Friday, 29th March, and Saturday, 30th March |21:00|
Sunday, 31st March |20.00|
Because some people are a message in themselves,
in the way they move through the world,
the way they look, or the way they smile…
The new theatrical monologue by Vasilis Katsikonouris, “Cheetah: The Goalkeeper’s Solitude,” which earned Giorgos Ninios the Readers’ Award for Best Male Performance in 2022, is coming to Kavala at the Antigone Valakou Theatre for just three performances: Friday, 29th March and Saturday, 30th March at 9:00 PM, and Sunday, 31st March at 8:00 PM.
Renowned Cypriot performer and director Ermina Kyriazi and distinguished actor Giorgos Ninios join forces to tell a story filled with humour and emotion, focusing on male loneliness and disappointment, yet imbued with a deep sense of dignity as a compass and a final victory in the face of defeat and decay. Cheetah, a highly experienced veteran goalkeeper of the Greek National Team, gives a candid account of his long career, invited by a school to speak to children about the value of fair play and athletic ideals. On the occasion of World Sports Day, he recounts events and experiences from his life and career, slowly unraveling the thread of his existence from glory, wealth, and the spotlight to nothingness and the margins.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
As we bid farewell to the masculine universe and welcome feminine energy, we found ourselves in the world of the “human”… Both man and woman. With the agility of felines, we delved into worlds where gender was irrelevant, and only “togetherness” mattered… As a symbol, the planet ball travels to “point Earth” without glorifying it at all…
Thank you for the “complicity,” the “harmony”… The “alliance,” Giorgos and Vasilis… Manos and Stathmos Theatre for the big embrace and the trust…
Ermina Kyriazi
CREDITS
Direction: Ermina Kyriazi – Giorgos Ninios
Performance: Giorgos Ninios
Music and Lyrics: Giorgos Ninios
Scenographic Idea: Ermina Kyriazi
Puppet Construction: Vasilis Vasilakis
Lighting Design: Vasilis Peteinaris
Assistant Director and Puppet Handler: Georgia Manelidou
Photography: Dimitris Vattis
Match Commentary: Christos Kyriazis
Production: Politismos Stathmos Theatre
Ticket Prices:
€14 General Admission
€12 Student, Unemployed, Disabled, Seniors 65+
Ticket pre-sale daily from Friday, 22nd March, 11:00 – 14:00 & 18:00 – 20:00, at the Kavala Municipality Visitors’ Information Centre (former EOT) in the Central Square, tel: 2510-620566.
Online Presale: https://www.more.com/theater/tsitax-i-erimia-tou-termatofylaka-4
Friday, 29th March, Saturday, 30th March, Sunday, 31st March
Antigone Valakou Theatre
Duration: 70 minutes
For more information and reservations, you can call the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kavala at 2510 220876 – 7 (09:00-14:00).
Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kavala
What They Said About the Performance
The one-on-one encounter between actor and audience is the unparalleled charm of theatrical monologues, that magical condition where a single physical presence on stage fills the entire hall and seems to converse with each individual. This happens, at least, when what unfolds on stage is not a display of technique or talent, but a profound internal process projected outward, as is the case with Giorgos Ninios performing Vasilis Katsikonouris’s latest work. The actor also takes on the direction in collaboration with Ermina Kyriazi: a parallel, second perspective is necessary when the roles of actor and director overlap, and in this particular performance, there is perhaps the added benefit of a female perspective on a purely “male issue.”
Tonia Karaoglou | 20.10.2022 | https://www.athinorama.gr/author/tonia-karaoglou/
Vasilis Katsikonouris introduces us to yet another fractured hero. “Cheetah” is no different from most of the characters in the author’s works. Just before his downfall, carrying all the world’s curses on his shoulders, he seeks redemption—a breath before the end that grants him a moment of personal immortality. A peak he bargains with guilt, expectations, and disappointments.
…The text teeters between comedy and drama, ensuring the necessary pauses needed to absorb such a sharp monologue that leaves nothing unsaid.
Eirini Driva | 12.10.2022 | Είδαμε το “Τσιτάχ. Η ερημιά του τερματοφύλακα” του Βασίλη Κατσικονούρη – OIafaq (olafaq.gr)
There are multi-character performances that leave little to be said afterward. And then there are monologues that manage to touch an entire world in just one or one and a half hours. Such is the case with Vasilis Katsikonouris’s new work “Cheetah: The Goalkeeper’s Solitude,” presented at Stathmos Theatre, starring Giorgos Ninios, who also directs the performance alongside Ermina Kyriazi. My motivations for seeing it were twofold: the new work by Vasilis Katsikonouris and, of course, Giorgos Ninios on stage, where he makes infrequent appearances. On the Stathmos stage, there are few props: a student desk and a large puppet dressed in football attire.
Olga Sella | 23.10.2022 | https://www.oanagnostis.gr/tsitach-ena-keimeno-diamanti-mia-ermineia-diamanti-tis-olgas-sella/?fbclid=IwAR1ny6ClVcOtkv5yG0E9WzO_bOmiyxQWfQYC8EXZjp7_evkJz0ag141SKJw
For me, Ninios delivers the role with disarming maturity, balancing humor, lightness, and emotion, wonderfully highlighting Katsikonouris’s text and addressing “difficult” themes like disappointment, loneliness, dignity, personal and professional defeats, the rise and the fall. Ermina Kyriazi’s direction allows for many interpretations, helping to uncover all layers through continuous emotional shifts while simultaneously viewing the entire Greek society “through a keyhole.”
