The play

Manos is a youth originally from Argos Orestiko, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany. He sits on a balcony along with his memories and recalls the years he lived in Greece and his first and only love, Maraki. He followed Maraki and came to Germany. There, far away from his home country, he experienced much that was negative and also much that was positive. Betrayals, intrigues contrasted with honest friendships.

And amongst all that there is powerful true love and finally the answer to the question: “Why not go back?”

Excerpt from the play

“Mr. Tasso, why don’t you go back?”, “I’ll tell you”, he says.

“Living here, do you go back to Greece?”

“Yes. At least every summer”, I respond.

“If you lived back in Greece, would you return to Germany?”

“Naaaah, I don’t think so”, I say.

“So where is it better, then?”

Alexandros Ivanidis

Alexandros Ivanidis was born in May 1978 in Larisa. In 1991 he and his family emigrated to Germany. He enrolled in learning courses in various schools and published his first book, How Greek are you? In 2016. Since that time he has been engaged in writing one act plays and from 2018 to the present day he has taken seminars in Creative Writing, Theatre Writing, Criminology and much else at private and public schools (NCUA).

Directorial note

A diary, a confession, a life lesson, a bittersweet play that talks about the power of man, a brave personal narrative that ends up making you smile and cry out “However hard it is, life is beautiful”.

Love as a motivating force, love as the only thing we have at our disposal, the hardships and disappointments as well as the struggle for a better tomorrow deluge this monologue, which could be the life of any one of us. Our people are our only homeland.

A young man, with a deep love of Greece, emigrates to Germany. The struggle to make a living, kindness, the harsh capitalist system, betrayals, living in a foreign country and how this affects our inner and outer world, Love that always triumphs, the light and darkness inside us. [Enke Fezolari]

Why not go back?

Playwright: Alexandros Ivanidis

Director: Enke Fezolari