NINA RAPI

 

  • Nina Rapi writes plays (and occasionally short stories and essays). During lockdown she made her first short film, Stay still so you don't hurt, which has been screened in festivals in Prague, Paris, Oslo et al and has won 5 international awards.

  • Her plays include: What Reality? (New York 2021); Splinters (Athens, Berlin, Oxford University)Angelstate (published in English, Greek, Italian and Slovakian, 2017-2019); Wild Beats; Kiss the Shadow; Reasons to Hide; Edgewise; Lovers; Dreamhouse; Dance of Guns; Ithaka, as well as the libretto Raven Revisited & a number of shorts. Her plays have been produced or presented as staged readings at venues such as:  in the UK: Southbank Centre (London Literature Festival), Soho theatre studio, Lyric studio, Tristan Bates (Modern Greek Plays Festival/TheatreLab), ICA, Riverside studios, Gielgud theatre/West End Shorts/New Play Festival (London) & University of Oxford, Lee Simpkins Theatre. In Greece:  National theatre, Piraeus Theatre & Theatro Technis (Festivals of Rehearsed Readings); Stegi/Onassis Cultural Centre; Τheatro Empros (Queer Festival); Aggelon Vima; Theatre Argo & Theatre T. In India (Pirani, BITS Festival). And in New York online and live, rehearsed readings.

  • She is the recipient of two Arts Council writing awards, a group award (Raymond Williams), a Best Play Award (BITS Festival, India), High Recommendation (Future Perfect competition). She has also been shortlisted in numerous competitions, including BBC international short story competition.

  • Her collection of short stories State of Fugue/Κατάσταση Φούγκας was published in 2014 (Kedros, Athens)

  • Essays on her work by other writers and essays by her on aesthetics and sexuality have been published by Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Mimesis Edizioni, Cambridge Scholars Press, Harwood Academic Press, Oberon, Sokolis, among others.

  • She has taught Creative Writing at the Universities of London and Greenwich for many years.  She is also the founding editor of BrandLiteraryMagazine.


 

 

 http://www.ninarapi.com

                 

 

 




Overseas



PLAYS:

  • What Reality? Origin Theatre, New York, 2021

  • Splinters, The Team, New York, zoom reading, 2021; Theatro T, Thessaloniki, 2018; Simpkins Lee Theatre, University of Oxford, 2018; Theatro Argo, Athens, 2017

  • Raven Revisited, libretto, Theatro Voyiatzis/Kykladon, Athens, 2018

  • (Un)certainties, Rehearsed Reading, Theatre of Piraeus,  2018

  • Angelstate, Theatro Technis, Analogio Festival, Athens, 2015 (initial draft written with an Arts Council writing bursary). Published in English, Greek, Italian and Slovakian

  • WILD BEATS, produced at Aggelon Vima, Athens, 2015 & 2014 (also presented at Riverside Studios, March 2014 as staged reading)

  • AGAPI RE, performance, EMPROS theatre, Queer Festival, 2014, Athens

  • KISS THE SHADOW, Southbank Centre, London Literature Festival, July 2010 (performance of extract); Soho Theatre studio, June 2010 (performed presentation of full play); Lyric Theatre studio, Feb. 2010 (performed extract)

  • EDGEWISE, National Theatre of Greece, March 2010 (performed presentation, in Greek);  Also: Gate Theatre, London, 2003 (performed presentation)

  • REASONS TO HIDE, Tristan Bates Theatre, 2009, Modern Greek Plays Festival, TheatreLab

  • GENTLE PERSUASION, short play, SubVerse, Theatre 503, March 2006

  • LOVERS: Gielgud Theatre, West End Shorts Season, London New Play Festival 2001; its full-length version was a top finalist at the FuturePerfect competition 2000; workshop production Three Mills studio, 2000

  • TRICKY: monologue, Tart Gallery, 2001; published in New Monologues for Women by Women, eds. Tori Haring-Smith et all, Heinemman, 2005

  • NO TROUBLE: developed with a bursary/dramaturgy by Soho Theatre, 2001

  • JOSIE’S RESTROOMS: short monologue, ICA, Mardi Gras Arts Festival, 2000; published by Robinson, 2000


Earlier plays:

  • ITHAKA, Winner of Best Play Award, BITS Theatre Festival, Pirani, India, 1996; produced at the University of Reading, 1995; published in Seven Plays by Women, Aurora Metro, Raymond Williams  Group Award 1991; Riverside studios (staged reading), 1989.

