lighting design

1953, a work by Christodoulos Panayiotou is a dramaturgical exercise in three acts, grounded in the facticity of the present. It seeks to reimagine the Rialto Theatre as a unified, fluid space, dissolving the boundaries between stage and auditorium, inside and outside, day and night. From sunset to sunrise, the performance unfolds as a shifting landscape where the dramatized and the real are interwoven, transforming Rialto into a site of continuous mutation, through a counterpoint of actions, voices, and images.

Spanning 15 hours, from dusk to dawn, the work traces a path from the detail to the collective, confronting the very limits of theatrical experience in time.

1953, the year of birth of scenographer Valentino Joseph and of Julie the elephant, sets the coordinates for a composition that mobilizes numerous contributors through a wide spectrum of collaborations and technological means.

• the work was presented for one night only at the Rialto Theatre in Limassol, Cyprus on November 1, 2025