18, Mpoumpoulinas St., the book by Kitti Arseni

Kitti Arseni (1934-2013), a young actress in Greece during the military junta, fled the country in 1968. On the train journey between Paris and Strasbourg, while en route to testify before the Human Rights Committee regarding the torture she endured at the Athens General Security Subdivision, she wrote a gripping account. One of the most iconic and renowned texts of the post-junta period, Arsenis’ testimony was published in 1975 under the title 18, Mpoumpoulinas St.—a work that encapsulated a whole era: “This testimony was written in 1968, during the train routes from Paris to Strasbourg. (…) And I wrote it because my forged passport and the Alsatian plains were not enough to convince me that I had truly fled from Greece, from prison, from the Security Headquarters,” she explains. She had to talk, to share everything she went through in the prison cells, on the rooftop of the Security Headquarters building, in isolation. Her testimony does not dwell on the violence, humiliation, and degradation she suffered. The intensity of the narrative and the suffocating atmosphere are not exhausted in graphic descriptions, which are not imposed nor dominate the story. Perhaps because she does not focus on the faces of the torturers, but on those of her friends and fellow activists and their shared vision.
(https://aefestival.gr/festival_events/mpoympoylinas-18/?lang=en)
Lighting the tortures, the absolute human darkness, as testified by an actress, afemale artist, was for me both a challenge and a duty. The actress who is performing, Amalia Arseni has a strong bond with the writer, she was her aunt, so it was very complicated for her to find the strengh to incarnate her. The creative Dierector, Sophia Karagianni contructs the the theatrical condition on the lines of the book "I confuse the cell with my thatrical dressing room.." and she places the actress in the state of a rehearsal. She is a young actress who is rehearsing on the play, and each rehearsing scene, is a window to the writer's memories.

The element of multiple shadows and the mirror of the dressing room, is the core element of the lighting concept, in order to create a dreamy but dark atmosphere . The concrete floor matching wih the shades of green and blue of the cell complete the lighting concept.