On-line: Liver

Whenever cult Athenian scriptwriter Efthymis Filippou is involved in something, you better know you won’t be able to forget it in a hurry. This time, the dystopian scribe of Dogtooth and The Lobster fame has conjured a libretto to give voice to a most unusual love story, in an international musical theatre co-production LIVER, that also happens to feature two of Greece’s hottest actor-directors, Angeliki Papoulia and Christos Passalis. 

Unusual how, we hear you ask? 

On a warm and rainy night, a 44-year-old woman is rendered comatose after a motorbike accident that pierces her liver.  Her older lover remains constantly by her side and each night, sleeps beside her on the hospital bed, as if they were both in a coma. LIVER is the final conversation between the organs and limbs of the man and woman’s bodies, as recorded by medical equipment, just before she dies of a heart attack. Filippou wrote the transcript of that last conversation, while the internal organs of the two tragic lovers are interpreted by various musicians, performers and members of the Belgian contemporary music ensemble, Ictus, resulting in a potent medley of different artistic disciplines. You got all that?

Filmed on the Greek National Opera's Alternate Stage in December 2020, the co-production has been given a cinematic twist by Athenian director The Boy (aka Alexandros Voulgaris) and lands on GNO TV from 9 April. You can catch this thrillingly unconventional production on demand (with Greek and English sub-titles) until the end of the year.