KIKI AND KOKO GO LOCO
2024
The latest clown performance is proud to have its international premiere in May 2024 at Thessaloniki Fringe Festival. This is the third creation and authentic production by the collective featuring the Art of Clowning, with the already established duo Kiki and Koko, played by Natalia Panagiotou and Annie Sofocleous respectively.
The two protagonists are long time friends who end up at a mental asylum due to their genuine belief that humans can fly. They’ve always struggled with finding their place in society, Kiki being extremely demanding with her needs and Koko suffering from agora-sickness. Their mission is to prove their sanity to the rest of the mental asylum patients who are eagerly observing. The only way to do that, and the biggest challenge they face, is to actually fly out of there.
The performance explores themes of mental health, diversity, societal rejection or approval as well as friendship. At the core, this hilarious duo wishes to show the beauty of human resilience despite continuous failure.
Overall this is an audacious attempt to challenge the social norms of today's nonsensical world and stoke the flames of unapologetic human expression.
The Magic Circle
2022-2023
Yasemin collective presents this very special performance involving a multitude of accomplished artists who each stand out in their field.
Actors, dancers, musicians, jugglers, acrobats and clowns give space to artistic creation, expression, entertainment while also considering the society as a whole.
The Amphitheater of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Eleftheria Square and Spyros Kyprianou Park in Aglantzia have been transformed into the arena for the unfolding of the story of The Magic Circle. The audience witnesses the magic cycle of life, revealing both its ups and downs.
The intense physicality of the show makes it highly accessible to everyone regardless of language, nationality or any disability.
#tombola
2022-2024
Η ομάδα Γιασεμίν συνεχίζοντας την έρευνα της με άξονα το παιχνίδι και την κυπριακή πραγματικότητα και μετά από ένα χρόνο παραστάσεων με το έργο #kazanτί, επιστρέφει με το νέο της εγχείρημα #tombολα, στα πλαίσια του Φεστιβάλ Πάμε Καϊμακλί / Let's Go Kaimakli 2022.
Η #tombολα 'παίχτηκε' έπειτα στο Εντός των Τεχνών, στο 'Μαγικό Πάρκο' του Δήμου Αγλαντζιάς και στην Κοινότητα Αμαργέτης στην Πάφο.
Διαδραστική παράσταση ή αλλοιώς ένα κοινωνικό πείραμα όπου μέσα από καυστικότητα, κριτική, σαρκασμό και χιούμορ παίζονται παιχνίδια εξουσίας και δύναμης. Ο κόσμος καλείται να έρθει να παίξει ένα διαφορετικό είδος τόμπολας, και η παράσταση ξεδιπλώνεται με τη βοήθεια του κοινού.
Έρευνα, δημιουργία και περφορμανς: Αννη Σοφοκλέους, Δέσποινα Χρυσάνθου, Ναταλία Παναγιώτου
Παραγωγή: Ομάδα Γιασεμίν
The New Reality Show
2021 - 2022
The clown performance 'The New Reality Show' addresses an adult audience.
To date the performance has been presented at 'Synaxi' Festival in Limassol, at Nicosia Pop-Up Festival, at Yfantourgeio, at Entos Twn Texnwn and at Anti-skino Theatre Festival.
The realities presented to us today (during pandemic times) could be taken out of a science fiction scenario. The 'two meters of physical distance' rule is the perfect formula suggested to express love and care toward our fellow humans. The normalisation of the new "contact regulations" inspires a show with 2 women clowns as protagonists who are in the process of making sense of a new reality, in a world that doesn't feel so familiar anymore.
The audience becomes witness to what happens in the sessions between the expert and the sufferer. The ultimate goal is social and self acceptance, which turns out to be much more difficult than it seems.
The immediacy and honesty that possesses the Art of the Clown, turns the audience's gaze inward, facing from a safe distance their own sensitivities, weaknesses, blunders, failures, flaws, hopes, everything that makes them Human.
Physical Theater - Clown
The performance addresses an adult audience
Suitable for all regardless of spoken language.
Creation & interpretation: Anne Sofokleous & Natalia Panagiotou
#kazanτί
05/12/2020 - 06/12/2021
The very first theatrical production by Yasemin collective.
In search of the 'Cypriot identity' the collective observes a great confusion, or bafflement. This tragicomic puzzlement and disorientation of pinpointing our congruity and belonging found a way to relate to "Kazanti", the traditional Cypriot lucky game.
Having a multinational character itself, Kazanti in its nature is found in constant movement, shifting from one place to another, achieving omnipresence on the island. With a humorous approach, the performance #kazanτί Investigates the meanings of play, of luck and of identity. In the Turkish language, "kazanmak" translates to "win, gaining wealth", relating to the main identity of the game itself. The question is placed, what are we winning in the end, and what are we losing?
This work premiered at Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2020 in December 2020, in Nicosia. It continued its long trip to theatres, streets, squares, in towns and villages from one side of the island to the other, closing its one-year cycle on 6th December 2021 with its last performance at Flea Theatre in Nicosia.
People of Faneromeni
02 September 2021
Yasemin Collective in collaboration with the research team 'People of Cyprus' joined forces for the creation of the theatrical production 'People of Faneromeni' which took place in the amphitheater of Bank of Cyprus Cultural centre at Arts Festival Faneromeni21.
The show takes us on an internal journey to the neighborhood of Faneromeni, along with the dreams, disappointments, desires, stories and the people that inhabit it. It reveals the life of the capital and the island with its multinational personality with a distinct taste joining the West to the East.
Research-Video: Iliana Koulafeti & Christos Michalaros
Artistic direction: Natalia Panagiotou
Script: Natalia Panagiotou, Iliana Koulafeti, Christos Michalaros
Actors: Andreas Koutsoumbas, Despina Chrysanthou, Rafaella Kavazi, Mohammed Awwad
Music: Vassilis Philippou
Actors: