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IT'S EITHER A POEM OR A PIECE OF CHEESE

Why Theatre is transformative both on and off the stage

Reflections from the Artistic Director

We are approaching the premiere of a new immersive theatre production with a local, multi-generational cast including some first-time performers.

Everything about the project is unusual and probably risky.

• Presenting an obscure story from ancient folklore using interactive, immersive theatre, modern music and no dialogue (we have some narration).

• Leading 11 volunteer participants in a second language (two members have better English than my Greek, which helps at least).

• Reaching out to a non-theatregoing community in a small town, population <5.000.

• Operating on a net negative budget to cover my coffee and nothing else. 

• Hoping for sponsorship/support from tiny local firms or large regional employers with limited cultural CSR framework. 

• Trying to organise rehearsals with busy working people, families, students and kids!

How is it going?

Creative, chaotic, transformational, uplifting, exciting, nerve-wracking, inspiring -

In other words, a complex, rich and meaningful real-life experience with the purpose of creating art.

And, with luck, this multi-faceted, emotive and thought-provoking experience is what the audience will also have.

To be clear, I have nothing to say about generative AI, Agile/Kanban etc., marketing funnels or CX workflows here. We are a quantum remove from that kind of project.

What I do want to say is that at best, art is transformational for both creators and audience, but not because of the message or the manifesto.  Because it goes beyond words, and connects us with a magical, mystical part of being human – something personal, intuitive and infinite.

The opening 1959 quote connects the important presences of Bukowski, Artaud and Aristotle within the Darkplay Theatre methodology (or anti-method).

Seeing the divide between honesty and pretension, Bukowski rejected the idea that art required political, economic or social justification.  A manifesto makes it an engineered product (like cheese).

For Artaud, art was visceral, not intellectual. It lived, raged and burned beyond the conscious, an overwhelming sensory waterfall held back by words and academic analysis.

Aristotle asserted that while most things serve a utilitarian purpose, Art, however, is autotelic: possessed of, and of value for, intrinsic qualities, containing its own end purpose. 

Why do these figures inspire me? Well, Bukowski and Artaud were also outsiders. I found a neat summary: Their Outsider Archetype contains institutional rejection, the body as the canvas, and autotelic salvation.  

And Aristotle gives us the philosophical grounding for the transcendent, intrinsic demiurge that inheres in art. And this is echoed in the intuitive experience of true art and beauty that we have as audiences.

We hope for the blessings of Dionysus, and in return we offer all the skill, dedication, effort and theory, as well as our respect for the audience.  And whatever happens, it’s art.

Discover more about our creative methodology at our performance art theatre in Greece.

𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 

(AKA Ditch The Infographics and Do It Anyway)

Notes fropm the Artistic Director on the early-stage development of Phaea - The Shadow of Fate, our original piece which premiered in Agioi Theodori in July 2026. 

It’s an innovative partnership between Darkplay Theatre and Petra Terzi built around the community, with a hometown cast and a story based on local folklore dating back 2,800 years. 

There’s a personal narrative here too. I am a time-served veteran of global brand data management, fundraising operations, research and analytics, direct marketing, technology and team leadership along with occasional side hustles ranging from bicycle delivery to bouncer. 

And here I am in Greece working towards an immersive, interactive performance in a town of less than 5.000 souls. That’s a hop or two from West London and the rainy commutes to the centre.

Life lessons? Just this. Linear progressions, predictive modelling and strategic frameworks are not an immutable reality. They are an overlay, and not the underlying.

Customer journeys, marketing funnels. mind maps and the rest are functionally useful for noise reduction but ultimately superficial when applied to real life. Which can and should be magical, dangerous, passionate and unexpected – like the theatre. 

My journey is like that one donor who never appears in your prospect lifecycle but makes a life-changing legacy gift. Or the viral trend that only works because of the unselfconscious authenticity of its first lo-fi iteration.

I don’t offer a comforting message. Failure is an option. Magical thinking is your enemy.  Energy, intelligence and resilience do correlate with outcomes. But chaos, change and creativity are also a catalyst. Every good story arc has an “inciting incident”, and all our futures contain at least one more.

In theatre terms, I learned that fervent, reverent adherence to any control methodologies is ‘𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙨’ and the outcome (sooner or later) is ‘𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙖’. So at Darkplay we have a somewhat mysterious creation process - eccentric but not egocentric (theatre is a team sport), opaque but definitely osmotic, and yet where the result is necessarily cathartic with all of the Aristotelian resonances. 

But it’s not just about theatre. Part of my CTA here is an anti-methodology manifesto. Your choice is not simply between instructive infographics or blind intuition. There is space for immersion, reflection and inspiration as a cycle. In fact, the old “building the bicycle while riding it” trick.

Which is why we at Darkplay ask everyone involved to Trust The Process, while never quite naming the process.

I would love to welcome you to our shows or connect with you if this any of this resonates, do get in touch. Meanwhile, I’m getting ready for the next rehearsal. I have an idea of what will happen, but as they say, 𝘕𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 (𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺).

See how we apply these technical principles live at our performance art theatre in Greece.

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Founded as a Social Co-operative Enterprise in Athens in 2024 and operating on a non-profit basis, Darkplay create immersive performance art. We draw on the mythic, the sensory, and the unexpected to create interactive theatre experiences rooted in Hellenic tradition but speaking to contemporary and timeless themes.

We didn’t quite know how audiences would react when we started, but we followed the old “feel the fear and do it anyway” saying, and went out there with a series of ambitious shows most recently at the large PLYFA space. We had a young and emerging cast and crew from non-traditional backgrounds, no big names and no resources except the time and pockets of the creative team.  To be brutally honest, these were big shows delivered on a tiny budget, and so when we started to see the tickets selling out (often in advance) and crowds of people arriving, the feeling was hard to describe. In a good way.

Our mission is simple: to create exciting, inclusive, and artistically daring performances that empower the audience — not as observers, but as participants. Every performance is different because every person enters differently. A personal experience that takes place within a collective space.

We build each production around space, atmosphere, and movement. But what we’ve developed is intensely interactive, with words but no dialogue, and ambitious technological methodologies within an operational scaffolding. It’s Artaud but not exactly - and probably the opposite of Brecht and Beckett. But for those that look beneath the surface, there is a lot of Ancient Greek theatre in there, and not just because we’re channeling Euripides.

 Audiences are never seated for long — they are led. Not told a story — but asked to find their way inside it.

 As one audience member described:

"The performers made us part of the story, drawing us into the labyrinth, urging us to discover our own path through its winding corridors. Sensual, ethereal beings took us by the hand, guiding us deeper and deeper into its dark world."

This is the kind of memory we want to leave behind: not just narrative, but transformation. Not applause, but awakening.

Our performances are crafted by an international ensemble of actors, dancers, and musicians. Each piece is a negotiation: between myth and audience, structure and improvisation, risk and ritual.

What audiences are saying:

· “We really enjoyed the exceptionally well-crafted performance. Even the most hesitant spectators very quickly ‘become part of it.’”

· “A wonderful experience… sweeps you into its mythical narrative.”

· “I came to the show yesterday and I'm still trying to recover. It really was wonderful, unique and I will remember it forever.”

This is just the beginning. We invite you to join us — inside the labyrinth, beyond the edge of the known.

Learn more about the organizational mission behind our performance art theatre in Greece.