Bouboulina:Untold, an original play

Our journey so far

In 2019, I was approached with a commission to create and direct an original play, telling the story of Laskarina Bouboulina - the first female admiral in naval history and a heroine of the Greek War of Independence. I hesitated, because until then I had associated her name with history schoolbooks and national pride.

I kept asking myself “How is a war heroine of the 1820s relatable to today’s women?”

But my instinct led me to dig deeper as I was convinced that her life-events couldn’t have possibly been just about her revolutionary acts against the Ottomans. After all, how could a woman that led a revolution and left such a mark in History, have had a mundane, dull, unimportant private life? And why these aspects of her biography have remained so well-hidden? The answer to that was going to come through our play.

Our research found that Bouboulina died at the hands of a man who was never convicted for his crime of passion, a fact carefully hidden away from mainstream history texts. In her turbulent life she had 9 children from two marriages, twice became a widow, inherited a fleet of ships which traded successfully and expanded, eventually committing her ships to the Revolution, and leading them herself to victory in multiple engagements.

She bore criticism dictated by double standards and stereotypes in a society that harvested her bravery and generosity – Bouboulina spent all her fortune funding the war - but was ashamed of celebrating her nature. Yet, she saw no obstacle in her gender and no barrier in societal expectations. She was compared to France’s Olympe de Gouges and had inspired Parisian designers who created the outfit La Bobeline, for independent, liberated women.

After a long pause due to the pandemic, which resulted to our commissioning and the seed-fund being withdrawn, we continued our research in an effort to keep the project alive and advancing.

Fast forward to 2021, a year that marked the 200th anniversary of Greek Independence, a major part of our play’s theme, which coincided with a frightening rise of femicides in Greece. Our interest in telling Bouboulina’s life events rekindled and felt as relatable as ever.

On the right track – Off Off Athens Festival

We have been accepted to be a part of Off Off Athens Festival at Epi Kolono Theatre this June! A great start for our production to be opening at one of the most prestigious Festivals for emerging artists in Athens and a much-appreciated impetus to keep going.

It was now time to take our play to the next level and make it a piece of live theatre. In order to realise this performance, we formed a team of brilliant artists and collaborators:

Marilena Georgantzi – Set Designer

Giorgos Kassakos – Light Designer

Athena Pavlou-Benazi – Video Projection Designer

Tamara Amalie – Costume Designer

Ellie Raftopoulou – Production Assistant

Andili Rachouti – Graphic Designer 

Iliana Meintani – Video Trailer Production

Giannis Dimitriou – Research Collaborator

 Music by the wonderful Traditional Choir of Rhode’s Music School and Maria Vlahava and last but definitely not least, the award-winning actress and director Anastasia Revi, who generously entrusted our vision and agreed on bringing to life the story of Laskarina Bouboulina along with our writer, Mihalis Darnakis, who will be playing the role of Giannos. 

Laskarina will reminisce about her love for the sea, life-changing encounters, the agony of loss and fiests around a big table of food, next to a freshly washed hung laundry in her backyard.

The next step

Our endeavour is to mount this production on Spetses Island, at Bouboulina’s 300-year-old mansion, that serves as a museum dedicated to her life. We are now in discussions with the municipality of Spetses about including our play in the Armata Festival celebrations in September. This presents a unique opportunity for us to reach a broader audience, giving them a lesser-known account of her life from a contemporary perspective. But it has proved a very costly endeavour according to ITC (Independent Theatre Council) and the fact that we have to cover accommodation and travel expenses for our team. Therefore, we are asking for your support in raising the funds needed for this trip but also for the next stop of our tour, which will be Avlaia Theatre in Thessaloniki. 

Please help us take Bouboulina:Untold on tour by contributing to our cause. Any amount donated brings us a little closer to unveiling the story of this empowered woman in front of more audiences.

Poster by Andili Rachouti and preview poster by Aggelos Papadopoulos

Set design 3D  by Marilena Georgantzi