Jake Mace
Evie Demetriou has arrived at Catania OFF Fringe Festival from Cyprus today to begin performances of her show WHO CARES, described as blending the boundaries of dance, performance and physical theatre to explore gender, personal identity to explore what we regard good for ourselves and for our bodies. We caught up with Evie for a pixelated pint to find out more about what inspired the show and what the audience can expect.
You can catch WHO CARES as part of Catania OFF Fringe Festival at ZO Centro Culture Contemporanee – SALA VERDE at various times every day until Sunday 26th October. Tickets are available through the Catania OFF Fringe Festival Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Evie – WHO CARES explores the tensions created between what we regard good for ourselves and for our bodies through the lens of gender and personal identity. Tell us what inspired the piece.
Evie: Through the different roles I’ve had in life, daughter, student, performer, partner, mother, citizen, I realised how the body is often shaped and controlled by institutions like family, school and the state, each imposing its own desires and politics.
Especially during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when the research for the performance started, our bodies were suddenly at the centre of attention. It was a time that exposed social inequalities and raised urgent questions about care: What does self-care really mean? How do we care for others? And how do governments choose to “care” for their citizens when decisions are made from the top down? It was a time when my body wanted to explode with everything it had to express, and that’s where it all started.
Jake: Tell us about your process and your collaboration with dramaturg Guy Cools.
Evie: Guy Cools was a major part of the process, as we explored together both my personal thoughts and the wider social context. We worked on bringing personal experiences and feelings to the stage, while also opening them up to a broader perspective.
We initially collaborated online, exchanging videos, written materials and references. Later, we met in Vienna, where he was based at the time, and experimented with the material we worked on: movement, text and ideas to build a dramaturgy that could take the audience on a journey.
Jake: You’re taking the piece to Catania Fringe this week – tell us about planning your tour and what you’re most excited for.
Evie: WHO CARES is a performance that premiered in 2021 in Cyprus. Since then, it has been presented at various festivals across different cities and islands, including Stockholm, Reykjavik, La Palma – Tenerife (Gran Canaria), Palermo, Bastia (Corsica), Gothenburg and Turku.
For 2025, it’s part of a tour that includes three different solo works. We have already performed in Panama City (Central America) and at the Dissidanse Festival in Ajaccio, and now we’re thrilled to be heading to Fringe Catania Off and collaborating with Zo Cultural Centre. Next stops include the Voila! Festival in London and then at Festival Les Inclassables in Nice.
Planning a tour is both exciting and challenging for me. The preparation depends on each festival, especially in terms of communicating the work, and there’s also a lot of logistical planning. I love the creative part, revisiting performances, rehearsing, growing and evolving with the work, it is an incredible feeling.
What excites me most is sharing the performance with a new audience, meeting inspiring people from around the world and being immersed in the vibrant atmosphere of the festival, full of performances, exchanges and unexpected encounters.
Jake: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Evie: The audience enters while I’m lying on the stage, listening to the song Under Pressure, the version by Karen O and Willie Nelson. It’s a gentle, intimate first encounter with the stage and the performance, a slow and soft beginning that invites the audience into the atmosphere of the piece.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Evie: The performance explores a range of themes — some communicated through narrative, others in a more abstract way. It speaks about violence, about beauty standards and the fear of ageing. It raises questions of care. It also expresses a deep love for the sea and the incredible power of the waves.
So, to answer your question, I hope the audience connects with one or more of these themes, feels the energy of the performance and perhaps leaves with an open window for reflection, a conversation about what we care for, both as individuals and as a society.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Evie: A Margarita! A frozen Margarita — blended with ice. It has that mix of sweetness and saltiness, it’s strong yet refreshing. It’s a drink full of contradictions, just like WHO CARES, bold and powerful at times yet intimate and vulnerable.
A reminder, you can catch WHO CARES as part of Catania OFF Fringe Festival at ZO Centro Culture Contemporanee – SALA VERDE at various times every day until Sunday 26th October. Tickets are available through the Catania OFF Fringe Festival Online Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
Lamesha Ruddock
