Description

3rd Bell Opera, the highly successful interdisciplinary and educational program for primary schools, comes to GNO TV with the musical theatre performance Journey to the Land of the Ugly—a subversive production for children and adults alike who dare to be themselves.

The music is composed by Trevor Grahl, the libretto is by Adriana Minou, the musical ensemble is conducted by Kyriaki Kountouri, and the direction is by Theano Metaxa. The artistic team is completed by soprano Sofia Ketetzian and actor Ilias Vogiatzidakis.

The performance is the artistic outcome of the educational program 3rd Bell Opera, which is being implemented for the fifth consecutive year with the generous support of Piraeus Bank. The support of the educational program is part of the Bank’s multifaceted Corporate Responsibility initiative “Equall – For a Society of Equal People,” specifically within the New Generation pillar.

More than two hundred pupils from eleven primary schools in Attica took to the stage, transporting us to an improbable destination without… shape, where acceptance, solidarity, and equality take center stage. The journey begins in a strange world called Squareland, where emotions and differences have been abolished in favor of normality and uniformity. Within this monotonous environment, three children incompatible with the rules of this world embark on a journey in search of the Other—the unpredictable, the funny, the true.

The performance undertakes a profound exploration of the concepts of the “normal” and the “ugly” (the latter signifying the absence of shape), and, with humor and imagination, raises timely questions about stereotypes and prejudices.

Journey to the Land of the Ugly is not a work for flawless children and perfect adults. It is a work dedicated to all those who do not fit “within four right angles.”

The funding body of the project is the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" with funding from the European Union - NextGeneration EU.



The recording of the production took place at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Opera on May 25 and 26, 2025.

Creative team – Cast

Director's note

"Journey to the Land of the Ugly is a story about diversity, the need to belong, and the courage it takes to be oneself. The play is set in Squareland, a country where everything , including its inhabitants, is square. Everything in Squareland is square, even emotions. Three children who are different from the rest of the Squarelanders follow the riddle of the mysterious Queen Angle, searching for the enigmatic “happiness.” This leads them to the surreal Land of the Ugly, where they discover a world they had never imagined. Will the Ugly help them solve the riddle? Who wrote the ancient law of Squareland that allows you to be anything you want, as long as you are square? Will the three children succeed in bringing the message of true freedom to the Squarelanders?

Prompted by these and other questions, Journey to the Land of the Ugly highlights the value of acceptance, solidarity, equality, and critical thinking about stereotypes, prejudices, and all those things we accept blindly simply because that is how we were taught, not because they make our lives better. Through a play full of humor and imagination, children engage with these, highly relevant today, issues. Perhaps Journey to the Land of the Ugly can also be, for them, a journey toward self-knowledge, a deeper understanding of the world, and hope for a society with more open minds."

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