The world’s only cultural railway festival for young artists «The 12 Compartments,» true to its annual spring tradition since May 2011, is being organized again this year by the – The Train Theater in Rouf for the 11th year. New artistic groups and individual artists create and present short performances daily (10–30 minutes) every day from Sunday, May 15, through Sunday, May 29, 2022.
Over the past 11 years, this unique festival—conceived and established by Tatiana Lygari— has been showcasing, encouraging, and promoting young artists and groups from the fields of theater, music, dance, and the visual arts, offering a platform for expression and creativity as well as a catalyst for new collaborations among more than 170 talented youth groups, comprising a total of more than 700 artists from all forms of the arts (Theater, Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Photography, Film, Video Art, etc.).
The core of the Festival and its source of inspiration was initially the ’New Wagon” of the train in Rouf, with its 12 compartments, from which it took its name. Over time, as the number of participating artists and performances grew, every unexpected space on the train—both on and off stage—was incorporated into the festival. This year, in addition to the other venues, a fully equipped outdoor stage has been added at the spacious Train Platform in Rouf.
Regarding this year’s 11th edition of the Festival, its artistic director, Tatiana Lygari, notes:
«The «12 Koupé» Young Artists Festival is open to artists from all art forms and may include theatrical and musical performances, visual art installations, painting and photography exhibitions, dance performances, stand-up comedy, and more. This year, the spotlight is primarily on theater, with a wealth of short theatrical performances, but the festival also includes painting and photography exhibitions, dance performances, and live music. This year’s themes are varied, but they primarily focus on more social and political issues such as racism, the refugee crisis, immigration, ethical dilemmas in times of war, and the individual’s quest for justice in the face of arbitrariness—and less on anthropocentric themes such as the transition from life to death, etc. The train, of course, as always—not only as a setting but also as a symbol of movement and journey—is always a central theme and serves as a source of inspiration and creativity for the artists.»
Artistic Director: Tatiana Lygari
Efthymis Christou, Head of Artistic Teams
Audience Coordinator: Vasilis Psyllas
Photos by Ypatia Kornarou
Video – Edited by George Charisis
Contact ArtsPR
PERFORMANCES
All performances are presented daily from 7:00 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. as part of a rotating program, for a continuous 15-day period (May 15–29, 2022).
FREE ENTRANCE
Admission tickets are required. Tickets for each day’s performances will be available starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Amaxostochia box office. A maximum of 3 admission tickets per person per day, subject to seat availability.
The performances in detail:
Exploring Electricity
live music performance
Theophilus Pouzbouris
"Exploring Electricity" is a series of improvisations on a modular synthesizer system. This analog musical instrument uses electricity to produce music, creating unique combinations of connections each time, which allows the performance to evolve and present something different sonically each time, influenced by the atmosphere of Apovathra.
musician on stage Theophilos Pouzbouris
Mirage
dance-theater performance
Tugger Team
An exploration of people’s perceptions of what constitutes «normality» in a new, different world. How does life differ from what we used to know? What has changed, and what remains exactly the same? Using the body as a medium and language as a catalyst, stimuli are created that aim to highlight the disconnect between perception and reality. Will the train passengers manage to find their destination, or will they become entangled in optical illusions and their own delusions?;
arrest Nicole Kafetzopoulou Direction/Choreography Tugger team composition of original music Dimitris Papadopoulos interpretation Nicole Kafetzopoulou, Maria Makri, Leonidas Bakalis, Avgoustinos Fytilis
PowerSet
dance performance
Olympia Antonena, Venetia Paschou
What are the chances that you’ll catch someone’s eye, receive a nod of understanding, or feel like someone is reading your mind? Have you noticed how these—not always—chance «encounters» change your mood, your attitude? Even if only for a moment. Using movement as their vehicle, the two dancers play with possibilities and attempt to control them. An effort to remind us of the importance of human connection and the strength it can give us.
arrest Olympia Antonena co-creation/interpretation Olympia Antonena, Venetia Paschou external eye Eva Stavrakaki
Timeless Moments
photography exhibition
Dimitra Sigala
black-and-white street photograph
Every moment frozen in time is an image preserved in memory. After all, what could life be, if not small, dancing moments on the canvas of a wandering painter—a palimpsest of time—hanging from his brush? A story told through photographs from different moments in time, centered on the «medium» of dreams, , which seeks to unfold the viewer’s own perspectives, inspired by moments frozen in time or time frozen within a moment.
photos Dimitra Sigala
Passenger
dance performance
Sofia Nikoletta, Georgia Pyrgidou
A dance performance centered on the train, the true star of the setting. All the basic elements that “paint” the image of a train station in our minds—cars, engines, platforms, sounds, and human presence—imprint the experience of a journey on our consciousness, serving as the inspiration and central theme for the study and creation of sound and movement.
choreography/performance Sofia Nikoletta soundtrack Georgia Pyrgidou
Passenger 7493547
theatrical performance
en.Core Team
A passenger on the train begins talking about his neighborhood and the changes it has undergone since the arrival of immigrants and refugees. We listen to him and dismiss him as just another outraged person speaking out loudly. But perhaps it’s time to listen to his arguments and what’s causing him anxiety, and also to explore whether and to what extent we stand in opposition to him and the decisions he makes? A theatrical performance inspired by Yannis Tsirbas’s novella «Victoria Doesn’t Exist.».
concept/directing/performance Orpheas Alpanidis, Konstantinos Manaios, Eleni Michailidou, Ada Bairaktari, Babis Symeonidis, Marissa Farmaki
ΚRed Apples
one-act play
VAGG+Ellie Team
Three people have left their homeland following the war that broke out there and are heading to another country to start a new life. A man and a couple. During this journey, they meet and get to know one another. Gradually, the couple discovers that the man sitting across from them is not what he seems. He is the reason war broke out in their country. He is the reason so many people died. And they decide to kill him and return to their country as heroes. But the man has a better proposal for them. A timely play about human nature and the instinct for self-preservation.
