Martha Foka
Set & Costume Designer - Mask Maker
60 designers
57 projects
Set & costume designer and mask maker. She studied at the Drama Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 2009, she attended a seminar on leather mask making conducted by Donato Sartori in Padova, Italy. She has collaborated with the National Theatre of Northern Greece, National Theatre of Greece, Greek National Opera, Cyprus Theatre Organisation, Theatre of Thessaly, Municipal and Regional Theatre of Serres, Sfendoni, Horos Theatre, Black Box Theatre (Holstebro, Denmark) et.al., as well as with Athens Epidaurus Festival, Kypria Festival, Cyprus Choreography Platform (Limassol, Cyprus), UTE Festival (Romania), Die sieben leben des Maximilian – Festival für aktuelles musiktheater an sieben orten (Land Tirol, Austria) et.al. Since 2008 she has regularly collaborated with director Simos Kakalas. She has also collaborated with directors and choreographers including Michael Marmarinos, Giannis Rigas, Anna Kokkinou, Eleni Efthymiou, Rimini Protokoll, Angelos Frantzis, Fotis Nikolaou, Antonis Foniadakis et.al. She taught theatre mask making at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (2018-19) and at drama schools, Municipal and Regional Theatres in Greece.
The masks for the performance were designed and created in the winter of 2019-20. After reading the heart-wrenching Aglaja Veteranyi’s autobiographical novel, I felt the need to isolate myself for as long as possible to devise and fulfill my artistic intention. Sadly, I could not imagine that isolation was going to be our future for the following years, or that the word “mask” would assume a different aspect in our everyday life. Having worked with the director for almost 15 years, the first rehearsal with masks coming alive by actors was one of the most sentimental moments of our collaboration and furthered our artistic work. The performance premiered on March 7, 2020. On March 12, theatres in Greece have to close for the first time and the show is abruptly and permanently discontinued, after only two performances.
Author: Aglaja Veteranyi
Translation: Sofia Georgakopoulou
Adaptation – Direction – Musical Supervision: Simos Kakalas
Adaptation – Musical Supervision – Director’s assistant: Dimitris Kalakidis
Set & Costume Design: Giannis Katranitsas
Μasks: Martha Foka
Puppets: Stathis Markopoulos
Lighting Design: Panagiotis Lampis
Video – Video Mapping: Kleanthis Karapiperis
Photos: Mike Rafail
The masks for the performance were designed and created in the winter of 2019-20. After reading the heart-wrenching Aglaja Veteranyi’s autobiographical novel, I felt the need to isolate myself for as long as possible to devise and fulfill my artistic intention. Sadly, I could not imagine that isolation was going to be our future for the following years, or that the word “mask” would assume a different aspect in our everyday life. Having worked with the director for almost 15 years, the first rehearsal with masks coming alive by actors was one of the most sentimental moments of our collaboration and furthered our artistic work. The performance premiered on March 7, 2020. On March 12, theatres in Greece have to close for the first time and the show is abruptly and permanently discontinued, after only two performances.
Set & costume designer and mask maker. She studied at the Drama Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 2009, she attended a seminar on leather mask making conducted by Donato Sartori in Padova, Italy. She has collaborated with the National Theatre of Northern Greece, National Theatre of Greece, Greek National Opera, Cyprus Theatre Organisation, Theatre of Thessaly, Municipal and Regional Theatre of Serres, Sfendoni, Horos Theatre, Black Box Theatre (Holstebro, Denmark) et.al., as well as with Athens Epidaurus Festival, Kypria Festival, Cyprus Choreography Platform (Limassol, Cyprus), UTE Festival (Romania), Die sieben leben des Maximilian – Festival für aktuelles musiktheater an sieben orten (Land Tirol, Austria) et.al. Since 2008 she has regularly collaborated with director Simos Kakalas. She has also collaborated with directors and choreographers including Michael Marmarinos, Giannis Rigas, Anna Kokkinou, Eleni Efthymiou, Rimini Protokoll, Angelos Frantzis, Fotis Nikolaou, Antonis Foniadakis et.al. She taught theatre mask making at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (2018-19) and at drama schools, Municipal and Regional Theatres in Greece.
Author: Aglaja Veteranyi
Translation: Sofia Georgakopoulou
Adaptation – Direction – Musical Supervision: Simos Kakalas
Adaptation – Musical Supervision – Director’s assistant: Dimitris Kalakidis
Set & Costume Design: Giannis Katranitsas
Μasks: Martha Foka
Puppets: Stathis Markopoulos
Lighting Design: Panagiotis Lampis
Video – Video Mapping: Kleanthis Karapiperis
Photos: Mike Rafail
