Writer Constantine Markides and gold medal US Olympic swimmer Anthony Ervin have united their talent, love of swimming and life adventures to bring their co-written book Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian to life. Whilst positive book reviews pour in, the men have embarked on further challenges: a new novel and training for the 2016 Olympics 2016 respectively.

39-year-old American born Cypriot Markides is the son of Kyriakos Markides, professor of sociology at the University of Maine who has successfully published nine books which have been translated into 13 languages, so writing seems to run in the family.

The younger Markides says he has always had an insatiable appetite to explore the world and write about it. In between performing random odd jobs to free up time to write, he’s been published in anthologies, literary magazines and even created and hosted a participatory literary reality show called ‘Fourth Fiction.’ He also worked and travelled as a journalist for the Cyprus Mail in the early 2000s. However, his big break came when he wrote an article about Ervin for Rolling Stone magazine.

Thirty-four-year-old Ervin, of Jewish and African-American descent, made many waves in the swimming world. He won two Olympic medals in the 2000 Olympics – a gold medal in the men’s 50-metre freestyle, and a silver medal as a member of the US relay team in the 4×100-metre freestyle event – as well as two World Championship golds. He became the first swimmer of African-American descent to medal in Olympic swimming.

However at age 22, he burnt out; auctioned off his gold medal to charity and quit competitive swimming. Diagnosed with Tourette’s as a teenager, Ervin had always felt an outsider, and that feeling hadn’t gone away; so he turned heavily to the comfort of drugs and women, free falling into pits of depression.

Ervin’s comeback was gradual. Initially, lack of money brought him back into swimming; coaching children. Getting back into the pool however, helped him kick his destructive habits and in 2011 Ervin began training again. In 2012 he was fit and able enough to compete in the London Olympics where he came fifth. Now, he’s preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

As a private swimming instructor and tutor in New York, Markides first met Ervin whilst coaching and teaching swimming to children in New York. Ervin had been out of the swimming world for a while by then, but “when Ervin started competing and swimming fast again, I proposed a magazine piece about him. That led to the 2012 Rolling Stone article, which later led to a book deal,” says Markides.

The book; Chasing Water, a sports biography about Ervin is a collaborative, original piece of work by the two men which will be released on April 5.

Chasing Water is published in April

It’s already received excellent reviews. According to SwimSwam, “most memoirs from Olympians are puff pieces; ghost-written so blandly you fall asleep trying to make it to the end of the first chapter. Chasing Water is the opposite of that, an intimate, visceral experience you will appreciate.”

The two friends pooled their skills together for two years, although the book proposal alone took another year. “Anthony is restless. He likes stirring the waters and defying expectations and he’s also attracted to the bizarre. So we make a good fit. And I think because we are such good friends, we could go to some dark places in the book where others may not have been able to go to,” says Markides.

In between Ervin’s training schedule and Markides’ next project, the guys will be busy touring America from April to promote the book. Markides will be launching it in Cyprus at the end of May.

Still, Markides is eager to move on. “Once I finish a book, I want nothing more to do with it. The goal is to get rid of it, to get the tiger off your back. You write to get free from it.”

His next project is a novel which both Markides and his agent are excited about. “It’s stylistically simpler than my other manuscripts, and I hope more seductive. It deals with the changing nature of sexuality and relationships. It’s also filthy! The only way I’ll publish it is if my parents pledge never to read it. It’s set primarily in New York City, but two of the main characters are Cypriots.”

No matter where the book or their life paths reach, the two men will remain firm friends.

“We spent a couple of weeks on Monhegan, an island off the coast of Maine, plotting out every chapter, and discussing the voicing and stylistic changes. It was just the two of us in a house for two weeks. It was an intense time, especially as he had to revisit some of the darker periods of his life. We also had plenty of brawls along the way,” says Markides. “But it all worked out for the best in the end. We’re good friends.”

 Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian is available for preorder.

http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Water-OlympianAnthony-Ervin/dp/1617754447

It’s a Tuesday night and I sit alone in the atmospheric old schoolhouse style gastro bar The Winery. With its renovated yellow brick walls and large windows inviting you to peek, The Winery stands proud in a terraced block of historic buildings in a side street off Ledra.

It’s a pleasant experience because it’s an inviting venue. It’s a sit down place for 30somethings to enjoy good alcohol with larger than average portions of tasty Tapas. The owner is also a bit of a whiskey fan, which reflects in the variety of premium whiskeys on offer.

The venue is beautiful. With its high ceilings, the two-room bar looks and feels both huge and cosy. It’s been renovated inside and out to a high standard. It consists of a large main room with eight high tables of varying sizes and eclectic furnishing; stacks of books on high bookshelves line the walls. The interior is reminiscent almost of an English headmaster’s office, yet it feels homely. The floors are black and white check with vintage looking clocks hanging randomly and impressive industrial metal tubes pinned from the ceiling.

Further large glass windows take you out to a courtyard style smoking area. It also has a high roof which opens and closes depending on the weather. The whole place deceptively looks bigger than it is, with a chilled, satisfying and classy atmosphere.

The music style as a whole is funky jazz and allows people to natter, whilst the staff weave in an out almost unnoticed. The menus arrive including for weekend brunch when a live DJ plays on a Sunday from 11 to 4. The wine menu is the size of a manuscript, big but not overwhelming. It helps you search the wines by taste not just names or countries, which for a wine novice like myself is great. However, the real highlight of The Winery is that is produces its own wine right in front of you, well actually in beautiful stainless steel containers behind the bar. It prides itself on selling red, white and rosé vino from the tap as well as over 200 different bottles of wine from 15 different countries. Their own wine is made in such a way that it is ready to drink, the whole process taking five months.

The gin cocktail menu is what ultimately spoke to me, with original and thoughtful choices. I opted for the Aroma Gin & Tonic and was mighty satisfied. Subtle and incredibly aromatic, the beverage is served in tall, bowl-shaped glasses from which a delicate, sweet rose scent hits the ‘nose buds’ before the subtle fusion of Hendricks gin, dried berries, whole cardamom and dried roses comes together to create a fresh, light kick. Cocktails range from €5 to €9.

There is a huge selection of wines by the glass with a walled chalk board acting as the menu. It changes monthly, so by the end of the year every bottle they sell will have been available to try by the glass. There are currently 14 to choose from.

The Winery
Where: Lykourgou street, old Nicosia
When: Monday-Friday 6pm-2am, Saturday and Sunday 10am-2am
Bookings: for half of the capacity, allowing for walk-ins. Fridays and Saturdays are incredibly busy so best be in that 50% reserved!
Contact: 22 511925, facebook.com/TheWineryWineBar
Price: cocktails €5-9, wine by the glass from €5

Members of the Buyuk Han Coffee Club are a living testament of what reunification could look like on the island.

Irrespective of the state of the reunification talks, this 20 something strong group of Greek and Turkish like minded Cypriots have been sharing coffee, opinions and laughter every Saturday in Nicosia’s Buyuk Han (the island’s largest caravanserai) since 2004.

Along the way; they have attracted hundreds of visitors including Cypriots from both sides of the divide, sightseers, politicians, journalists, ambassadors and UN delegates.

What Cyprus problem? That’s the question you might be tempted to ask on a sunny spring Saturday morning as the group tease each other over coffee, laughing, discussing politics and speaking each others’ languages, or at least attempting to.

Weather and life permitting, the core coffee club group which began with four members – Greek Cypriot Andreas Paralikis and three Turkish Cypriots Hasan Çirakli, Suleyman Erguclu and Hasip Erel – now has between 15 – 25 attendees come rain or shine, 52 Saturdays of the year. As the sound of jovial banter grows and tables are added to in an ever expanding row, it’s difficult to comprehend that 42 years ago some of these very people would have been pointing guns and forced to shoot at one another.

Some outsiders have called them traitors, others recognise the respect and friendships between them, yet the progressive thinking group of friends shrug off ‘naysayers’ and continue committed to their vision, that a shared future is possible.

some of the group members at the Buyuk Khan in northern Nicosia last week

It all began in 1974 when Paralikis’ world was cut in half. As an 18-year-old, he’d barely had the time to explore much of his own land. All his family came from Morphou but he was brought up in Varosha. He decided that whatever happened, he’d be part of the solution, not the problem.

“So when the checkpoints opened in 2003, it felt like a blessing, it was like the other half of my country was coming back to me. It was an opportunity to make new friends and work towards a solution, to be part of it,” said Paralikis.

Economist and general manager of a printing company, Paralikis decided to begin the process by tracking down his two Turkish Cypriots classmates from his time at the English School. They had disappeared following the coup and Turkey’s invasion in 1974.

“I was actually one of the first people in the queue in April 2003 on the day the checkpoint first opened.” Unable to track down his old classmates he was sent to speak to another English School graduate Çirakli, a fellow economist who owns a family grocery shop next to Agia Sophia Cathedral in Nicosia. “I walked into Hasan’s shop and looked at him. I said ‘are you my classmate Hassan Ahmet?’ he said ‘no, but I can help you find him’. Since then, we’ve became close friends.”

Çirakli helped find Paralikis’ classmates, one is a doctor who lives in Famagusta and the other lives in America. He doesn’t see them often because of the distances but they still keep in touch. However, Çirakli soon enough introduced Paralikis to other likeminded Cypriots; businessman Hasip Erel and chief editor of Kibris newspaper Suleyman Erguclu. Together, the four men became the founders of the Buyuk Han Coffee Club. Over time, one friend brought another then another and the coffee club grew, sharing coffees and occasional weekends together exploring the island; at times with a group of 30 people strong.

“The coffee club frequently receives guests who just feel like spending time with this multicultural, multi-religious group and breathe the air of the new country we are trying to establish,” said Paralikis, adding that these have included politicians, diplomats, UN staff, singers, poets and authors.

Last Saturday, the club received a special visit from UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide.

UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide

“It’s an inspiring story that they’ve kept this tradition going for 12 years,” Eide told the Sunday Mail. “I think that grass roots activities are better when they’re actually created at grass roots; made by the people themselves, giving direct personal exposure to the ‘other’. When people meet each other face to face and get to know each other better, you change from the collective perspective of a group, to a personal opinion on a group of individuals.”

The ease between all the members is infectious. Laughter, teasing, pet names and full belly laughs surround the table. There’s only one rule in coffee club, if it starts getting too serious, then Erguclu or one of the other members break out into funny songs to disperse any tension. It’s rarely needed.

“I come here to enjoy myself with friends and get rid of the stresses of the week” explained Erguclu.

In the early days, the friends made attempts to learn each other’s language. “Hasan and Hasip attended Greek lessons for three months, graduating only with the knowledge of halia (terrible) and pseftis (liar),” teased Paralikis. Çirakli and Erel giggle heartily at their alleged shortcomings.

Despite the fun, there is a united political agenda behind it.

“All members, including the many visitors who join us, see a future Cyprus being a united multi-cultural federation, hopefully demilitarised. We place a strong emphasis on our Cypriot identity which is neither Greek nor Turkish,” said Paralikis.

Beneath the laughter and good times are people who work hard to change the mindset of prejudice and ignorance, many working with NGOs to influence positive change on their respective sides. The club chooses ultimately to connect on commonalities and respect differences.

In 2007 German journalist Daniel Steinvorth from Der Spiegel magazine visited the group and conducted an interview. At the time, Paralikis’ son was serving his military service in the National Guard as was Erguclu’s in the Turkish Cypriot army.

“They probably found themselves face to face in two different posts in the Nicosia. Daniel said to me ‘you mean your children are somewhere holding guns at each other and you are sitting here having coffee? You are like traitors.’ He called the article the traitors club. We told him that there were some members of both communities that would accuse us of having coffee with the enemy,” said Paralikis.

“When you have country which is very starkly defined by conflict, like the Balkans were, the problem before the war was not about the ‘others’ but more about the actual people on the same side as each other, but who were willing to reach out and connect with the ‘other’. The more people talk and connect with the other, then the easier reunification will be,” said Eide.

“Right now there are pro reunification negotiations by the two leaders which are supported by me, but at the end of the day, it’s about the people.”

And no one knows that better than the members of the Buyuk Han Coffee Club.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a big, loud, atmospheric and long awaited epic which should most definitely be watched at the cinema. This onscreen union of DC Comic’s leading characters Batman and Superman has had fans waiting for what seems like eons to watch and as a whole, it doesn’t disappoint. Batman v Superman is not the Marvel action style movie that many have become accustomed to. It’s not colourful, cheeky or greatly character driven, it is instead dark, original, broody and a powerful contender in the comic book movie genre.

Co-starring Henry Cavill as the virtually invincible Superman with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, the Batman v Superman is the latest notch in director Zack Snyder’s belt. As was originally planned by Snyder, the movie has succeeded in taking inspiration from the Batman series The Dark Night Returns in terms of being intense and gritty in nature but it’s also managed to ally Superman’s chirpier Smallville reality within it. Batman v Superman works within an original premise, bringing the two worlds together as a potential solution to the larger interplanetary threat.

The film runs several parallel subplots and unfortunately not all of them have a clear purpose. The main strain is about the vigilante Batman fearing what would happen if this god like alien Superman should be kept unchecked. He therefore travels to Metropolis to preemptively combat Superman, where all hell breaks loose. Meanwhile a greater threat, in the shape of an oddly played Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) endangers humankind. Notorious baddy Luthor plots and schemes in between inconsistent character twitches and mindless verbal diarrhea, to turn the superheroes against each, however the whys and motives are vague and weak.

Viewers are invited into a world where after years of Superheroing our protagonists experience some kind of existential crisis. Parallel to the politics of our time, where accountability and transparency are demanded from those in positions of power, the film shows a ‘new’ world where superheroes accountability is questioned and where (small spoiler alert) two powers eventually overcome their differences to fight a common enemy threatening humanity. The film also marks the first appearance of DC comic characters Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash and Aquaman in live-action. Interestingly enough, though Wonder Woman’s role is relatively small in the film it is invaluable in the fight against evil.

Two legends, one fight; or so the film’s self explanatory title suggests, but is it? Arguably no. The film’s simultaneous subplots question what the film’s bigger purpose is; is it the fight between the superheroes or the mild threat of world destruction? Why exactly does the Dark Knight want to annihilate Superman so desperately? And what was going on with Luther’s hair? What did Luther want, to watch the ultimate fight between the two superheroes, domination? It was unclear, which can leave the thinking viewer wondering what the film was actually about, no matter how visually exciting it was. Also, Eisenberg’s portrayal of Luther was surprisingly weak and inconsistent, he was neither crazy, nor scary only a little bit confused and a bit mean, but definitely disappointing. There’s nothing quite like a real baddy to bring excitement to a film.

The lead characters motivations too were far from satisfactory and fell short in explaining their actions, which was unexpected for such eminent and well loved characters. It also has a weak storyline. The film is bitty, constantly jumping from one thing to another; introducing smaller characters without any real purpose.

Batman v Superman does however pack solid punches in terms of action, visuals and musical score; interspersing stylised imagery, silences and huge musical crescendos at a perfect time and pace.

The fight scenes are epic and have been worth the wait; fans will not be disappointed. Phenomenal graphics served with explosions, flying machines, evil mutated monsters, fires and punches that send opponents flying through brick walls, it’s every bit as exciting as a Batman v Superman fight should be. The imagery and atmosphere are genuinely intense and excellent and the musical score emotive, playing with silences to intensify mood. It just seems a pity that full rounded characters and strong storyline seem pushed to the backlines, which otherwise could make the film perfect; a harmonious marriage between visual stimulation and mental satisfaction.

STARRING Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg
DIRECTED BY Zack Snyder
US 2016 153mins

An unlikely drinking joint has popped its cork for gulping, eating and shopping. The concept store Elma & Fred is a unique venue in Nicosia which defines itself as a place where ‘food meets fashion’ and by food that most definitely includes alcohol too. For when long drinking lunches end and the sky begins to fade, Elma & Fred continues effortlessly into a bar mode, with a bespoke collection of predominantly Italian wines and premium alcohol cocktails.

Sitting on the busy corner of Grivas Digenis and Demosthenis Severis, Elma & Fred’s bar is attached both to the clothing section and food hall of the store. By day one can weave in and out of the different spaces readily, doing a spot of clothes, accessories and food or wine shopping, then washing it all down with brunch, lunch or booze.

Inspired by the super shops of Italy and London Elma & Fred is the kind of place where you can drop in to buy fashionable clothes, interesting household products, artisan food, followed by a merry evening of drinking and socialising.

The idea behind it, is a friendly space where people can find everything they need in one place. So even after shop closing time, customers can stay on in the bar and continue with a fun evening with food and drink.
It’s an interesting concept and although its one that’s more often found in the fashionable parts of other large cities, it seems to sit right at home here in Nicosia.

The bar, which opened in November, is pretty enough, large enough and nice enough. It’s predominantly an outdoor space which is kept warm and somehow removed from the outside noises of the passing cars. There are no crazy colour schemes and over the top fashion statements and yet it’s comfortable, relaxing and strangely ‘morish’.

Always an advocate for good gin, I popped along to explore Elma & Fred’s Gin & Tonic Wednesdays, ‘a place where Gin & Tonic meets Fashion.’ The menu did not overwhelm but the gin cocktails enticed. I ordered the Cranberry Lavender Gin & Tonic which came with a singular large round ice cube; it was subtle and very, very tasty, working more with hints and notes rather than overpowering hits of alcohol. Their Strawberry, Basil Gin & Tonic was equally flavoursome and refreshing.

On Wednesdays gin cocktails are available all day for €5 with a complimentary nibble. Complimentary nibbles are routinely served with all the drinks, highlighting some of the artisan food sold in their small food hall.
From April, Thursdays will offer a ‘wine tasting’ special, where three glasses of specialty wines will be on offer for €10; the choice of wines will change monthly.
There are also several interesting signature cocktails to choose from, the Hot Juliet with dark rum, passion fruit, Romeo & Juliet tea, red chili and lime grabbed my attention. The menu has a selection of specially chosen wines which are reasonably priced while customers are encouraged to check out the cellar to see the remaining wines on offer. Wine is available per glass but bottles come with €8 corkage charge.
Elma & Fred
Where: Corner Grivas Digenis and Demosthenis Severis, Nicosia
When: 9am -11pm Monday to Saturday. The bar also closes on special holidays, i.e. whenever the shop is closed.
Contact: 22 680400

By Alexia Evripidou

Cypriot cuisine has a long standing gastronomic history influenced by the island’s geography and its many occupiers down the centuries. Its recipes are proudly passed down from generation to generation with few alterations; they are simple, earthy and the raw commodities are bountiful, but has it evolved with the times? Brothers Kiriakos and Stavros Fokou are challenging their culinary legacy by serving up traditional Cypriot food with a modern twist in their little tavern housed in their family’s garden.

Tavern To Patrikon is a small, purpose built ‘family run tavernaki’ which opened in Larnaca in 2012 originally as a souvlaki shop. It is now a fine dining/traditionally rustic yet modern Cypriot kitchen which opens only on Fridays and Saturdays to feed up to 50 people per night.

It’s a full on family affair with 23-year-old chef Kiriakos, his mum, sister (a finance officer) and brother Stavros (manager of the Daily Roast coffee shop) playing every other role needed to keep a food business running effectively. When they’re not cooking, coming up with new ways to reinvent old Cypriot classics, tasting, washing, chopping, serving or socialising with their customers, they can be found working full time at their respective day jobs.

“It’s about food, drink and introducing people to new culinary experiences and having a great time doing it,” says Kiriakos.

The tavern is only open at weekends

“Every weekend it’s a chance for the family to spend together. The tavern is the baby of the family, we do it for us. If we are inspired to add a dish on the menu that might frighten customers, we do it anyway. And these usually end up being the most popular dishes,” adds his 29-year-old brother and tavern manager Stavros.

