents of violence and indifference reveal that the Roma lives in Greece are often treated as "lives not worth living."*.

But, concurrently and in direct contrast with the actual incidents of racial violence, the public imaginary is keen to see Roma people as blithesome entertainers, children of nature who live outside norms and rules. However, is there such a vast difference between Roma and "Gadjo/Baleme"? Specifically, if we go back a few generations, we will find many men and women—among them our grandmothers and grandfathers—who didn’t even finish primary school, were married against their will, sacrificed their desires to follow their father’s profession, and even lived as wandering nomads who based their survival on constant movement. Why is it then that the lives of Roma seem so distant to us?

Following months of research from Zefyri and Aspropyrgos to Thessaloniki, Larissa, and Serres, the “Romáland” performance aspires to tell an inverted journey across Greece’s contemporary history through the perspective of Roma. Ascribing to the tradition of the documentary theater genre, the performance is shaped by the participation of Roma protagonists, who narrate their real stories live, and aims to highlight the multiple social exclusions they face as well as their daily efforts to overcome them.

Seven years after “Clean City,” the most-traveled theatrical production of Onassis Stegi in Europe, starring immigrant cleaning women in Greece, the two directors-dramaturges Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris return, and this time they attempt to approach the lives of Greek Roma, looking back at facts, toying with stereotypes, and evading romanticization.

* A phrase used by the Nazi regime to describe people it considered to have no “right to life.”

Thanks: Nikos Anastasopoulos, Pantelis Anastasopoulos, Lampis Asimakis, Nikos Athanasopoulos, Giannis Barkagiannis, Loukas Christodoulou, Katerina Dimitriou, Giannis Georgiou, Vasilis Gkogkos, Georgia Kalpazidou, Alexia Karachaliou, Alexandra Karagianni, Sakis Karakasis, Lefteris Konstantinidis, Danai Liodaki, Maria Louka, Manolis Manousakis, Iliana Mpazaka, Nikolaos Mpazakas, Evgenia P., Kostas Paiteris, Maria Paloma, Maria Panagiotidou, Dionysia Panagiotopoulou, Vasilis Pantzos, Manolis Rantis, Santa Barbarians, Athanasia Taki, Olga Theodorikakou, Giannis “Thrylos” (Giannis the Legend), Giorgos Toulas, Antonis Tsakiris, Christina Tsigopoulou, Despina Tsiriklou, Laure Vermeersch, Paraskevas Selim Vilanakis, Pasqua Vorgia, Evgenia Zarokosta

*On the Sunday performances (5, 12, 19, and 26 November) Nikos Armagos will be the on-stage musician instead of Giorgos Doussos.

The research for the performance was conducted with the help and support of the NGO “Klimaka” and the Confederation of Greek Roma “HELLAN PASSE”.

Supported by the Onassis Stegi “Outward Turn” program.