Men, and their quest for freedom

The capital will give theatre goers – young and not so young – the chance to see some stage action on Saturday to enjoy a story of a boy and magic beans, or a story of two men who cannot avoid each other’s company.

As you may have guessed the one for the younger audience is Jack and the Beanstalk, staged by Cyprus Performing Arts. Brought up to date and a little closer to home, the mythical tale about a lazy teenager, Hackney-Jack, and his widowed mother, the widow Panyfeather, will be performed at Satiriko theatre on Saturday at 3pm and 7.30pm and on Sunday at 1pm and 7.30pm.

When Jack was a baby his family fled the magical city of Lapithos after a great big giant descended from the sky, stealing all their gold and eating all the baby boys. Jack’s mother has wrapped Jack in cotton wool ever since, rendering him very, very, very lazy. He may be lazy but he longs to help his cash-strapped widow mother and return to the forbidden city to reclaim his family’s treasures and defeat the Lapithos giant, but just before he does so must first defeat his addiction to Candy Crush.

So get the kids and give them the chance to follow Jack on his enchanted quest for love and justice.

For adult audiences, Alpha Square will present an adaptation of Manuel Puig’s novel Kiss of a Spider Woman as of Saturday at the ARTos Cultural and Research Foundation.

There are no women or spiders in this play, just two male characters who are trapped together in a cell in Villa Devoto, 1976, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The two men are Molina, a homosexual, and Valentin, a Marxist revolutionary. And the audience has no choice but to focus on the two characters and feel as trapped as they are.

Jack and the Beanstalk
Adaptation of the famous tale for stage by the Cyprus Performing Arts college. January 21-22. Satiriko Theatre, Nicosia. Friday: 3pm and 7.30pm, Saturday: 1pm and 7.30pm. €10. In English. Tel: 97-828730

Kiss of the Spider Woman
Adaptation of the novel by Manuel Puig. January 21 until February 12. ARTos Cultural and Research Foundation, 64 Ayion Omoloyiton Avenue, Nicosia. 8.30pm and 6.30pm on Sundays. €15. Tel: 22-445455

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