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GREEK THEATRE TRADITION by Eva Georgoussopoulou Archivist at the Theatre Museum of Athens Theatre in the antiquity Every year Greek people continue to admire, not only the new theatre productions, which are almost always dealing with everyday matters and characters, but also with the oldest greek plays – especially ancient Greek Drama- presented today under a new prism, often enough trying to keep the traditional and classical style – although, during the last decade, many theatre groups (“postmodern”, as they are called) are interested in depicting the “classical style” through a very provocative and intriguing manner and form, creating negative reactions and strong disagreements. Sometimes they are thought to trade upon the ancient, classical texts or destroy them on purpose. about GREECE 269 EDUCATION & CULTURE The importance of Theatre in the Antiquity cannot be neglected or underestimated. Tragedies, comedies and satirical plays were thought to be the centre of the Ancients’ cultural life, which seemed often empty without theatre presentations, “agones”. The audience participated in full during the performances (“methexis”) and the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and later (4th century B.C.) Menander cultivated and succeeded in including all these people in the dramatic or comic situations and feelings their characters experienced. GREEK THEATRE’S EVOLUTION The presence of the Theatre never ceased to exist through the centuries and to influence the way of life and the thought of the Greeks: especially during the monumental evolution of the Arts in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, two periods that offered a great success and a number of motivations to the European Theatre (William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, Carlo Goldoni, Moliere or the German poetry and Romanticism with Goethe and Schiller), but also to the Greek one as they contributed a lot to the evolution of the theatrical production in Crete and the islands of the Ionian Sea (Eptanissa). Vitsentzos Cornaros, Georgios Hortatsis, Petros Katsaitis, Dimitrios Gouzelis, Antonios Matessis introduced new theatre types and patterns, mostly influenced by the Italian Theatre and, sometimes, imitating the ancient greek texts and its myths (Katsaitis, for instance, has written a play called “Thyestes”, a tragedy of ancient greek form and descent). The language used was orig- 270 about GREECE inal, mostly the cretan or ionian dialects that, nowadays, have almost totally disappeared. 19th CENTURY Greek Theatre’s flourishing led up to the end of the 19th century (around 1880, to be more specific and precise), when the first professional theatre groups make their presence prominent on the greek stage, presenting basically plays of French origin (vaudevilles, comic farces). At that time, new theatre authors appear, authors that represent and introduce new theatre forms and kinds, which will be strongly established on the greek theatre production and will open a new era towards the 20th century. Dimitrios Vernardakis, Dimitrios Koromilas, Spyridon Peressiadis, Dimitrios Kokkos, Angelos Vlachos and others are made popular through, mainly, their tragic plays (especially Vernardakis – “Fafsta”, “Maria Doxapatri”) and the comic or dramatic idylls – descriptions of families’ traditional life in the provinces or in old quarters of a different Athens (ithographia). In 1894 a new theatre type appears upon the Athenian stages, introducing a lurid spectacle that created a whole new different atmosphere and a new theatre kind, totally unknown by that specific moment, but very promising and creative for the future: the Athenian Cabaret (Athinaiki Epitheorissis). It included music, lyrics, songs, dance and, mostly, cheerfulness and liveliness. The texts satirized basically the political, social, religious or moral situations of those times and they were played by excellent actors who were successfully tested to these kinds of roles. The authors of GREEK THEATRE TRADITION those satirical texts and lyrics were mainly journalists, people extremely familiar to situations like the above mentioned. All these spectacles were influenced, in great part, by the cabaret shows all over Europe (Paris, London, Berlin – especially there with the great actor and showman Carl Valentin, who later influenced Bertolt Brecht) and, in trying to enter the greek society, they had success. Nowadays, the Epitheorissis is flourishing every winter or summer periods in Athens (although, the last decade, less theatres present this kind of performance, due mainly to the lack of experienced writers), since the political and social situation change radically, offering the brilliant authors the spark of satire, critique, abuse or protest. The audience, usually, accept the criticism and the laugh is often spontaneous. 