The boys love three things food, family and innovation, and in the tavern, they have managed to create the perfect recipe.

“Although Cyprus’ culinary scene has evolved, especially in recent years, there seems to be a little trepidation to exploring new foods. As Cypriots, we tend to eat the foods we know then only once we actually manage to try something new, might we consider eating it again. There are many talented and highly trained Cypriot chefs here. We are regarded highly in international competitions but many are forced to work abroad due the lack of opportunity to cook new foods here,” says Kiriakos.

Kiriakos, who is also sous chef at Dyosmos & Kanella Kitchen Bar in Nicosia, has participated in national and international competitions bringing home many awards. In 2012 the budding chef faced the daunting challenge of cooking for presidents, prime ministers, members of parliament and the princess of Holland during the six month Cyprus presidency of the European Union. In 2013 he represented Cyprus in the Pan European Culinary Competition of Southern Europe in Thessaloniki, Greece, where he was awarded a silver medal. And also in 2013 under the Cyprus Chef’s Association he competed in two categories in the International Young Chef Challenge in Korea with a Cypriot junior team of six budding chefs. The team proudly came second out of the 54 participating international countries, bringing home silver medals.

Cauliflower with tahini

“The testing in these competitions is rigorous. The judges use magnifying lenses to check for cracks or bubbles in the gelatin presentations, for example,” says Kiriakos. There’s little room for imperfections for those who want to succeed.

Beginning his culinary journey aged 12; Kiriakos recounts the first “extreme” and unusual gastronomic experience when he ate onion jam. “We now have so many more exciting things introduced to Cyprus. It’s changed and people are beginning to combine sweet and sour and other varying tastes in the same plate more willingly.”

Stavros and Kiriakos always knew their lives were cut out to be in the food industry. Inevitably as interest grew in them and their food, they were able to branch out into a modern Cypriot cuisine tavern. “Initially we were worried that the customers wouldn’t accept these new twists on traditional dishes but slowly and surely, they have,” says Stavros.

In their own kitchen they’ve chosen to fuse modernity with tradition, using old and forgotten Cypriot ingredients and recipes in innovative ways to both challenge and give a sense of familiarity to the Cypriot eater.

“Cypriot cuisine is very rich. We have many herbs, spices, vegetables and standardised recipes, such as trahana soup or faggi, etc,” says Stavros. The country’s cuisine which has been heavily influenced by Greek, Turkish, Byzantine, French, Italian and Middle Eastern food uses a lot of okra, lentils, beans, citrus fruit, figs, pomegranate, tomatoes, grape leaves, fish, preserved pork, olive oil oregano, thyme, coriander, mint; the list is long.

Using these ingredients and more, the family works on offering original versions of well loved Cypriot and Mediterranean cuisines. They offer an ever changing 21 dish meze including desserts; few plates are constant staples, whilst the others change weekly. Innovative takes are made on classics such as trahana keftedes with tomato relish, or cauliflower with a tahini dressing, artichoke tempura with a garlic sauce or tahini Ice-cream or pastelaki with anari.

Tahini ice cream

“We explore, but we keep it Cypriot. We wouldn’t make yakni (different meats and vegetables cooked in tomatoes) and add ginger but we might add rosemary, a Cypriot ingredient instead. Or we might make spare ribs; a popular part of the pig that was eaten in Cyprus yesteryear, but we’d cook it with Commandaria and other Cypriot herbs for about five hours,” explains Stavros.

“Most traditional Cypriot dishes were based on fasting foods due to our historically strong religious culture and the lack of money to buy meat. So they’d eat pulses like louvi (black eyed peas) and piselli yakni (peas in a tomato salsa) etc instead,” explains Kiriakos.

Recipes also vary with the season and religious festivities.

“Now it’s Easter, people will eat flaounes but in Paphos, they’ll add lamb in the middle of it which they’ll eat after fasting. Also we used to smoke food like lounza, pastourma, loukaniko etc, as we never had electricity to keep things fresh and cool. And we still work to give something new and exciting to these old classics”.

“We don’t think about the future. Every Friday and Saturday when we open, all we want are good dishes, and if we keep turning out great dishes of food, then that means there’s a future. Expansion is not our goal, keeping the quality and feeding people new food is,” says Stavros.

Tavern To Patrikon, Archiepiskopou Makariou III, Tersefanou,Larnaca  Tel: 24 424831

By Alexia Evripidou

The first ever bi-communal children’s TV puppet show is making preparations to break into mainstream television, with a little help from the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation and a lot of initiative and hard work from the show’s founders, Greek Cypriot Christina Demetriades and Turkish Cypriot Evren Maner.

“Not only is it the first ever bi-communal puppet TV show but it’ll also be the first ever Cypriot puppet show for television,” says Demetriades.

The friends formed Free Island Productions and received 10,000 euro funding from the Stelios Foundation for their Cyprus Kidzone Puppet Project (CKPP) in October 2015. Since then they’ve injected every last cent into their project to bring it to life, as well as much more from their own pockets.

Now, with the puppets created and ten episodes written, the pilot show is ready for its first official screening on May 14 at Peace Works Children and Youth Festival hosted by Home for Cooperation in the moat at the Ledra Palace buffer zone, Nicosia. The show will be screened both in Greek and Turkish on loop between 11am-3pm. The event is the first peace festival taking place for children in Cyprus.

The CKPP is an inclusive project for 3 to 9-year-olds that uses puppets to entertain and educate children about peace and conflict resolution. It’s currently a 10 mini episode series, at six minutes long each. With more funds, it will grow into a 20-30 minute programme incorporating more multicultural puppets and location shootings around the Island.

Maner, a professional film maker and lecturer at the Eastern Mediterranean University and director of the CKPP, also runs a TV production company which is filming the project for free. Demetriades is a career and life coach and producer of the show. Together with their bi-communal team of 10 actors, writers, puppet-makers and film crew, they’ve begun to bring to life what was once a fantasy in Maner’s mind.

“I came up with the puppet idea about one half years ago but I was looking for a clever, strong and quick Greek Cypriot partner to jump onboard; Christina is the missing piece to the project,” says Maner.

“I could have done it alone for Turkish Cypriot children but I believe that if we keep doing things separately, then that will keep the division between the two cultures alive. If we work together, then we have a chance to form a new future for our island.”

“I know it’s a cliché, but children really are our future, they’re tomorrow’s peacekeepers,” says Demetriades. The couple noticed that there was a big gap in the market for bi-communal projects geared towards children, so they took immediate action and applied for funding.

There are currently three puppet stars in the show,  a Greek Cypriot girl called Eleftheria (freedom in Greek), a Turkish Cypriot boy called Ada (meaning island, and together meaning free island) and the wise philosopher Daphne.

The topics cover respect, Cyprus’ museums, castles, animal and human rights, numbers and vegetation. Each episode has a small language session at the end, teaching a related word in both languages.  “For example the first episode is about respect, so at the end of the episode we learn about the word respect in Greek (sevasmos) and Turkish (saygi) from Daphne,” says Demetriades.

The whole philosophy behind the series is peace education. They’ve enlisted experts to give their professional opinions including peace educators and child psychologists, NGOs, international organisations. They’ve also contacted  distribution and TV companies in both communities; there’s been a positive response so far. Official meetings with TV companies will occur after the screening.

“The Cyprus Kidzone Puppet Project is really innovative and has great potential for Cypriot children. It’s fun, whilst educating children about common goods which they can enjoy together,” says Elina Kofou, an educational psychologist. “It also teaches them about values which are necessary for peaceful coexistence not only on the island but in our globalised world in general.”

They hope that the shows will be aired simultaneously to both communities. Unfortunately, finances are an issue.

“It’s very expensive to do this and we’re trying to get children’s organisations all over Cyprus involved,” says Maner. “We want the project to continue long term; we’re looking at 2045, that’s when today’s kids become adults, I don’t want my country then to be in the same state that it is now.

“Can you imagine a Turkish Cypriot named character being the hero of Greek Cypriot children and a Greek Cypriot character the hero of a Turkish Cypriot child? How amazing would that be?”

https://www.facebook.com/events/1045860722147986/

Finally, the bar that I’ve been waiting for; a drinking spot that is a really, really great all round bar – no gimmicks, no special events, DJs, wine tasting, or anything other than a regular place with an awesome atmosphere. To Potopolio may just be one of Nicosia’s little gems.

It’s been a while since I walked into a bar and experienced genuine excitement. Though technically, To Potopolio is not a new bar, its name has been whispered through the popular grape vine for a while now. It began as a humble wine store about seven years ago and organically evolved into a bar about three years ago. Due to its popularity, parking became a large problem so it took a leap of faith and moved to Kennedy Avenue in August 2015 and its customers moved with it.
I arrive 8pm on a Wednesday night expecting the bar to be half empty. To my surprise, it was pumping; the energy vibrant, happy and very inviting.

Out front is an outdoor seated smoking area sectioned off with glass walls and greenery, adequately making the drinker feel both removed and connected to life outside. I dubiously walk past this towards the main entrance where I’m pleasantly hit with waves of laughter and warm energy.

It’s loud but good loud, the kind of loud were people are communicating with each other and laughing; engaged in human interaction and not their mobiles. It has an ‘old school’ feel, just a regular drinking place to hang out, have a laugh with friends, listen to familiar tunes and allow the great atmosphere to soak in. The overall design is beautiful, it’s simple, warm and effective, using lots of wood.

The wall to the right on entry acts as a wine shop, it’s lined with varying bottles of wines and spirits chosen and imported by the owner. Although he supplies local and Greek wines too, they are mainly hand selected international wines from small wineries from unusual grapes. The actual bar rests inconspicuously at the back of the room with six bar seats; it’s a functional bar for mainly drink preparation.

There’s a sense of a huge space that is sectioned without boundaries into three areas for varying moods. The front offers the Mediterranean coffee/ bar feel, the rustic wooden barrel tables and alternative sized high tables inside; for people wanting to laugh, joke around and drink, and to the left (a subtle continuation of the front) is an inside/outside space with lower tables. This section has an electric roof which opens during hot evenings and turns it into an outdoor smoking space.