screenplay/direction VAGG+Elli Group interpretation Vangelis Doukoutselis, Thanasis Karkafiris, Elli Prantzou, (double distribution) Maria Luisa Aggou
Μpougada
dance performance
momenΤum Team
Two people, in their own «square,» reflect on how much the concept of human contact has changed. Contact, care, attitude, distance, position, connection, water… BOUGADA… a clearing of thoughts, an inner stirring, an inner reckoning with the past and the present to the beat of the heart along a rope’s path.
arrest Marina Mariola choreography/performance Marina Mariola, Natalia Argyraki choreographer's assistant Yanna Mela
Nionio
theatrical performance
Bleck Group
Sometimes 99 and sometimes 4 years old, Nionio takes a long journey through her life—through what has happened, what she wished would have happened but didn’t, and what she is still waiting for. With the caustic humor of an old fate and the innocence of a child, she dances, sings, monologues, and waits. Nionio is a study in movement combined with a devised script inspired by life’s great themes, such as love and death. An ode to optimism.
concept/artistic direction Lena Bozaki choreography/interpretation Elena Vakali
The Daughters
theatrical performance
Group: Starting as early as the fifth line, Faltsoi
The entire story takes place over the course of a single day, almost in real time, in the memory of a different Athens. They’re playing their favorite game in the world. They’re playing the game called MOTHER. Nana and Noula, Noula and Nana. Two girls trapped in the glossy cardboard box of History question and search for their lost connection to their mother, their roots, coming of age, love, self-determination, society, and their place in a certain homeland. Through play, they will either manage to find their own way out, or they will continue to live out the legacy they were given.
Text Glykeria Basdeki costumes Absent Mirror sets Zois Oikonomou, *Absent Mirror*, Valia Priovolou music curation George Chrysikos, Georgia Skorda assistant directors Yiannis Didaskalou, Chara Giota, Kostis Kapellidis traffic control Alexander Goudinakis Direction/Performance Marianna Rantou, Georgia Skorda
When Sound Becomes Landscape
Live music performance
James Basdanis
A musical performance—a solo show, yes, but one filled with stories. Live performances of instrumental works by composer Dimitris «James» Basdanis. The soundscapes of the moment create the soundtrack to those moments. They come to life, seeking to merge with the audience’s own moments, with the aim that both the artist and the audience embark on this living journey through space and time.
musician on stage James Basdanis
Beyond the place and per year
art installation
Kleanthis Pagkalos
Refugeehood is an integral part of humanity’s collective and individual history, stretching back through the ages of colonization, colonialism, the Crusades, the Great Wars, and even the newer «small» wars. Civilians are forced into a disorderly flight to survive. Violent displacement and separation from their homes mark the sudden halt of time, which until then had flowed along the course of everyday life. Their sudden transformation into strangers—usually unwelcome ones—is a trauma that leaves an indelible mark on their very being. The painter attempts to capture this contemporary yet age-old dystopia. He focuses on the faces he saw in the refugee camp on Lesbos, on the faces of the refugees he encounters in Athens today. He captures these figures as snapshots of a life that unfolds beyond the confines of place and time.
ΠOn Democracy, Part Eίfive…
theatrical / visual performance
Vassilis Psyllas
Thucydides« timeless »Funeral Oration« serves as the starting point for a journey through time and an exploration of the definition of »democracy.” How much have its terms and conditions changed? What kind of political system do we have now, I wonder? How far can the freedom of the democratic citizen extend? A performance combining spoken word, musical soundscapes, and visual art attempts to answer these questions and to provoke… others.
Concept/Direction/Performance Vassilis Psyllas original music/live musician Yiannis Spanos set props/set design Markos Papoutsakis
I'm waiting…
theatrical monologue
Eftychia Livaniou, Angie Filinta
A woman facing a double loss: her job and her mother. Salvina, alone in the face of injustice that leaves her gasping for breath, thinks aloud to put the events in order and find the strength to fight to the end.
Inspired by Philippe Maniana's play *Rooms*
directing Eftychia Livaniou interpretation Angie Filinta
Röntgen
theatrical performance
Christos Kapenis, Katerina Anastasiou (nerisisty)
In physics, the roentgen is the unit of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation. The name comes from Wilhelm Röntgen, the German physicist (Nobel laureate in Physics) who discovered X-rays. The performance explores the relationship between two scientists who are tasked with locating an object emitting radiation inside a train. A performance that blends reality with the world of dreams and aims to symbolically depict the life stages of two people: the search, the encounter, coexistence, and the end.
concept/direction/lighting and soundscape design/performance Christos Kapenis, Katerina Anastasiou (nerisisty)
Three Stories
improvisational performance
Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos, Giannis Bakogeorgos
One journey, two actors, three different stories. Three stories are created from scratch, all inspired by the concept of «journey.» Although the stories are different from one another at the beginning, they ultimately merge into one. All the characters and their relationships build up and converge on a shared journey.
directing Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos interpretation Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos, Giannis Bakogeorgos
INFORMATION
Production office phone: 210 9237076; Theater phone: 210 5298922
theater@totrenostorouf.gr
VENUE
Train-Theatre the Train in Rouf
Constantinople Ave. & Amphipolis Ave.
Rouf Train and Commuter Station
A 10-minute walk from the Kerameikos Metro station
Free outdoor parking
FIND US
www.facebook.com/To-Treno-sto-Rouf-railway-carriage-theatre
https://twitter.com/ToTrenoStoRouf
https://instagram.com/ToTrenostoRouf
https://www.facebook.com/youngartistsfestival12compartments
