Why Gioconda Is Smiling

A theatrical journey into painting, where children meet great painters, colours and pictures, and go looking for what lies behind a smile.

What would happen if a girl escaped from a famous painting and decided to travel through the history of art? Greta, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, is tired of sitting still inside Vermeer’s painting. She has one destination in mind: she wants to reach Marc Chagall’s amazing circus. Only the way there is a little… complicated. First stop, the strange world of Salvador Dalí. The place where clocks melt and elephants have legs so long that they’re probably training to become basketball players.

Then Greta meets Leonardo da Vinci, tries out his incredible flying machines and finds herself face to face with the most famous lady in the world. Gioconda, the Mona Lisa. And of course she asks her the question we would all love to ask her:

Why are you smiling?

The adventure continues when Athanasios Diakos, as Theophilos painted him, appears in her path, together with figures from the Greek War of Independence. And somewhere around there, painting, history, imagination and theatre get well and truly mixed up. Will Greta make it to the show in the end? At Chagall’s circus, acrobats, clowns and music are waiting for her, along with a world where people can fly and colours obey no law at all.

‘Why Gioconda Is Smiling’ is a colourful theatrical adventure that invites children to step, quite literally, inside the paintings. With actors, original music, songs, comic scenes, video and modern digital media, great painters and famous works of art gain a voice, movement and character. Dalí talks about his strange world. Leonardo presents his machines and his ideas. For a while, the paintings stop being pictures hanging on the walls of a museum and become places where a story can happen.

Because a child’s first encounter with painting doesn’t have to start with dates and difficult words. It can start with a very simple question:

Why is Gioconda smiling, anyway?

Original Music: Kostas Charitatos
And joining them, with the help of technology: Salvador Dalí, Leonardo da Vinci, Athanasios Diakos, heroes of 1821 and figures from some of the most famous paintings in the world.
Text – Direction: Nikolas Kamtsis
Stage – Costume Design: Mika Panagou
Video – Editing: Antonis Koukouvelas
Choreography: Lamprini Thanou
Acting, speaking and singing: Lamprini Thanou, Marina Kosma

Organised performances for schools.
The performance can also be staged at your school.
Information – Bookings: 210 8656004

The performance is also available to schools as a live stream.