As I left at 10pm, all areas of the bar inside and out were full. So book a table! If I had to find a fault, I’d say there’s only a very small selection of cocktails but then again, the spirits used are good quality. The truth is, the atmosphere is wonderful, the music inviting and the overall experience excellent.
To Potopolio
Where: To Potopolio, Kennedy 46E, Nicosia
When: open seven days a week from 5pm-1pm
What: Varying nibbles and platters but its main selling point is the selection of over 100 different bottles of wine and 70 types of beer
How much: glasses of wine €4, beers range €3.50- €9.50 and wines €16- €22

The evolution of contemporary dance through time as well as its latest manifestations will be brought to the stage next month with the hosting of the 19th Cyprus Contemporary Dance Festival (CCDF) in Nicosia and Limassol.
Award winning international dance performers will shortly be arriving from The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Israel, and will be on the bill alongside Cypriot groups.

“I believe that good dance is a conversation: the dancers converse through movement with each other on stage and through the performance, open up a dialogue with the audience,” says Rachel Erdos from Rachel Erdos and Dancers from Israel.
Award winning Erdos will open the festival with Black/White’ in Limassol on June 1 and again in Nicosia on June 3. She’s been creating professionally since 2006 and together with her group, aims to make work that is physical, visual and emotive: “dancing is a way of investigating how we feel and what makes us act the way we do”, says Erdos.

Using precision as a movement style and lots of partnering work between same sex dancers, Black/White is a combination of the work Hevel and The Man Upstairs. The all male cast explores masculinity, sexuality and faith.

Contemporary dance is a popular art form which developed during the mid 20th century by combining elements of jazz, classical ballet and modern dance to create one of the most dominant genres of formally trained dance throughout the world. Via the relationship of fluid dance movements, sound, space and time, contemporary dancers strive to connect the mind with the body to create a piece that will affect the viewer.
The festival, co-organised by the Ministry of Education and the Rialto Theatre in collaboration with the embassies and cultural centres of participating countries, gives attendees the opportunity to enjoy six performances in Limassol and four in Nicosia.

On the international front, performances will be staged by Leineroebana’s Andrea Leine and Harijono Roebana from The Netherlands with GhostTrack, an unconventional dance where Indonesia meets the Netherlands and the elements of contemporary and traditional melt together into something new. Germany’s Cooperativa Maura Morales will perform Sisyphos Has Been a Woman, while Switzerland’s Da Motus! dancers Antonio Bühler and Brigitte Meuwly will perform Soufflé. This has been described as “a striking, exquisitely composed choreographic work”. The Czech Republic’s award winning Vertedance, Jiri Havelka, Clarinet Factory and Veronika Knytlova perform Correction, while the international line-up is completed by France’s Compagnie 100 Issues with Valo Hollenstein, Vincent Maggioni, Cyril Pernot and Lorca Renoux performing Sonate pour 4 Cheins.

The four groups representing Cyprus at the Festival will open the festival in Nicosia on June 1. They are En Drasi featuring Evi Demetriou performing The More You Dance the More You Get; Alexander Michael with Complex Foreverafter; Amfidromo Chorotheatro with Elena Christodoulidou performing Frontears; and Fotis Nikolaou with These Gentle Hearts are Like Shot Birds Falling.

Originally from Cyprus, Nikolaou waltzed into dancing late in life, aged 20, and hasn’t stopped for the past 26 years. Although he now has a dance company X-it Dancetheatre based in Athens, Nikolaou attends this festival as a freelance independent choreographer. “Dancing is my refuge, my playground, my field of expression and communication. It’s my means of connecting with others, sharing my thoughts and above all my doubts; it’s my emotional and political voice,” he says. “It’s also where I rest my deepest secrets and desires and explore them, filter them and redefine them to help me understand and accept them”.
Nikolaou explains that his performance is a poetic pagan ritual on the idea of co-existence, belonging and the need for partnership, love and oneness. It’s set to take place among a pack of wolves where they attempt a journey to find their companions and themselves.

He addresses the stigma surrounding contemporary dance as being an elite and specialised art form; communicating only with the people in the know. “I believe that dancing is the easiest and most direct art form, since it doesn’t have a particular language that you need to know; it’s not dogmatic or absolute but intends to evoke and provoke emotions and thoughts to the audience without directing them. It’s an open form of art that allows the audience to reflect their own selves and thoughts into the performance. So, with dance you don’t really need to know anything to become an active spectator but simply to be open and committed to go along with what you see and allow your emotions to respond accordingly,” explains Nikolaou.
19th Cyprus Contemporary Dance Festival
All performances start at 8.30pm. Tickets cost €5 individually or €20 for all performances. Free admission for students, soldiers, pensioners and dance professionals. Bookings via: www.rialto.com.cy, Rialto Theatre 77777745 or Pallas Theatre 22 410181 (only on the day of the performance from 7pm) Free transport from Nicosia to Limassol departs from the Cyprus Handicraft Centre (Athalassas Avenue) at 19.15, (99 618225)

By Alexia Evripidou

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (TMNTOOTS) has crawled onto the big screen and I’m wondering whether it should do a U-turn back into its shell. Who would have thought that a film about four teenage mutant turtles, with exemplary ninja skills nonetheless, would be so popular that it would warrant a sequel?! Still, despite a storyline geared to an audience of pre teens, it does have its interesting moments: exciting fight shots, some nice character developments and an opening scene with Megan Fox wearing a ‘teeny-weany’ school uniform (a clever ploy to keep bottoms on seats and eyes glued to the screen for its overly long 112 minute duration.)

Continuing on from its 2014 prequel, the film brings back the biggest and nastiest bad guy their world has ever seen, Shredder. This time, along with his mutant henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady and under the control of the turtles’ even greater nemesis Krang, they intend to annihilate New York and potentially the world. Defeating them is a job suitable to only one team, you guessed it: the four green reptile warriors currently dealing with ‘coming of age’ issues who are consequently a little miffed at having to always live in the shadows.

Following the Turtles (Michaelangelo (Mikey), Leonardo (Leo), Raphael (Raph) and Donatello (Donnie))’ failure to impede Shredder’s impressive jailbreak, despite the assistance of their super pimped up garbage van (featuring snazzy ‘catch baddy gadgets’,) the turtles must try to protect their home city of New York by coming out of the gutter and into daylight, thus opening them up to identification and scrutiny from the public.

Shredder, who probably doesn’t grunt more than five sentences in the film, joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman. Together they turn the two convicts who were coincidently with Shredder during the jailbreak, into the muted human war pig/ rhinoceros hybrids: Bebop and Rocksteady. Unfortunately, these characters offered childish, slapstick and droll tokens of humour aimed towards the very young. And here is one of the major problems, the graphics, violence, action scenes, overt sexuality of Ms Fox and even some of the humour appeal to teenagers and adults, yet the storyline, henchmen and much of the writing, are typically geared to the under ten demographic; thus delivering mixed messages and entertainment value.

Out of the Shadows does have many exciting action sequences which at times are high adrenalin; the waterfall and airplane scenes in particularly being fun to watch. It also proffers a decent enough score and the turtle characters are very likeable, each having his own stand-out personality; one the brains, another, the brawn, the sensitive one and the one with his “head in the clouds”. Together they make the perfect team if that is, they are able to get over their differences and pull their act together, “we may be brothers but we are definitely not a team,” says one of the brothers, creating friction between them. Viewers also witness moments of each of the turtle’s character progression arc, this is refreshing as we see their motivations, intentions and conclusions. This all lacked in Shredder’s character. Why exactly did he want to destroy New York?

A poignant sub-thread runs throughout the film, almost making these youthful turtles rather glum and pitiful at times; they long to be accepted by society and perceived as ‘normal.’ “We’ll never fit in, were ninjas, we live in the shadows,” says another brother. However, it’s a nice subplot which potentially offers some depth and a positive message for the younger audience, as it touches on identity and self worth issues such as liking and accepting oneself as one is, green skinned or not!

Their father/sensei seemed like an ill fitting character that popped up occasionally into the wrong film. He was interesting but underused in terms of narrative gravitas and over used for an inconsequential role. Yet he was there in effect as the parental figure of the young turtles. Also, the turtle’s two sidekicks, April O’Neil (Fox) and prison guard Casey Jones (Stephen Ameli) did not make a lasting impression, however, Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) brought laughs, energy and entertainment to the human/turtle synergy. Let’s just swiftly brush past multiple Golden Globe winner Laura Linney as New York police chief role, a poor and one dimensional character for such a seasoned actor.

Regretfully, particularly due to the childish story, the film never really came out of the shadows. It was spared only by its action scenes, turtle character development and some humour supplied by the turtles and the entertaining Fenwick.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows **

DIRECTED BY Dave Green

STARRING Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Tyler Perry

US 2016     112mins

Summer is officially here, bringing with it long, hot days with warm nights; outdoor relaxation under moonlight, long iced drinks to wash the heat away and banter, ideally with great company. Lucky then for Nicosia folk that Garden Day & Night has just opened its doors for the summer season, with its roof made of stars, towering palm trees, eclectic cocktails and inviting albeit ornamental garden pool.

No need to traipse to a distant beach after work for an outdoor evening experience near water, one can head straight into town and sit on a pre-reserved table next to the low lit pool, sipping the night away. It’s easy to forget where one is among the greenery and endless sky.

Situated opposite the Archaeological Museum in Nicosia, the venue may be a mere stone’s throw away from the hustle and bustle of the town centre, yet with its garden oasis, you’ll be forgiven for feeling that you’ve escaped urban challenges to a more alluring space and time. One of the wonderful things about Garden is that it’s been around for a while in one form or another; it’s one of the oldest places in town. Renovations have been taking place since the new management took over in May 2015, gradually turning this historical hang out into the beautiful and updated haven it is now.

