The Greek Play Project | Itsa, Woman of Sasma

Playwright: Konstantinos Markellos

An original verse text written in the style of Greek folk poetry, following the tradition of the narrative ballads known as paraloges. Inspired by a folk legend from Epirus, it incorporates intertextual references to the laments found both in Epirus and throughout Greece. The “plot” follows the iconic elderly Itsa, who lived in the last century in the village of Aetomilitsa, also known as Denisko, near Konitsa. Itsa was an unconventional figure who held a distinctive place in the community. She had the qualities of a benevolent sorceress, inspiring a mixture of relief and fear whenever people sought her out to be healed with her spells and herbal remedies. In July 1974, when a general mobilisation was declared during the invasion of Cyprus, she gathered the unmarried girls of the village in the courtyard of the Church of Saint Nicholas and commanded them to perform an ancient protective dance for the men who were leaving. It was a dance in reverse: counterclockwise, with the dancers facing outwards rather than towards the centre of the circle. As they danced, they rhythmically repeated these words in the Vlach dialect: “It’s nothing, my dear, it’s nothing. The enemies at sea and our children at home.” Publication forthcoming.