“Those of us who are “passing away” from life are with us on the journey ahead. We bring them inside ourselves, – tells “K” director Io Vulgaraki..

She lost her father when she was pregnant two years ago, and in her story she seems to be “responding” to Heidi’s message about how we talk to children about loss. “Our heroine has an amazing gift for making people immobilized by sadness move again,” notes Ms. Voulgaraki, who is first involved in children’s theater by staging the play “Heidi and in the mountains” at the National Theater” Andreas Flurakis. “Sooner or later, we all mourn something. Loss comes in many forms, such as the loss of a person or childhood. The project came and caught me at the moment when I wanted to talk about the problem of loss, about how we explain it to children, ”he emphasizes.

Will live

The story of Heidi, told by Joanna Spiri in her novel 150 years ago, has undergone many adaptations and has become a symbol of the will to live, “a necessary bright storm,” as Ms. Woolgaraki describes it. “There is something else that worries me: who we become, how we change when we lose what we think defines us,” she adds.

In the show, three generations of actors and three musicians on stage join a multi-person troupe to follow an exciting journey to adulthood. “I think that the new generation has come to terms with the loss, and not just people. Of course, by age they are far from the end of their lives. But consider how much they have lost in recent years. We, the older generation, have lived years of prosperity, which often leads away from the elementary and fundamental things of life,” she notes, speaking to “K” about the “great experience of performing in front of a children’s audience”, according to her, Iota Festa, who plays the role of Ms. Zezeman, modern grandmother. “She’s a city grandmother,” adds the seasoned actress. “Very… cool grandma. He rides, he’s… cool!” comments Christina Brekou, who plays Clara, the granddaughter of Mrs. Sesemann, with a laugh.

“I belong to a generation for which loss is not a topic that we are not ashamed to talk about. All three children in the story are orphans. It touches me that we touch on such topics, ”says Christina. “I think Clara’s ‘my dear parents/ you show me the land/ I’ll keep them to myself/ who’s all gone but is’ lyric is nuclear to the message of the work,” he adds.

So how do we talk to children about loss? Io Vulgaraki replies: “Honest and focused on what can be the miracle of life. Like, for example, the importance of living together and moving forward with optimism in life.”