Garden has that perfect summer vibe, the venue is huge, it’s green and there’s an enticing pool in the centre with an old palm tree standing in the middle screaming ‘take a dip, take a dip’, although technically one should ignore that voice and abstain from such temptations. Swinging couch chairs pretty the circumference of the venue next to the green shrubbery which hide you from street view while high tables and chairs hug the winding curves of the pool. An oblong styled bar is stationed near the entrance.

The Purple Olives restaurant is snuggly situated up a garden step to the left on entry; it’s stunningly lit up with relaxing purple lights hidden in its numerous olive trees, food is also available in the bar area. For those desperate to pull some moves, a dance floor is situated in between the indoor and outdoor bar near the pool. And a DJ plays from an elevated caged stance with a spotlight highlighting his presence.

However beautiful the venue is, it can get very, very busy; Garden can cater to 800-900 guests. Yet with the help of clever table layout, it is possible to enjoy the evening in your own bubble, soaking in the refreshing surroundings blissfully oblivious to the masses, or revel in people watching. Dress code may be smart casual; however, characters swan in ‘dressed to the nines’ and the nightly face control staff will ensure that no ‘riffraff’ crawls in; it’s that kind of place.

Summer promises to be an eventful time at Garden, with weekly themed events and varying live DJs. Every Monday is R&B night; Tuesdays are Greek nights; Wednesdays are commercial night; Thursdays are for the dancers who enjoy phat house beats and Fridays are themed DJ events with special deals on unique and purpose designed cocktails. Wednesdays and Fridays are strictly for those over 22, face control assures this.

So what’s not to like? It’s not cheap. Arguably one pays for the ambience; the momentary escape from the entrapments of urban eyesores while still being in the heart of Nicosia.

Garden may not be everyone’s glass of Spritzer, yet there is no denying its welcoming outdoor appeal; it’s simply glorious.

Garden Day & Night
Where: 2 Mousiou Street, Nicosia
When: Open 5pm-2am Monday-Friday. Closed on Saturdays and Sunday’s for private parties.
How much: Standard and premium spirits with shots costing €6.50 – €9.50. Classic and unique cocktails €8 – €12 and glasses of wine are €5 – €7.50.
Contact: 22 662626, https://www.facebook.com/Garden-Day-Night-543716565697645/

The renovated remains of an old house in the buffer zone next to Ledra Palace check point accommodate a characteristic and sprawling bar with quite a view.

Granted permission to open in 2008, Chateau Status is undoubtedly original in many different ways, not least its location. There is little doubt that the unobstructed night scenery over the moat looking into the gently lit ancient Nicosia across the divide, is both beautiful and emotive. This can be experienced from the main outdoor bar area of the venue. Secondly, Chateau Status is surprisingly big, with its four large outdoor drinking areas each equipped with its own bar, restored architecture, bountiful palm trees and large indoor chandeliers.

There are many different parts to Chateau Status, in fact, you could be in one end and your friends in another area of the grounds and never may your paths meet. Just the outdoor areas alone can hold up to 2,000 people. The layout is disjointed and unusual but in a good way; with its many unsuspecting indoor rooms of varying sizes, outdoor semi covered spaces and varied open air drinking grounds, one can see why they pride themselves on being a ‘multi-purpose venue.’

Open to the public five days a week; Tuesdays through to Saturdays, Chateau Status works as a bar and restaurant but is also very popular for events; in fact some of its outdoor spaces practically beg for lavish parties. One particular restored doorway tucked away from sight, takes you out into a large open space hidden externally by trees and shrubbery. Numerous fairy lights are scattered around giving the space an enchanted feel; it’s very, very pretty. However, the outdoor bar leading to this is really something to be behold.

If one follows the small twisting stone pathway from the main outdoor space to the little pond with running water, water lilies and singing frogs (you can even hear them croaking over the lounge music) there is a delightful surprise. Here, you’ll find yourself inside a large, open roofed, restored, old stone house; an alluring stone bar in the middle being the only object taking any space. Offshoot ‘rooms’ have glassless windows, original stone fireplaces and even an old tree growing in the corner (inside what would have once been a house.) The bar’s careful up-lighting, open sky views, ancient trees and tall ruin walls evoke a quasi fairytale like experience; with “wow” being the operative word pouring from my fellow drinking buddies’ lips.

Chateau Status’ partial restoration successfully manages to marry the historical architecture with its surroundings perfectly to create a tranquil and ‘otherworldly’ environment. However, with all its aesthetic splendour, it failed to please in terms of customer service, something experienced by other drinkers too that night; it was disappointing.

Hopefully this was a one off situation, as it really is a gorgeous venue, especially in summer. It offers over 240 different types of wines, interesting cocktail choices and magical outdoor spaces with priceless views. Bottles of wine start from as little as €8.50 and go into the thousands with a Chateaux Petrus, Pomerol 1987 deducting a healthy €1,540 from one’s pocket. The ‘Old Fashioned’ served with seven-year-old rum instead of whiskey was tasty although this is not on the menu, you have to ask for it.

Chateau Status opens from 7pm to 2am and most nights play ambient lounge music, Fridays however celebrate Salsa evenings; an opportunity to drink mojitos and swirl around under the moonlight or enjoy drinks or food in one of their many outdoor areas, assuming some are not being used for private events. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday’s are their busiest nights and the dress code is generally smart casual.
Chateau Status
Where: Leoforos Markou Drakou 12, Nicosia
When: Tuesday to Saturday, 7pm to 2am
Contact: 77771167, facebook.com/Chateaustatus/

Out of obvious sight on a back alley connecting Phaneromi Church with Onasagorou street, Mouson Bistro and Bar is a refreshing little hub of cocktail heaven sandwiched between a string of shops and other drinkeries. On such a busy little thoroughfare, it would be easy to walk past this deceivingly larger than initial impressions suggest venue.

Mouson is modern, funky and surprisingly warm. The décor evokes sentiments of Madrid, Barcelona or Greece, encapsulating style with approachability and cocktails that are divine. The marriage of the cocktail names with their respective tastes are spot on.

The venue seats 80-100 people and is open seven days a week. The inside is a large-ish nicely air-conditioned rectangular space with a streamline blue under lit bar running across it. The rest of the room offers spaciously arranged tables and chairs, with an interesting Picasso inspired 3D wall art opposite the bar. Outdoors, the bar extends with a long array of high and low black tables comfortably allowing substantial outdoor seating on the narrow pedestrian street.

Climbing plants stretch across the entrance and a theatrical canopy with tassels shades drinkers from the scorching sun; it’s an easy place to stop and watch the ‘hustle and bustle’ of the world go by while sipping on faithfully designed drinks.

So what makes these cocktails so luscious? Well, the freshly squeezed, blended and blitzed seasonal fruits used, is a good advantage; their cocktail menu is redesigned four times yearly to produce drinks catering to the four seasons. The summer menu is a wash with refreshing watermelon, passion fruit, strawberries and aromatic elderflower and the bar staff are happy to guide your palate through the cocktail map on the menu. One can start by either choosing a base: vodka, whiskey, gin, rum, tequila, mastiha, aperol or vermouth. Then determine the taste: sweet, sweet and sour to sweet, sweet and sour and sour and finally, the strength of the drink.

Making choices like this may initially seem a little challenging but when one stops and actually considers, especially with a little help from friendly knowledgeable staff, the final result can be very rewarding; an enjoyable drink that is exactly what you fancied. Intoxicating hints of fresh coriander, peppers, mint, fruit and other aromas can also be included.

Amuse Me was the drink that with a little direction from the menu and mixologist, was my first and it did not disappoint; with cocchi Americano bianco vermouth, fresh melon juice, coriander syrup, fresh lime and black pepper, it smelt like an Italian summer. The tastes and smells of these concoctions are created to trigger off memories and they certainly succeed. The bitter sweetness of summer passions is perfectly captured in the aptly named Summer Love (Aperol, fresh strawberries, prosecco and fresh lime.) Then there’s Thalia’s Nectar served in an old milk bottle style jar with a very long straw; aesthetics are as important as taste and scent. It is as a sweet as, well, literally nectar; brimming with crushed watermelon and strawberries and elderflower liqueur. The pricing for such treats are very fair, ranging from €5 to €14, with most at around €8.

Fear not if cocktails are not for you, Mouson offers a selection of prominent names in wines, champagnes and spirits.

The venue is open throughout summer but reservations are recommended for busy weekend evenings. The music is a nice chill out, sometimes jazzy and special Friday DJ nights are scheduled to start again with the beginning of the new season in September.

Mouson Bistro and Bar
Where: Mouson St, Phaneromeni, Nicosia
When: 9.30am-2am except for Saturdays and Sundays in August, when the bar opens 6pm
How much: cocktails from €5 to €14
Contact: 22 664444, facebook.com/MousonBistroAndBar/

What opened as an informal after work drinking spot has evolved into one of the most reliably popular but low key bars in Nicosia. Silver Star, a sturdy favourite among Nicosians, is a light, breezy and atmospheric venue with high quality drinks and a no fuss atmosphere – perfect for after work drinks, top end cheese and charcuterie nibbles.

Silver Star is a wine bar by Cava Nostra wine shop. Situated near Nicosia’s old city on the corner of Sophouli Street, and has this month seen renovations completed, sliding open their new glass doors to a brighter and fresher familiar classic.
Specialising in wines and now also gins, its relaxed environment, eclectic music and high quality beverages attract a diverse crowd; with lawyers and accountants from nearby offices making up the bulk in the afternoons and a wider spectrum of people in the evenings. Large old trees, high wooden barrels and tall stools decorate the pavement outside sheltered underneath a fanciful metal fan like canopy. Although Silver Star can seat 60-70 guests, finding a place to sit outside is not always easy, so an early show or a quick phone call to reserve is advisable.

The renovations are subtle but effective making everything seem substantially more spacious: the upgraded bar station now offers wall to wall drinks display, new sound systems have been incorporated, larger selections of wines available and huge sliding glass doors allowing the shop front to open into the outdoor drinking area. Pretty internal walled arches separate the areas between the bar and the indoor room, which currently sports one very large high table for strangers and friends alike to share.

