X.A. Chomenidis is directly inspired by today. He writes an -almost- realistic novel, which takes place in Athens in 2021 and captures everything that touches us, moves us, scares us.

His protagonist, Jimis Papidakis, a child of the 60s and 70s, son of a janitor, adopted by a former protagonist of the National Theatre, finds himself -at the threshold of his sixties- one step away from fulfilling his lifelong dream: to become the first and best theatrical entrepreneur in Greece. The theater he has inherited on Fokionos Negri Street, which -for almost forty years- staged third-rate performances, cheap farces, and misfortune inspections, is to become the center of the theatrical Athens.

Jimis has made excellent use of the pandemic. During the lockdown, he has completely renovated his theater. He has engaged with generous advances the cream of actors, writers, directors, musicians... All those who under normal circumstances snubbed him, considered him the illegitimate heir of a glorious name.

The play he is preparing, "The Peronospore", has all the specifications to triumph. Jimis is in a state of hyperexcitement. He longs not for the business profit, but for existential vindication. Jimis Papidakis, with his swagger, expensive suits, and aristocratic gestures, is a streetwise type. At the same time, he is a bit of a dreamer, like all of us. Within him lives his childhood self and his deceased loved ones. He converses with them, he gives an account to them. And he insists that he detests nostalgia.

A breath away from his triumph, due to a chance encounter with a desperate, ruthless person, Jimis Papidakis will be destroyed. He will be crushed by the new reality of social media, fake news, character assassinations. In complete confusion, innocent and unable to defend himself, he will be given as prey to a delirious crowd that delights in tearing him apart. That oscillates between pity and anger.

Jimis Papidakis is an analog person in a digital universe. In his face, the upcoming generations take bloody revenge on the previous ones. No one of his own can protect Jimis. Not even his nineteen-year-old daughter, who belongs to the future. Not even Kypseli, which changes at lightning speed and transforms from his homeland into a foreign place for him.

In Kypseli, Jimis is the requiem of those who unconsciously remain behind, in a world that is rapidly changing. The apology of a good person who is simply surpassed by the times.