Taverna Miresia – Mario Bella Anastasia
Beneath the buzzing neon lights of a family tavern, memories are stirring. Originally from Albania, Mario Banushi, Greek theatre’s rising star, presents a wordless play made of tableaux steeped in mystical beauty. A young man in a tiled bathroom drifts dreamlike through recollections of a life marked by the absence of his father, who has just died. This most banal household space thrums with spirits and becomes a safe haven for a grieving family, unsettling and sublime.
Mario Banushi conjures up loss, richly soundtracked by traditional songs and surrounded by the powerful women who shaped his life. Drawing on raw realism and atmospheric visuals alike, Taverna Miresia is a sensory feast, a visceral purification ritual. Its dreamlike sequences scramble what is real and create moments of grace beyond words, sculpted by poetry and light.
About the artist
Μario Βanushi (Athens)
Mario Banushi, only 26 years old and already a major figure in Greek theatre, looks at intimacy and family memories through moving stories that interweave dreams and reality.
Media Coverage
“Mario Banushi: Greek theatre’s shining new talent.”
Nikki Bedi, BBC News - The Arts Hour (United Kingdom)
“A Greek tragedy in a contemporary mould. A wordless production, the narrative is driven by the haunting vocals of Savina Yannatou, one of Greece’s pre-eminent singers.”
Arifa Akbar, The Guardian (United Kingdom)
“Absolutely poetic. A stunning processwork that bridges the gap that separates us from death. There’s no need for words to convey the remarkable stage performances of Mario Banushi.”
Nikos Xenios, Bookpress.gr (Greece)
“Banushi weaves together all the elements that accompany absence. Grief, lament and awkwardness, the void and loneliness are intertwined with the human need for survival, with a triumph of life over death.”
Argyro Bozoni, LiFo Mag (Greece)
“Taverna Miresia can move and touch hearts profoundly, everywhere.”
Stella Charami, Monopoli (Greece)
“A surreal atmosphere. Mario Banushi sheds light on the experience of death and mourning in a performance that does justice to pain and consolation processes.”
Ueli Bernayz, NZZ.ch (Switzerland)
“Visually striking. Some of these frames are likely to linger in our minds.”
Jozefina Komporaly + Katalin Demeter, The Theatre Times (Romania)
“The appeal of Banushi’s work lies in the way it intermixes religious imagery with the superstitious, the way it theatricalises the mystical, the way pain and memory are woven with folklore. The appeal lies in the atmospheric world-building, the intoxicating sense of the strange, the dash of old magic.”
Natasha Tripney, Café Europa (United Kingdom)
“Mario Banushi has shaken up the Athens theater scene.”
Ingo Starz, Onlinemerker.com (Greece)
“An exciting new talent.”
Michael Billington, The Guardian (United Kingdom)
Interview
“I chose to set the play in a bathroom, which is an extremely personal space, where we are alone, where the masks come off, and where are we take care of ourselves. It’s where we can be naked, physically and emotionally, and so it stands for transformation and rebirth; it’s where the characters purify their emotions, strip off their defenses, and reveal their vulnerabilities.”
Take advantage of our launch offer: 2 tickets for $120
