Theatres and museums are able to open as of Monday as details of what will be staged remain unclear the idea of being in a theatre chair seems slightly closer now, although only 50 tickets will be sold many empty chairs will be left behind. Interestingly enough, empty chairs are the theme of an upcoming online theatre performance.

Enacttheatre is presenting a Greek-language adaptation of Eugene Ionesco’s play The Chairs, which was first staged in 1952. In the play, two elderly people create an absurd scenario conversing with invisible guests on empty chairs and that was also the case for the actors recording the play in an empty, audience-less theatre.

“With the new measures,” says the theatre group, “we found ourselves in an empty theatre playing theatre. And that says a lot about today. The whole play has something very dead. Numb. 68 years after the play was written, it is more relevant today than ever before as it is a tragic prank. The phenomenon of social distancing we have lived through, identifies our experience with the two protagonists of the play. Two elderly people are isolated in a house, and shortly before they end their lives, they imagine that they are inviting people to their house to announce their message. This message is absolutely nothing. Time flows torturously through the repetition of a crazy game with invisible guests and a scene full of suffocating chairs that remain empty.”

The theatre group will present pre-recorded performances on www.viva.gr from February 5 to 7 at 9pm with tickets costing €5. The seats may be empty but the audience is there, right?

The Chairs

Online theatre performance by enacttheatre. Adaptation of Eugune Ionesco’s 1952 play. February 5-7. On viva.gr. 9pm. €5. In Greek