  • DANGEROUS OASIS: monologue, Finborough Theatre, Award Winning Women's Work Season, 1993 (commission)

  • DANCE OF GUNS: London Tour, incl. Kings Head theatre, 1992 (commission)

  • DREAM HOUSE: Oval House Theatre, 1991 (commission)

  • JOHNNY IS DEAD: monologue, Etc Theatre, First London One Person Play Festival, 1990

  • CRITICAL MOMENTS: a trilogy of shorts, Soho Poly Theatre, 1990


SHORT STORIES:

  • Collection of short stories STATE OF FUGUE, published by KEDROS, Athens, Greece, 2014 (initial draft written with an Arts Council writing bursary)

  • PLAYING YO-YO AT WATERLOO BRIDGE, De(kata) Literary Magazine, (translated into Greek) Athens, Greece, 2012 & Polari Journal, Spring 2011

  • SCATMAN, De(kata) Lit. Mag., Athens, Spring 2010, (translated into Greek) & Pulp.Net Literary Magazine, Nov.2008

  • LA LUNA, 3:AM Magazine, Feb. 2009

  • THE MOMENT YOU SLIPPED, Tell Tales Volume III, 2006

  • NINE TRACES IN A CIRCLE: short stories, Thahemon Press, Greece 2006

  • FOREIGNER, Chroma Literary Magazine, issue one 2004, UK

  • LIGHT AND SHADE, commissioned/performed at NuisBlanche, Tart Gallery, 2001; published in Greece in Print, USA, Dec 2003

  • BABYBALL: finalist, BBC dot dot dot international short story comp'n 2000


EDITING:

  • Founding Editor, BRAND Literary Magazine, 2006 - 2012

  • Editor, Journeys: Inside/Out, Women Doing Time, Collage Arts, 2004

  • Co-editor with Maya Chowdhry of the book Acts of Passion: Sexuality, Gender and Performance, (book), Routledge, 1998

  • Arts Editor: Everywoman Magazine, 1995 – 1997

  • Founding Editor: GLINT Theatre Journal, 1993 – 1995


Books, Film, Short story, Theatre

EXTRACT FROM ANGELSTATE

ANOREXIC:   It's not guilt. I learnt guilt before I even learned to speak.

Guilt is part of what I'm made of, something I can handle.

So. It's not guilt. It's not fear either.

I learned fear the moment I learned to speak.

Fear feels like home. So. It's not fear either. (Pause)

It's doubt. That's what's killing me.

BODYGUARD:    She wanted to break that ice, she said,

the ice that kept me trapped,

the ice that kept me from feeling

all the love she could give me, all the.

Fuck. I can't deal with this shit.

BODYBUILDER: I didn't punish him though,

not the way he used to punish me.

That would be taking advantage

of a sick, old man. I couldn't do that.

PRIEST:             Aris is calmly waiting for me to stop breathing….

It’s like fighting a useless battle.

Yet something inside you,

survival instinct I suppose, urges you on.

Urges you on to fight. And you fight.

And I fought. I fought to start breathing again,

to come back to this reality.

And I did, I came back…Without him…

DOMINATRIX: His games became more and more dangerous.

He pushed things, he pushed me to the edge.

That's where he felt most alive.

'This is real’, he'd tell me, ‘everything else is a delusion'.

MERCENARY:   I've been in some deep shit in my life,

but I've never felt scared. Not until then. (Pause)

There was something about that boy’s eyes that chilled me to the bone.

I've got to finish this job, I told myself, I've got to finish it.

Light change.