We sat down with Amalia Kontesi who with Special Someone Productions is bringing the world premiere of Home, Sweet Home to Riverside Studio’s Bitesize Festival in London this July (8-14th).
Six years after her childhood home was destroyed by wildfires, the show follows Ellie, who travels from London to Greece to prepare the home for sale.
Confronted by childhood nostalgia, family memories and the weight of loss, she reminisces on first kisses, first heartbreaks and first leaving – migrating to a new country, and what it means to leave ‘home’ behind.
Home, Sweet Home is a one-person show performed by Isidora Provatos, directed by Penny Gkritzapiand written by Amalia Kontesi.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
I am a writer and director living in London. Though I was born and raised in Greece, I have spent the vast majority of my adult life between North America and the UK and have been really keen for a long time to explore the complexity of identity for people who “straddle” multiple homes through theatre. That’s why writing something like “Home, Sweet Home” has been a long time coming. It’s an effort to encapsulate the experience of so many people who have had to migrate and redefine their understanding of themselves in new contexts, geographies and cultures.
Home, Sweet Home is an exploration of themes surrounding migration, the climate crisis and what ‘home’ means to the individual – could you tell us a little bit more about this?
The migrant experience and climate crisis intersect a lot more often than one may think. Not all regions in the world are as vulnerable to extreme weather events and that often has massive financial impact, leading to displacement and a profound sense of community loss.
The play itself focuses on how our sense of self – our memories, present experience and dreams for the future – are attached to the places where we grow up, live and work.
Ultimately, “Home, Sweet Home” is a coming-of-age story. And you can expect stories about first loves, teenage friendships, parental quarrels and daunting jobs, as you would in any other story about what it is to become an adult.
And
However, we tell these stories from the perspective of someone who has seen the place where they grew up destroyed by a climate emergency.
We explore how tangible and deeply personal an extreme event – like a wildfire – can be and what it means for our collective and individual identities.
What was the inspiration for creating the show?
All of the creatives involved in the show are migrants with close connections to Greece and we each have observed the rise in wildfires in the summer, and floods in the fall and winter over the past few years.
In the late 2000s, when I was still a teenager living in Greece, there were deadly, destructive fires in the Ilia version of Greece. About ten years later, I woke up in the U.S. to news about a fire having started in the Mati area of Greece. They turned out to be among the deadliest of the century to date and I found out that many friends – or their families – had a personal experience relating to the tragic events.
Everyone’s story was different – and the pain some have experienced as a result is tremendous – but the common thread across all the stories was the sense of losing a “safe space.” People didn’t only lose loved ones. They also struggled with losing their connection to a place that held so many of their life’s memories.
It is a type of “identity crisis” which, because of climate change, we are experiencing more and more over the years.
What do you want audiences to take away from watching Home, Sweet Home?
The whole team is hoping people will both laugh and cry at the show.
There are plenty of funny moments around the family coming together, the first rejection from a childhood crush, the first drink we have that makes us think we’re suddenly adults.
And there’s also an honest confrontation of what it means to have those memories tarnished by tragedy.
Ultimately, I hope the audience leaves feeling grateful for every place or person that has come through their life. And I hope they feel inspired to do their bit – small or large – to protect our planet and the vulnerable communities whose livelihoods are threatened by the ongoing environmental crisis.
How was the creative process? Did you find the process of making Home, Sweet Home different to your previous work?
We were very fortunate to get the opportunity to workshop the piece at Pinch of Vault one year ago, shortly after I completed the first draft of the play.
This was incredibly helpful because we immediately got audience feedback on what worked and what didn’t, which bits resonate and which didn’t quite fit the mould, and were able to revise the story for this upcoming run.
On a personal level, it is the first time that I am working on a piece set in Greece and that I am collaborating with a team that shares so much of my background. This has brought tremendous value to the creative process because we have all been able to contribute to the feel of the story.
Our common goal has been to use our personal experiences to tell a story that retains its authenticity but speaks to a broader audience.
Do you have any plans for future creative projects after Home, Sweet Home finishes its run at the Riverside Bitesize Festival
Preparations for this run are taking the biggest part of our time right now but our goal is to take Home, Sweet Home to as many places with vibrant migrant communities as possible.