People, Places & Things
- Portfolio
- 2025
creative team
- Director: Evita Ioannou
- Cast: Elena Kalinikou, Nedie Antoniades, Andreas Koutsoumbas, Dimitris Antoniou, Vasilis Vasilakis, Myrsini Christodoulou, Alexia Alexi, Andreas Patsias, Belinda Papavasileiou.
- Translation/Adaptation: Evita Ioannou in collaboration with Elena Kalinikou
- Set Design: Elena Katsouri
- Movement: Elena Antoniou
- Costumes: Eleni Ioannou
- Music Composition: Giorgos Papakostas
- Lighting Design: Vasilis Petinari
- Assistant Director / Production: Maria Pishili
- Promo Photos/Trailer: Nefeli Papadaki & Peggy Theodoryianni
- Performance Photos: Dimitris Loutsios
- Graphics: Andonis Moushis
description
The iconic play People, Places & Things by Duncan Macmillan is presented for the first time in Cyprus by SEZON Women, directed by Evita Ioannou, in co-production with Open Arts.
Emma is an actress. One day she collapses on stage and finds herself in a rehab center. There she embarks on a challenging journey, where she must confront her fears, renegotiate her relationships and addictions, and come to terms with her own truth.
director's note
People, Places & Things is not simply a play about addiction; it is a story about what it means to be human when you lose control of your life and are forced to confront yourself anew. Emma, the play’s protagonist, collapses on stage and begins a journey filled with fear, doubt, and small, painful victories. Through this journey, the play illuminates not only the struggle of recovery, but also the ongoing struggle of the artist, especially the female artist, to balance truth, image, and survival.
Recovery, as presented here, is neither an ending nor a “cure,” but an act of continuous resistance. It is not about heroic deeds or sacrifices, but about the persistence to stand face to face with your own darkness, to endure yourself, to try again. Emma becomes, without seeking it, a contemporary heroine, not because she wins, but because she persists.
Emma’s struggles are not “private.” They reflect a collective reality: a society that constantly demands that individuals remain “functional,” “present,” “normal.” A society that leaves little room for vulnerability. Through Emma’s body and voice, we see how addiction, mental health, labour, and art intersect with social and gendered expectations. The personal becomes political, and the political reveals itself as deeply human.
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The decision to translate the play into the Cypriot dialect was a deeply artistic one. This language brings immediacy and intimacy; it makes the characters feel like our own. It brings addiction, mental health, and the need for recovery into our present moment, into our neighbourhoods, into the language we speak. In this way, the play takes root within our own reality, and its characters become recognisable figures from the society we live in.
Ultimately, People, Places & Things is a story about survival, about the fragile balance between self-awareness and self-destruction, and about the need to belong somewhere, even within chaos. It speaks to how difficult it is, at this moment, to observe the world without feeling that it is collapsing. How do we continue to function? What ways do we find to keep going through the day? How do we find community? I believe that this play, right now, feels more relevant than ever.
gallery
- Testimonials
What People Said
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“People, Places & Things, by Duncan Macmillan, directed by Evita Ioannou and staged upstairs at Satiriko Theatre, is a must-see production… It had rhythm and intensity, a text both intelligent and profound, and a group of actors who brought their full presence to the stage. The direction guided the whole so seamlessly that we forgot we were in a theatre-and I agree with that wholeheartedly.”
Alexandros Parisis
Actor
wRitten for
People, Places & Things (2025)
“A convincing punk DIY aesthetic in a production that relentlessly pushes the viewer with targeted blows, never allowing them to rest on supposedly stable interpretative ground-not so much about what is happening on stage, but about how it unfolds. It helps greatly that the director possesses a healthy anti-artistic stance (in the sense that she is not concerned with creating ‘beautiful images’ or conforming to ready-made notions of ‘proper’ acting), supported by hard work, imagination, and conviction. It also helps that she found-once again-a contemporary, no-bullshit text that suits her: one unconstrained by genre, fully aware of what it addresses, and offering no easy answers or consolations.”
Giorgos Stogias
Author
wRitten for
People, Places & Things (2025)
“The production of People, Places & Things by SEZON Women at Satiriko Theatre is a singular artistic statement by Evita Ioannou’s team, taking us deep into the darkness of human existence to remind us that good theatre moves us. Her direction restores to the stage the essence we so often miss, shaping the performance with economy and confidence-an achievement born from the fusion of stage form and an ongoing, truthful artistic inquiry. Without embellishment, literalism, or pretension; without loud deconstructions or insecure maximalism-free and tender.”
Dr. Avra Sidiropoulou
Associate Professor and Academic Coordinator of the MA in Theatre Studies, Open University of Cyprus
wRitten for
People, Places & Things (2025)
“Evita orchestrated, with masterful precision, a production destined to leave a lasting mark. She created a contemporary spectacle with substance, refusing to indulge in flashy, music-video-style tricks for mere effect. Everything had a reason to exist. She focused on what truly mattered. The director succeeded in drawing out the potential of her actors-even in the smallest roles-and they are all exceptional. Most importantly, she managed to de-stigmatize passion and emotion. The audience vindicated them.”
Michalis Papadopoulos
Actor
wRitten for
People, Places & Things (2025)
“I have followed Evita Ioannou since her earliest works-her evolution and her choices, which she serves with monastic discipline, dedication, rigorous study, and sincerity, seeking to leave something essential in our souls from the deepest layers of the text. Beyond the great theatrical myths that radiate from our collective iconostasis, directors like Ioannou search for sharp, often lesser-known contemporary texts, opening the audience’s consciousness to the present moment. She handles material boldly, after first dissecting its deepest layers, stripping its structure, and reconstructing word, phrase, and scene through an intricate relationship with theatrical form. She moves fluidly between theatrical codes and performance art, between the plasticity of bodies and language, rendering the ‘how’ of people orbiting the absurdity of their minds and their despair. Linguistically, she demonstrates exemplary syllabic richness and masterfully weaves dialect with modern Greek speech, encircling the stupefaction of language by drugs, crises, lies, philosophical reflections, recovery, humiliation-and the reverse.”
Elena Christodoulidou
Cultural Services, Ministry of Education & Culture of Cyprus
wRitten for
People, Places & Things (2025)