Elli Papadimitriou’s Koinos Logos (Common Discourse) – Narrating Collective Trauma on Stage

This article delves into Koinos Logos (Common Discourse) by Elli Papadimitriou, along with its highly acclaimed stage production at the 2013 Athens Festival, directed by Vangelis Theodoropoulos, which significantly influenced contemporary Greek theatre. The issue raises several challenges that extend beyond the performance itself and into the dramaturgy, as the work is based on oral testimonies of female refugees from Asia Minor, collected by Papadimitriou in the aftermath of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. The study focuses on both textual and performance analysis, with particular emphasis on the directorial approach. It contends that the director successfully navigated the challenges posed by the narrative-driven text by relying on certain key concepts. These included emphasizing emotional resonance over the depiction of violence, engaging the audience’s imagination in a manner evocative of ancient tragedy, foregrounding the element of chorality, and intertwining personal and collective narratives. Ultimately, these choices imbued the entire endeavour with a sense of ahistoricity, which is, to a great extent, inherent in the oral testimonies themselves.