A perch at the bar looking out at fellow drinkers while browsing through the carefully designed gin cocktails menu seems like the natural thing to do. Claiming to be the first bar to introduce Hendricks Gin to the market, Silver Star prides itself on marrying Gin with Tonic in such a way to help re-educate people’s taste buds, arguing that mixed in the right way with other high quality ingredients gin based drinks become an ultimate highball experience. And judging by the Bulldog gin coconut and chocolate I had, you will hear no disputes from me on this matter; subtle, refreshing and exotic, it’s a gin cocktail to be reckoned with. There’s an original and inviting list of options, from Hendricks rose and rhubarb or Gin Mare, Habanera chili, tomato water and mint to Tanqueray, dry Curacao and chamomile.

The wine selection here, like everything else, is hand selected. With 30 different wines on offer by the glass and approximately 100 labels over all, their focus is on low intervention wines with little to no added sulphites, chemicals or additives; coming from biodynamic agriculture.
In a nutshell, it’s a friendly, easy bar with a great vibe and excellent wine and gin cocktails.

Silver Star
Where: Sofouli 44-46, Nicosia
When: Monday to Thursday 5.30-00:30, Fridays 5.30-01.30
How much: cocktails range from €7.50 to €11.50, glasses of wine €4.50-€9 and bottles €16-€36
Contact: 22 666579, facebook.com/silverstarwinebar/

By Alexia Evripidou

It has been 15 years since Bridget Jones first staggered onto our screens with wine in hand and impassioned renditions of Celine Dion’s All By Myself. Now, the bumbling Londoner is back. Following a 12-year hiatus since the second installment (Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason), the eagerly awaited return of London’s rom-com queen does not disappoint. In truth, viewers will already know whether or not they’ll enjoy this third chapter before even watching it; fans of this popular chick flick have waited a long time for the latest installment and thankfully, it is actually worth the wait.

Bridget Jones’s Baby is a fun, sweet and cheeky sequel which moves Bridget’s story forward while remaining true to its form. Filled with familiar audacious humour, old characters and yet another wonderful karaoke jukebox soundtrack, it picks up nicely where it left off and although times may have changed, Bridget remains much the same; older but not necessarily wiser, at least in the arena of love.

New resolutions, ballsy sexual banter, comical cliff hangers, love labyrinths, work misconduct and much general inappropriateness are all also pleasantly back in buckets. The continuing adventures of the hapless Bridget now see her in her early 40s and once again very much single following a breakup with the love of her life; the awkward but dashing Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

Much and little have changed both for Bridget (Renee Zellweger) and the film. Her closest friends now have children and her best gay friend is about to adopt one with his partner. Still, in typical Bridget fashion, it’s upwards and onwards for the single and childless Bridget, who prides herself on having finally reached her ideal weight and achieved a flourishing career as a top news producer. Despite having to manage her old school values in a new age media company with millennial superiors, Bridget maintains her ‘pre-social media addiction’ ideals and as ever haphazardly soldiers on, bringing hysterical and cringeworthy moments to her work environment as well as to her complex personal life.

The film opens on Bridget’s birthday with her predictably cradling a glass of wine on her couch in the same tiny London apartment: “the last barren husk in London” as Bridget declares, writing in her diary and blurting her heart out to All By Myself. Suddenly a change of mind hears her shout profanities loudly while jumping off the couch and changing the song to House of Pain’s upbeat Jump Around. She proceeds to do as the song commands, downing her wine energetically while singing along, indicating the film will proceed by with the familiar themes of the other two films, with new twists. “I can’t keep going back and making the same mistakes, when I can make new ones,” Bridget says and indeed she brings us a plethora of new perfectly imperfect mishaps to enjoy.

The film, like its predecessors, focuses on the central love triangle and this time Bridget is fought over by two very eligible knights in suits with healthy bank balances: welcome back Mark and hello Jack (ER’s Patrick Dempsey, who fills the shoes of Bridget’s ex love interest Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant,) very satisfyingly). The lovelorn Jones discovers she is pregnant and no-one knows who the baby-daddy is as she progresses through pregnancy juggling two men.
So who’s the daddy? Well, like the perfectly cast Emma Thompson (Bridget’s doctor) says, “it’s like the X factor, dial zero one if you want it to be Jack and zero two if you want it to be Mark” and so the ping pong of ‘who do you want to win Bridget’s heart’ game continues until the end.

Filled with christenings, festivals, weddings, funerals and parties against a beautiful London backdrop of popular landmarks, the film is comfortingly familiar, offering fulfilling closures on many of the so called ‘self orchestrated cliff hangers’ that Bridget has created, while still managing to be unpredictably and thoroughly enjoyable; one for the collection!

Bridget Jones’s Baby does at times drag, it would have benefited by being 20 minutes shorter. However, with so many nicely crafted characters (Emma Thompson is in her comic element), excellent one liners, hysterical scenarios and witty humour, it can be forgiven, especially as I imagine that this will potentially be the final installment in the series, unless they decide to bring out Bridget Jones the Singleton Granny. Watch this space…

Bridget Jones’s Baby ****
DIRECTED BY Sharon Maguire
STARRING Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey
UK/USA 2016 122 mins

By Alexia Evripidou

With heavyweight names including the talented Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner and master of coolness Christopher Walken it’s a pretty safe bet that Nine Lives must at the very least be ok; I mean how bad can it really be? The answer: pretty bad. So bad, that one can’t help but question why big industry players like these would assign their name to such a poor film, if it wasn’t for making a quick buck or two.

The plot is the 1980’s favourite body swap. The principles behind it being that two people (or human and random cat in this situation) swap bodies and therefore lives. There is usually a process or journey if you will, where one or both reach an epiphany about the other character’s life as well as their own. They potentially repent if need be, making all things good again and right at the last minute, by magic, they are back in their own bodies and lives again. No one else is the wiser and all lessons have been learnt. If done well, this can be a lighthearted and fun type of film to watch: Big with Tom Hanks (1988) was a classic and Freaky Friday (2003) with Jamie Lee Curtis was not bad at all.

Nine Lives follows the body swap ‘learn and redeem’ narrative, only it doesn’t quite gel together as an all rounded movie. Parts work ok but it’s never going to be easy making it work when a character swaps places with an animal, let alone imbuing a cat with a human voice and physical behaviours. The film is about grumpy billionaire workaholic Tom Brand (Spacey) who has little time for his family and even though it’s his second time around in the marriage and kid ring, he doesn’t seem to have learnt from his shortcomings the first time round. He has a new wife Lara Brand (Garner) and young daughter Rebecca Brand (Malina Weissman) as well as an ex wife and older son, who’s following in his father’s footsteps, working with him in the family construction business; Firebrand.

It had the potential to live up to the hype with such a good cast but Spacey was badly cast and Garner’s potential wasted. The writing was weak and readily forgettable, the one thing that stuck unfortunately, was that Spacey looked far too old to be the little girl’s father. I say this not because of his actual age but because they tried to make him look younger with hair dye and a shocking orange tan, that he could not help but stand out looking all shades of wrong.

So the story begins, setting up with what a mean and busy person Tom is. It’s his little girl’s birthday and he has no idea what to get her, even though she has asked for a cat. Tom hates cats, still, he’s left without a choice so late in the day and so pops into Mr Walken’s (Felix Perkins) cat shop and with a ‘bah humbug’ type of exchange with Felix, he reluctantly buys Mr Fuzzypants. Walken’s performance was convincing, considering what little decent material he had to play with (I’ve yet to see Walken in a role that he couldn’t pull off!) Running late for his daughter’s birthday he rather selfishly (an apparent common characteristic of his) makes a detour to the skyscraper his company is building. And lo and behold, there’s a thunderstorm and lightening strikes, swapping Tom with Mr Fuzzypants. Tom now embarks on a journey of self discovery in the form of the four legged feline, which initially he rejects with vigor, till it begins to dawn that he needs to figure this out and make amends.

The main issues I have are, what does this film want to be and who is it trying to attract? Only the extremely young might derive much enjoyment from it. It felt cheap and confused. There was a serious subplot running through with a ‘baddy’ trying to take over the business underhandedly with a dark murderous moment, as well as implied suicide; not suitable for the young then.

On a positive note, there was a funny scene involving a drunken cat and Walken’s cat whispering but overall the film felt like it was trying too hard and delivered very little. Disappointing.

Nine Lives *
DIRECTED BY Barry Sonnenfeld
STARRING Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner, Christopher Walken
USA 2016 87 mins

The product of two very different cultures, neither of which he is familiar with, one half-Cypriot playwright brings his search for himself into his work. ALEXIA EVRIPIDOU meets him

Stephen Laughton is a love child, with a Greek Cypriot father and an English Jewish mother; the product of two divided cultures, both unknown to him. Stephen came into this world with questions bursting forth: Who am I? Where do I fit in? How do I be who I inherently am? “When you’re neither one thing nor another, you end up questioning constantly what you are. When you originate from a partition, can you ever really be whole?” he says. His quest for meaning and understanding has taken up much of the following 35 years, but now as he searches for understanding about identity and the inevitable consequences of human actions, he’s turned his hands to good use by offering back his human observations through his thought provoking plays.

Stephen was brought up English by his teenage mum Lorraine, with no connection to either his Cypriot or Jewish cultures. His father Chris, originally from Kyrenia, has been out of Stephen’s life for 30 years. He laughs heartily “Oh my mum is going to kill me! It’s a cheeky story actually, I believe that they were both married to other people at the time and I was a result of a torrid affair. It was a real love story.” Together they tried to make it work for the first five years of Stephen’s life but as so often, life had other plans. As he grew older, aware that he was different but without any knowledge of his history, his hunger for an identity grew, while Stephen turned to writing and did not give up until answers were unearthed.

“All my plays are about identity,” he says. Stephen explains that as we grow up, we pick up labels, adjectives to define ourselves. “My star sign is Cancer, I’m gay, I’ve grown up without knowing my father, and I’m from lower middle class to upper working class background. I’ve also got the labels of being a Jewish boy, I’m a Greek Cypriot, I’m a writer, I’m all of these things. As I grow and pick up all of these labels, they get bigger and bigger.” It was the disconnection between these labels that spurred Stephen to write and help understand his world more.

