Up next at UCy’s 28th Cultural Festival in downtown Nicosia is a production by the Theatrical Workshop of the University of Cyprus (Thepak). This Thursday, June 26, at the Michalis Pieris Cultural Centre, the workshop will present the comedy Constantinople by Demosthenes K. Misitzis, titled Fiakas.

The central character of the play is an indebted swindler, also known as Fiakas, who struggles to escape his creditors and secure a better life for himself. To achieve this, he impersonates a baron in order to win the heart of the wealthy spinster Evanthia and obtain access to her dowry.

Gullible Evanthia, fascinated by titles of nobility and motivated by her desire to improve her social status, falls into the protagonist’s trap. However, things go awry when Fiakas’ true identity risks being revealed, and the whole fraudulent scheme he has devised is about to be unravelled.

This 1870 comedy, which satirises the social trends of that era – still persisting today – presents the authentic atmosphere of multicultural Constantinople in the 19th-century.

The audience will enjoy the comical misunderstandings that arise between the characters and offer moments of laughter amid the twists and turns that come about.

The comedy is presented again, after 26 years, reviving a performance that was, back in 1999, the second theatrical production of Thepak.

Fiakas

Cypriot play by the Theatrical Workshop of the University of Cyprus. Party of the 28th Cultural Festival of the University of Cyprus. June 26. Michalis Pieris Cultural Centre UCY, Nicosia. 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-894531-2, www.ucy.ac.cy