A daughter and her mother's story
Eleftheria's mother, Kiki, is illiterate. Throughout her upbringing, letters remained mysteries—secret curlicues, a boundary between herself and the initiated. But the stories echoing within her needed to come out, to live on and be told to others. A necessity so undeniable that Kiki invented her own alphabet.
The Little Girl with Gortsa is a personal and poetic play about a mother who grew up in a refugee village in northern Greece, inhabited by Armenians expelled from Turkey. It was a place shaped by stones and tobacco plants, a constrained world for those who were considered neither Greeks nor Turks—a place where survival demanded hard work.
The performance also tells the story of her daughter, who had to leave her home village to pursue her dreams. And how her mother’s tales of survival offered her comfort along the way. It’s a story about shame and love, class and origin, carried by the need to express oneself and bring inner images to life.
World premiere on August 30, 2024, Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival
Revival on March 26, 2025, at Backa Teater in Gothenburg
Eleftheria Gerofoka is the initiator and the driving force behind the idea of The Little Girl with Gortsa, with Lola Arias serving as artistic mentor.
Idé och initiativtagare Eleftheria Gerofoka Av och Regi Eleftheria Gerofoka, Rasmus Lindgren Med Eleftheria Gerofoka, Vasiliki "Kiki" Gerofoka Ljus och rum Bella Oldenqvist Ljud Jonas Redig Dramatisk text Christina Ouzounidis Konstnärlig mentor Lola Arias Dramaturg Kristina Ros Rörelseinstruktör Joseba Yerro Izaguirre En samproduktion mellan Backa Teater och Göteborgs dans- och teaterfestival