In an era when most bury their mouths in Cappuccinos and eyes vacantly in the refection of their five-inch-something screens; swiping left or right for love and connection, Stephen has discovered the secret of being and its about sitting comfortably in the middle of one’s own personal Venn diagram of the labels one accumulates in life. Sound complicated? It isn’t really, he explains.

He refers to a speech he wrote for Ayse’s character in his smash hit play Screens, a fierce and intelligent Turkish Cypriot girl who’s drowning in social media and commits a horrific assault as a result of an identity crisis. “Imagine a Venn diagram and all around are her labels, she’s a woman, Turkish Cypriot, Muslim, secular etc but in the middle is where all these circles (labels) meet, and that is who she really is.” Stephen apologises, gets up to open the door for his cat who’s insistently scratching the door to come in. He continues “she says the centre is me, if you take any one of these labels away, she loses something, the whole version of her falls down. So it’s basically taken me, Stephen until now to work this out about myself and others; that speech is how I feel now about identity.” The pressures of having to fit in a small, white, homogenised town meant Stephen taking his mother’s name and English mannerisms; he was exposed to neither Greek nor Jewish culture, speaks neither Greek nor Hebrew, yet the pull of his heritage is strong and he feels very Jewish Greek Cypriot, and with his refined looks and dark colouring looks it too.

At nine, he discovered that he was actually half Greek Cypriot and that who he thought was his father wasn’t actually his father. At 17 he realised he was gay, and a pretty non-stereotypical gay man at that. He was brought up in middle class Stourbridge, a small town in the British midlands and always felt that he never quite fitted in anywhere.

Although writing was the link that helped piece his life together, that did not occur till later. Having worked for years as a documentary producer in popular UK stations including BBC, Channel 4 and ITV, Stephen had enough of being overworked and unfulfilled and in 2010 took a life changing decision to move briefly to Australia to try his hand at writing. His first play Screens (written 2013) has recently completed its first run in London and was critically acclaimed, receiving glowing reviews from reputable reviewers including The Stage and LGBTQ Arts Review. It ran for three weeks in Battersea, London’s influential Theatre 503, famous for being one of the best theatres to discover new talent. “The platform it’s given me has been amazing. Film 4 and the Royal Court came. Film 4 has asked me for a script version of Screens, which is very exciting. I’d be interested to bring it to Cyprus too,” gushes Stephen, feeling a very strong link to his father’s island.
Screens is about Cyprus, and was Stephen’s way of learning about the lost culture he so longed to be part of. He explains that it’s witty and dramatic and draws on the rarely discussed (within the UK media) conflict in Cyprus as a backdrop to tackle the stigma infused topics of homophobia, discrimination, violence and loss of self among refugees from various partitioned communities. It’s based on a Turkish Cypriot family who make a discovery that has rippling effects down the family chain. The mother Emine comes to the UK from Kyrenia in around 1974 and has two kids, Ayse and Al. The play is about them finding out that she’s not actually Turkish but in fact Greek Cypriot and the identity crisis that comes with that. Lost during the troubles, Emine was found as a young child and put in the labour camp before a Turkish family took her in and brought her up.

The two siblings in Screens reflect two big parts of Stephen, Aysa is very emotional and troubled, often acting out, and Al is very logical, responsible and sensitive.
Stephen says his life long battle between logic and emotion would have driven him into a mess of a human being had he not channeled it into writing. “I have all these feelings and tendencies, I’m quite an intelligent guy, so there’s a logical part of my brain and a very emotional part of my brain and those two things don’t go together, they act against each other all the time.” The writing gives him the structure he needs for his logical part, as there’s something quite mathematical about it, he notes. There are frameworks you have to build and within that come the artistry, the passion, the relationships of the people and the words that they use; these all come from that heart part of him essentially. His play Run (about his Jewish roots) will be opening a festival and touring the UK next year and he’s also working with a very prominent theatre company for his new play 6EQUJ5, but mum’s the word for now.

6EQUJ5 explores both his Cypriot and Jewish cultures together. “What I’m really fascinated about is that both of the cultures I come from have partitions.” He believes strongly that we need to figure out that one identity we all share is being human and that ultimately, we are all the same. “We cannot live in these partitioned worlds. If you partition a nation, you partition a person and if a person is partitioned no good will come from that essentially.” Some may say that he could just accept it and leave it behind like so many others do, but he finds it fascinating. With a wealth of history he can draw on as a writer, he’s aware that the very fact that he was brought up not knowing his cultures meant that he could explore these huge histories without bias, cultural or religious interference and determine his own identity based on his past and present. But why is identity important to Stephen? “If you’re repressing who you are, your identity and how you feel about it, it’s going to come out somewhere else and it’s not good.”

Again, he links identity issues with other current issues such as the racism that has grown since Brexit. Even though Stephen wrote Screens in 2013, it’s taken till now to become relevant, because of Brexit. “All of the things I was talking about weren’t meshing in contemporary British society, it still felt a little over there to the British. Then with Brexit, all these issues about being an immigrant, being different etc which had been bubbling under the surface for years, suddenly became overt and made the play so relevant. Consequently Cyprus became the perfect place to talk about Britain.”

Jumping back to his Cypriot roots, Stephen recalls his paternal Greek Cypriot grandmother, who he didn’t know but he’s aware that his mum had briefly considered putting him up for adoption during the break up and his paternal grandmother had wanted to adopt him and introduce him to Cypriot culture.

However, she’d come on too strong, which prompted Lorraine to cut off contact with her too; she was young and scared. He now understands his grandmother’s urgency better. “I wanted to show in Screens, that you can have all these massive political situations where countries make decisions to invade or intervene in other’s politics and the results filter down into people’s domestic lives. So my personal story is completely connected to that. My Cypriot family has that sensitivity that British people take things away from them. They’ve had to move to another country to start again, they’ve probably had to deal with racial abuse in the streets, then when my grandmother saw her son getting involved with a British girl, that sensitivity that she already had filtered out.

“When I found out I was Cypriot suddenly things made sense, I could fill in the gaps.” He felt a sense of belonging and a deeper identity. Although he would love to meet his father again, he worries about affecting this father’s life and doesn’t want to upset him. He searched for his dad from the age of 18 to 30 but to little avail, the agencies he used now believe he may be in Cyprus. At age 30 (when he lost hope of finding his dad) he tattooed ‘papa’ in Greek on his left inner bicep, so that when he brings his arm in towards his chest, the symbolic presence touches his heart. It’s like a little of his father’s entity is now always there with him.

“He’s out there in the world and he’s potentially thinking of me, I believe I must be like him a lot, as I’m not like anyone else in my family. I’d love to meet him, even if it’s to say ‘cheers for life’,” he beams.

Mention the 1950s and images of wide smiling, dapperly dressed couples swinging to Rock ‘n’ Roll songs spring to mind. Marry that with American burgers, milkshakes and white petticoats, jukeboxes and open roofed Cadillacs, then you’re looking at the first retro festival of its kind here on the island: The Jukin Cyprus, a three-day celebration of 1950s popular culture, food, classic cars, clothes, bands, pinball machines and jukeboxes.

Founder and organiser of the über successful German based festival The Jukin’ 50s, Markus Wiessing, is now introducing the joys of retro to Cyprus, at Meneou Beach, Larnaca from September 30 to October 2. He is no stranger to the demands of organising such an event, with 25 years of coordinating his annual festival in Germany (which attracted tens of thousands visitors and 3,500 vintage cars this year) is excited to introduce a smaller but equally vintage packed event here.

Guests from all round Europe are expected to be flying in for the festival.

“The idea is to combine the 50s lifestyle, as well elements of the 60s and 70s – I guess you can call it nostalgic lifestyle really, and offer it to the people who love this kind of music and pop culture,” says Markus. Tired of the common techno style ‘noise’ here (as he calls it,) he conceived that he could offer a new and fun experience to other like minded people. “I think that possibly the over 35-year-olds on the island might appreciate having some music with melodies and vocal harmonies,” he laughs. “There’s a huge difference between Jive, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Doo-Wop and Rockabilly music compared to modern music, the first is happy music that takes you by the heart. You can’t help but tap your fingers and feet, it’s got rhythm, it’s impossible to remain still to it,” he explains.

Markus with his Cadillac

Jukin Cyprus will host about 10 professional international retro bands flying in to jam songs of yesterday as well as one local, and possibly the only 1950s band on the island, The Xiles. Together, they’ll Jive, Rockabilly, Doo-Wop and Rock ‘n’ Roll us under the stars to the likes of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Dean Martin and other favourites whose songs filled the 50s US and UK charts. From 3pm the days will be filled listening to a UK DJ playing record hop retro tunes while people enjoy chilling, swimming and dancing. Then leisurely checking out the retro paraphernalia in the nostalgic markets, vintage jukeboxes, pinball/ flipper machines, records, CDs, DVDs, food court, 1950s clothes (coming over from Germany) and barber shop for the ladies. At around 7pm as the sun sets, the evening will come to life with the sounds of the talented live bands including The Truly Love Trio (US), The Roommates (UK), Danny & the Chicks (GER), The Nymonics (GER), Freddy Velas & the Silvertones (I), The Velvet Candles (Spain), Frankie Dean (UK), C-Sides (Surf music) and Cyprus’ very own The Xiles.

Consisting of three expats, two from the UK and one from Sweden, the rockabilly trio Xiles are regular performers both in Larnaca and Limassol. Ian Gupe, the singer and double bass player of the band, is a 1950s ‘passionista’. With quiffed hair and 50s style clothes, Ian confesses “I love everything about the 50s: the music, the style and clothes. My wife goes out every day looking like Doris Day,” he laughs. However, he admits that there isn’t really a retro movement in Cyprus “we try to be as animated as we can. There’s a demand for the band here because we’re different. There are lots of people who love the music but do not partake in the style or fashion of the era.”

