The Greek Play Project

Playwright: Sofianna Theofanous

A daughter in her mid-thirties returns to her family home in Greece, where she meets her sixty-year-old mother. The visit begins with awkwardness, everyday conversation and teasing about food, smoking and old lovers. But cracks soon begin to appear: the mother forgets things, complains about the son who neglects her, makes sarcastic remarks about her daughter’s relationships and comments on her foreign partner. The daughter tries to be calm but the constant criticism of her personal life, her work abroad and her choices eventually drives her to an outburst. The conversation turns to traumas of the past: debts, religion, immigration and domestic violence. The climax comes when the daughter blurts out that their father did not die but committed suicide – a secret the mother refuses to admit. The confrontation becomes extreme. The daughter accuses her mother of driving their father to his death through her toxicity and declares that, from that moment on, she is cutting her out of her life. She takes her suitcase and leaves for good, swearing that she will never return in Greece again. The mother is left alone, devastated yet stubbornly hardened. In the end, she is all alone holding a family photograph, before the sound of breaking glass is heard and darkness falls.