Opening at the Greenwood Theatre at King’s College London next week, the world premiere of For Three Refrigerators and a Washing Machine brings a testimony theatre piece to the heart of London.
The thought-provoking show is directed by Kyriaki Mitsou, who delivered the theatrical adaptation in close collaboration with the dramaturgists Renata Sofrona and Romina Spyraki.
Where: King’s College London
When: 24-26 Oct
Ticket link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/for-three-refrigerators-and-a-washing-mach-tickets-184139
I spoke with Kyriaki Mitsou to find out more about this intriguing show.
Your show is about child adoption, from both a historical and contemporary perspective. It’s also very ambitious in its scope. Where did the initial idea come from?
I have always been sensitive to the fate and welfare of children, especially migrant or uprooted children. After all, I am from Greece but belong to the Greek diaspora of London, torn as we all are between at least two worlds.
Then, through my interactions with Professor Gonda Van Steen (King’s College London), I learned about the more than 4,000 children adopted from Greece. She let me in on their fate and aspirations. I even met several of them.
What stood out is that ‘historic’ post-war adoptions are far from historic: they affect people on a daily basis, leaving them with questions and leaving them searching for reconnection with a land of origin.
While our focus is on the Greek cross-border adoptees and their search for answers and belonging, one can easily see how these themes speak also to adoptees from Ireland, Korea, China, and from many other places.
And not just to the adoptees, but also to their first and second families and communities. This is a complex, crucial set of issues, of children’s agency, social welfare, family disruption, and family formation, which leave all of us affected to this day.
With three spoken languages and filmic components, this show seems set to challenge and engage audiences. Why should people come along to see it?
The show is bold and innovative in many ways: it is the international premiere of an authentic playscript that is based on true historical sources and verbatim testimonies related to international adoption—a first as such.
The show also presents different geographical locations, landscapes, media, and languages, which add diversity and broaden the many perspectives that underpin the topic of international adoption.
Different age, ethnic, and linguistic groups come together here to make the material transcend national and historical boundaries.
People should come and see it if—or rather, because – they seek to engage with relevant topics presented in thought-provoking ways.
This is a testimony theatre piece with real stories and experiences behind it, as well as research done from within KCL. Why was it important to you to take a more factual than dramatic approach?
I felt that, with a dramatic approach that encourages critical thinking, the foundations of historical research needed to be very solid. And they are, which is exactly what makes the combination of source-based verbatim theatre so powerful.
The books that have appeared on the topic of the adoptions from Greece have been very well researched, and I have been able to verify the veracity of the stories.
Additionally, each time I talk about the project to Greek relatives, friends, and acquaintances, they volunteer similar stories and experiences, which relate most often to ‘missing’ children. These encounters again add depth and authenticity to our initiative.
You are producing the play at KCL’s own theatre. Has this proved to be a rewarding partnership, and did the space make you rethink the show in any way?
Yes, we are very pleased to have access to King’s well-equipped Greenwood Theatre. We also enjoy King’s support.
This is the second time we engage in a very rewarding partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s, and we hope to continue this productive collaboration, which has an educational dimension to it as well (as part of the Schilizzi Foundation Social History Workshops).
I am very pleased to be working with some of King’s very talented students who have embraced this project with great enthusiasm.
You focus on Greek experience but the themes are universal. What do you hope audiences will take away from seeing the production?
We hope that the audience will indeed realize how universal the search for truth and belonging really is.
I just watched the American 60 Minutes episode about the Italian postwar adoptions. Similar story: unmarried mothers were shamed into giving up their children; someone saw a business opportunity in sending these children to the USA; decades later, the pain of abandonment and lack of truth is ever-present.
The message is: we still have so much work to do to protect the most vulnerable and the most voiceless in our societies, and yes, we can learn from the past to build more protective support structures in the present and for the future.