The minimal set, without any unnecessary elements, makes you a “co-player” and “fellow traveler” in a wonderful performance that I recommend no one miss!
Evdokia Vazouki | 23.10.2022 | Hot or Not #34: Όσα μας άρεσαν και όσα μας «χάλασαν» αυτή την εβδομάδα – Monopoli.gr
With thorough research into the origins, background, and nature of the character, Giorgos Ninios brilliantly delivers the role he takes on, transforming vocally and physically, with a penetrating gaze that instantly turns viewers into extras, playing the role of the silent students listening to his lecture.
Alone, at a desk, facing students and a teacher, beside a giant puppet-replica of himself, watching silently, as if his childhood self had come to life (scenographic idea: Ermina Kyriazi, lighting: Vasilis Peteinaris), Giorgos Ninios delivers an unmatched performance that creates images, sounds, and moments that seem to come alive in your mind, more alone than ever, as if begging for a reaction from his audience, knowing he is talking to himself in the mirror.
The finale is like a stab, even though you don’t want to believe it’s over, because deep down, you feel like the play has just begun.
Manos Thireos | 16.10.2022 | Είδαμε την παράσταση | Τσιτάχ. Η ερημιά του τερματοφύλακα | UrbanLife.gr
Giorgos Ninios is one of the few actors who can convey intense emotions even without speaking. Only with his facial expressions, the tilt of his head, his silence, and his gaze. Especially when he co-directs a monologue with Ermina Kyriazi and also composes its music—folk music of pain, unpretentious like himself (Giorgos Ninios is also a well-known musician besides being an actor).
…It is undoubtedly a work with much “meat,” food for thought and discussion as the audience discovers unseen aspects of the human soul, balancing on the tightrope of material and spiritual survival. And it comes to life in the most vivid and piercing way on the stage of Stathmos Theatre by outstanding contributors.
Marina Apostolou | 15.10 2022 | https://logotexnikosteki.blogspot.com/
The laughter in the performance flows naturally, although at times one needs some background knowledge to understand references, such as with the footballer Hamlet (referring to Shakespeare’s well-known hero). This text’s excellence in neither depriving the viewer of smiles nor tears creates the chemistry needed for a theatrical monologue to work.
It is a performance that, in its early minutes, betrays nothing of the emotional load the viewer will experience by the end, rewarding them for their journey. It is a complete and fulfilling performance by Ninios, well worth watching, even if it’s your first time seeing him.
The performance is presented at Stathmos Theatre, directed by Ermina Kyriazi.
Christos Vasilakopoulos | 20.10.2022 | Τσιτάχ Η Ερημία του Τερματοφύλακα – Pasta Flora (pastafloramag.gr)
The brilliant text by master Vasilis Katsikonouris was staged by the star himself and Ermina Kyriazi. In this performance, the actor shone, uncovering all the dirt hidden under the rug. Not everything is as we thought—not by a long shot. The text highlights a situation that seems distant but is very close to us, in our neighborhood. The heavy, somewhat rough, yet gentlemanly goalkeeper never feared. Not even when he got a kick in the face and ended up in the hospital. He never learned to say no or avoid trouble. He was always there for his teammates and team. And he was always there for the woman of his life. Even if he messed up, it came from his sincerity and his need to make their lives better.
He appeared as a hero and left as a scapegoat. How quickly idols fall, right? Yet… Cheetah, the goalkeeper who could be a poster in every boy’s room, represents something that once was. When the lights go out, there is only darkness. And it’s not the best ally. Ninios fills our ears and souls with emotion. His speech is precisely what it needs to be—unbending, direct, true. He paints a miserable now and a pessimistic tomorrow. Wherever the poor man goes, fate follows… The numerous humorous moments during the monologue are the spice of life, expressed in lines. His song is almost redemptive.
I need not say more. You will go, watch it, and remember me. All people are heroes in their dreams. Some, however, are a message in themselves.
Kostas Koulis | 11.10 2022 | Βρεθήκαμε στο Θέατρο Σταθμός – Τσιτάχ. Η ερημιά του τερματοφύλακα (noizy.gr)
Balancing the Cheetah’s presence on stage is a puppet. Perhaps it’s himself in his youth? Maybe footballers are puppets in a system? Notice the play with lights. The old Cheetah and the current one converse. And somewhere in the narrative, there’s a center-back from Denmark, Hamlet. This device exemplifies the ingenious writing of Vasilis Katsikonouris.
I won’t tell you the whole story, but I highly recommend it as a beautiful journey into concepts that concern us.
Cheetah experiences the loneliness of the goalkeeper, the solitude after his career ends. Proud but humiliated for a few coins. He has only one memento: a ball from that legendary match in the mud. And he will leave it to the children.
You will laugh and be moved. Is there anything more alive than that?
Aris Gavrielatos | 10.10.2022 | https://a8inea.com/o-giorgos-ninios-os-tsitach-sto-theatro-stathmos-pezi-megali-bala/
