Young stage director explores roots of violence against women

A play by up-and-coming director Christina Matthaiou giving voice to female victims of violence opens at PLYFA, a former textile factory in Athens’ Votanikos district, on Monday, after earning accolades at the Off-Off Festival of the capital’s Epi Kolono theater. “Vaiza” is based chiefly on poet Pantelis Boukalas’ “My Speechless Apple Tree,” which refers to the honor killing of a young woman in Mani. “The story of Milia is set in 1867, but the way we see things today hasn’t changed that much,” says Matthaiou, pointing to a spate of killings of women in Greece in recent years. “I was not interested in the actual incident of femicide, as much as in the root of the problem,” she says of her debut play.