THE SOUVLAKI PROJECT
THEATRE PERFORMANCE / 2024 / 50 MINUTES  / GREECE

The Souvlaki Project takes us to a small Greek island, exploring the experience of place through the lens of tourism. Two Greek women working through the summer season and two American women in love weave a story around a souvlaki, ultimately questioning what connects us to a place.

​

Following its official selection in the Podcast Competition of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (2024), The Souvlaki Project was adapted for the stage by Nalia Ziku and the FAMA theatre collective, based on a text by Sofia Gourgouliani.

On a small tourist island, two women work in different restaurants. One is a waitress at a local “gourmet” restaurant, while the other grills meat and wraps souvlaki at a nearby shop. Their repetitive lives unfold against the exhausting rhythm of the summer tourist season, yet they continue to dream of travel, freedom, and different futures.

​

Their routine is briefly but profoundly disrupted when two American women, travelling as a couple, arrive at both establishments one evening in search of souvlaki.

​

Combining theatre, original music, sound design, and video mapping, The Souvlaki Project explores tourism, seasonal labour, desire, and belonging, using Greece's most iconic street food as a starting point for an audiovisual reflection on the meaning of place.