Markus, who moved to Cyprus two years ago after visiting the island for a holiday and decided to stay, is hoping that the festival can help change this. His ‘disease’ as he calls it for the era, all began as a seven-year-old when he fell in love at first sight with a jukebox during a family dinner in a restaurant in Germany. Eleven years later he purchased his first one. In 1992, he met and teamed up with a Jukebox dealer from Berlin creating The Jukin 50’s. “There’s no real retro sub culture in Cyprus. It seems that people are not big fans of joining networks. For example, my friend from Nicosia has a collection between 70 -90 juke boxes, complete with good conditioned iconic Wurlitzer jukeboxes but no one knows about it really; so he’s exhibiting some of them at the festival” states Markus.
Jukebox hobbyist Antonis Mylonas began collecting in 1978 and bought his first Jukebox aged 22. His prized possession is a very rare 1942, 950 Wurlitzer that plays 24 discs at 78rpm. “I have jukeboxes from 1936 – 1983 all in working order, its a weakness of mine that I’ve had since a small child when I didn’t even have coins to be able to listen to them,” reminisces Antonis.

But its not all about the jukeboxes, the driving passion behind the German festivals, are the vintage cars. “The furthest distance that I know a vintage car travelled to go to my festival was approximately 1,000km, a 1959 Cadillac from Vienna. There’s around 1,200 vintage cars in Cyprus some of which will be driven to the festival, there’ll be Mustangs from Limassol and Nicosia, Corvettes from Larnaca, Cadillacs and others,” says Markus. His own 1958 Cadillac will be present. In Germany many attend the festival, bringing their vintage cars; this is an aspiration he has for the coming years of the festival here in Cyprus.

“This is the festival’s first year, if it takes off, I will make it bigger for the years to come, for now, it’s a space to enjoy the great music and retro vibes by the beach,” smiles Markus.

The Jukin Cyprus
Free entry for two passengers per vintage car (for EU cars before 1969 and US cars before 1979). Adults without vintage vehicle pay €16 per day or €43 for the three days. Children under 18 go in free. www.thejukin50s.club, www.facebook.com/The-Xiles-147420635414766/

What a surprise find! Tucked away behind Nicosia’s Hamam is a real hidden gem, so much so that I’m in two minds about disclosing its name. But disclose I must. At Korniza Baroque nature, preserved Cypriot architecture and good old hospitality come together to offer customers an intimate and charming night.

What makes Korniza Baroque stand out? Is it the hundreds of bottles of wines they offer? Award winning cocktails? Or guest DJs flying in from around the world? No, it’s none of that, it just has a certain charm with a drinking are at the front of the venue, comfortably sandwiched by two restored yellow brick walls overflowing naturally with greenery, four banana trees reaching for the sky and a trimmed pink bougainvillea sheltering tables in one corner.

Opened in September 2015, Korniza Baroque is housed in a restored 1920s Cypriot home. There’s a feeling of security, simplicity and historic richness in the place, a perfect setting for good friends and lovers. It’s also the kind of place that one can feel quite comfortable to frequent alone.

I chose the inside where a lot of time, thought and love as gone into the design, which is almost theatrical. The old architecture and vintage tiled floors have been lovingly maintained with added touches. On entering from the front veranda door, one walks along the old Cypriot tiled floor, and looking up, sees tasteful and not overwhelming imagery from the Sistine Chapel in Rome, it really works.

The small seated bar area is dimly lit with huge gold rimmed mirrors lining the wall behind it and a large of array of premium and regular alcohol sits and waits.

The barman leans in to take my order and although there is an interesting selection of cocktails, I play hard ball and say I don’t fancy any of them and I’m after something bitter sweet.

With no further words exchanged he delivered the exact taste I was after; a drink with no name, one made specially for me with rum, Cointreau, fresh lime and something called Yuzu syrup (a bitter sweet lemon flavour with pieces of bitter sweet fruit in) with soda. It was good, very good.

The music is both Greek and English folk, gentle rock, soul and blues, overall emotive and feeding into the cosy chill out vibes. They offer 200 different labels of spirits (premium and regular) and about 30 labels each of wine and beer and have a variety of Cypriot finger food for nibbles. Monday nights are live Rembetika bands and about once a month there is a DJ.

Korniza Baroque
Where: Soutsou 9, Nicosia
When: Monday to Saturday 5pm (winter hours) – 2am
How much: Cocktails €6.50 – 7, carafes of ouzo, tsipoura, zivania and rakamelo (hot and cold) €12, wines €18-31.
Contact: 22104077, www.facebook.com/Korniza-Baroque

An exhibition in Nicosia chronicles 200 years of weddings with dresses on show loaned by the public

A wedding today is a finely tuned affair, involving a supporting cast that increasingly involves an event organiser and costs families a fortune. While the format has changed over the years at the centre of the celebration has always been the elegantly dressed woman in white. Or has it?

As recently as the 1930s brides in Cyprus were married off as young as 10 to 16 in a practice commonplace among both communities historically. And, although bridal fashion didn’t become much of a consideration until a decade later, for rich or poor it was always about the dress, “from the poorest village girl who would give her Sunday best a good wash and iron to wear as her precious wedding gown to the wealthier bride who wore Egyptian or later on European inspired silk gowns,” says Rita Severis, executive director of CVAR which is currently host to Here Come the Brides!, an exhibition on the history of brides on the island.
The exhibition has a wedding dress from the 1930s which was worn by a 14-year-old girl. “Nineteenth century brides were very young,” says Severis, as evidenced by the small sizes of wedding dresses presented at the exhibition, characterised by slim waistlines that would have fitted young girls of slight build.

Initially women would use their traditional, mutlicoloured costumes as wedding dresses with vrakas (pantaloons) underneath, a practice that continued to around the 1890s. Over time and with influences from the west, designs moved to lighter colours, changing to beige, pink and blue, while Turkish Cypriots would wear red and lilac velvet costumes called Bindalli. These were adorned with intricate hand embroidered silver or gold threading. On their hands they would have henna tattoos and gold dust for good luck.

The white wedding dress became popular in both communities after Queen Victoria’s 1840 wedding to Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and not as is commonly thought to show whether a woman was a virgin or not. White wedding garments appeared widley in Cyprus however, at a much later date during the 1900s. The first white wedding dress worn by a Turkish Cypriot bride was recorded in 1898 when Naime Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid II, married Kemalettin Pasha.

It was also very common throughout the ages for wealthy Greek Cypriot brides to be decorated with lots of gold coins strung around their foreheads and busts, even poor women wore a little as part of their dowry. For Turkish Cypriots, tradition dictated that the bride hung a Bendo – a single large gold coin – around her neck, a custom dating from the Ottomans. They also decorated their heads with crowns of precious and semi-precious stones, pearls and diamonds depending on their wealth.

“I’ve read various travellers’ reports which described the Cypriot bride as ‘colourful’. This intrigued me. Unlike today, brides initially dressed in yellows, reds, purples, blacks, with some adorning henna tattoos and others gold coins on their foreheads,” says Severis happy to share “something positive” about the country’s combined history. “It was a bicommunal event, a happy occasion that both communities shared together, I think that’s important for people to see.”
From the 1930 to 50s British colonials began to copy patterns from abroad and even imported dresses from Egypt although mimicking the styles of Victorian wedding dresses actually occurred among the very wealthy Cypriots from as early as the late 19th century. A trend eventually emerged where dresses were made locally by imported tailors, such as the famed Karem from Egypt. Then there were the urban families who could even afford to import dresses from England or America. So up until the 1940s there seemed to be a real mismatch of styles, then after the 40s, a more “Europeanised” shared trend filtered through to both communities.

However, a girl’s bridal dress always mirrored her status. “The material, quality and quantity of the wedding attire was a reflection of the bride’s social position and a demonstration of her family’s wealth to the guests,” says Severis. Poorer women would spend much of their young lives sewing their own dresses or saving money to purchase pretty accessories. “Today most wedding ceremonies last only an evening but years ago, they could last for a week. As part of the ceremony both brides would wear pink the day before the wedding, white on the day and Turkish Cypriot women wore black the day after the wedding indicating that the bride was no longer a virgin”.

The day after the wedding, both communities would invite guests over to show off their gifts. The day before the marriage there’d be a display of the bride’s dowry, including sheets and tablecloths that the she herself had embroidered. Severis recalls going as a young child to a wedding with her parents where “all the gifts were exhibited on a table including plates, candlesticks and jewellery. I still remember it quite vividly and people would go round exclaiming ‘ooh, this is very nice, who gave you that?’ There’d be a card showing the names of the present givers next to each gift.”

The evolution of bridal dresses in Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities over the past 200 years is shown in the exhibition, a collaboration between CVAR, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and Greek and Turkish Cypriot people’s wardrobes.

As part of the preparation for the exhibition, an appeal for wedding dresses was made via Facebook with surprising results. “I was amazed. Dresses came in in the hundreds from both communities eager to share their costumes, but we don’t have time to showcase them all unfortunately,” says Severis. With over 75 bridal outfits chosen for display and countless accessories collected from between the 19th and 21st centuries, the oldest bridal dress is a traditional purple Turkish Cypriot Bindalli from the early 1800s. There are Greek Cypriot gowns from the 1850s, straight dresses from 1920s, inflated Victorian inspired gowns from the 1960s “and costumes evolving up until today; now in 2016 we have crazy expensive wedding dresses; anything goes!” laughs Severis.

Severis is evidently excited about this exhibition, especially because it brings together both cultures in a different historical light. “The event is under the auspices of Andri Anastasiades and Meral Akinci, both of whom kindly lent us a bridal dress, Anastasiades gave us her daughter Ino’s wedding dress and Akinci an old 19th century Bindalli that she had in her family.” The exhibition really does provide a rare insight into the history and culture of Cyprus.

Here Come the Brides!
Until October 30. CVAR, Ermou 285, old Nicosia. Tel: 22 300994. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm, Friday 10am-8pm. www.cvar.severis.org, www.boccf.org