20th CENTURY At the dawn of the 20th century, a new era begins for the greek theatre, which is escorted by influences, having their origins mostly to the Theatre of Northwestern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Germany). Henrik Ibsen became one of the greatest ancestors of the so – called Bourgeois Drama (Astiko Drama), represented in Greece by Grigorios Xenopoulos, Spyros Melas, Pandelis Horn, Dimitris Bogris and others. Up until 1950, there is also an evolution of Poetic and Historical Theatre, a kind that was usually written by dramatists extremely familiar with certain historical periods or with poetry, such as Angelos Sikelianos, Angelos Terzakis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Vassilis Rotas. The decades 1950 – 1960 found the Farces and Comedies at the peak of the theatrical production. The realistic descriptions of the comic characters’ everyday life, the misunderstandings, the caustic satire of greek customs or habits, the tenderness of love affairs – all that create a scenery that dominated the greek stage (and the cinema as well) for many years about GREECE 271 EDUCATION & CULTURE and fascinated with its themes generations and generations of the greek audience. They continue to be at their preference even today, always powerful and contemporary. MODERN GREEK THEATRE 1957 was an important and critical point for the history of Modern Greek Theatre: it is the year that Iakovos Kambanellis – the “Father of Modern Greek Theatre” as he is called – presented in the ART THEATRE of Karolos Koun his significant and most famous play, “The yard of miracles” (“Avli ton thavmaton”) and marked the beginning of a new, talented era of theatre authors. They had as their purpose to change the history and the atmosphere and to introduce new ideas and ideologies, concerning the evolution and the maturity of the greek theatre. The audience – then and now – discovers always something creative, tragic, dramatic, comic, satirical, even complicated or inconceivable under the themes 272 about GREECE and the characters of the new authors: Vassilis Ziogas, Dimitris Kehaidis, Pavlos Matessis, Giorgos Skourtis, Marios Pontikas, Mitsos Efthimiadis, Giorgos Maniotis, Loula Anagnostaki, Stratis Karras, Kostas Mourselas, Giorgos Dialegmenos, Yannis Chryssoulis and many others. All of them dominate the greek stage and are daily renewing their repertory, imitating situations and characters of the everyday life and choosing to present nothing else, but REALITY. Some of those authors often represent, through their texts, many other artistic “currents”, such as SURREALISM, EXPRESSIONISM or HYPEREALISM. THEATRE GROUPS It is worth noted that, besides the authors who led Greece and the Greeks towards a brand new era at the beginning of the century, there were also the directors and actors who put all those texts into action GREEK THEATRE TRADITION and gave them life and substance on stage. After the first professional groups of Dionissios Tavoularis, Eftihios Vonasseras, Dimosthenis Alexiadis, Evangelos Pantopoulos and others (around 1870 – 1880), after the old – fashioned, worth mentioning performances of two great actresses of the 19th century, Evangelia Paraskevopoulou and Ekaterini Veroni, there appeared a new generation of actors and directors who introduced more advanced propositions about the scenic presentation of certain texts and certain, important theatre “currents” such as Realism, Classicism, Romanticism. In 1901 Konstantinos Christomanos, director, author, translator and, mainly, a well – educated scholar, created NEA SKINI which ended abruptly its career in 1905 – due to financial problems – after having presented on stage plays by Euripides, Ibsen, Goldoni and, after having made known how the currents of Realism and Naturalism can be com- bined in a single, well – organized performance. Parallel to NEA SKINI, the german – educated director Thomas Oikonomou took the lead of the ROYAL THEATRE, with the financial support of the King and the Palace, where, until 1908, he directed and kept the leading roles in excellent performances of monumental plays (for instance, Ibsen’s “The Ghosts”, Strindberg’s “The Father”). Both scholars were influenced by the “directing” german school of the Mainingen and the German director and teacher Otto Brahm. On May 1927 the significant greek poet Angelos Sikelianos and his American wife Eva Palmer organized for the first time after the Antiquity the 1st Delphic Festivities, where they presented Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound”, with amateurs and the women of Delphi as members of the Chorus. They invited great personalities of the Arts from all over the world and their attempt is historical as they revived the ancient greek about GREECE 273 EDUCATION & CULTURE dramatic art and laid the excavations for the later performances of greek drama. All the costumes were hand – made at the loom, by Eva Palmer herself and the women of the village. On May 1930 Angelos and Eva Sikelianou organized the 2nd Delphic Festivities, with Aeschylus’ “Suppliant Women”, but the success was surely inferior to the 1st Festivities. The two pioneer directors of the 20th century, Christomanos and Oikono-mou, were followed by other great theatre Teachers who inculcated generations of actors and generations of the greek audience with their, sometimes, revolutionary and radical ideology: Fotos Politis, theoretician, scholar and director, founder of the NATIONAL THEATRE in 1932, Dimitrios Rondiris, successor of Fotos Politis’ tradition at the NATIONAL THEATRE and the first to inaugurate the Epidaurus’ Festival in 1954 (with Euripides’ “Hippolytus”), Karolos Koun, founder of LAIKI SKINI 274 about GREECE (1934) and ART THEATRE (1942), Sokratis Karandinos, who created the STATE THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE (1961), Linos Karzis (director and founder of THYMELIKOS THIASSOS, with performances of greek drama, very close to the ancient metres and stereotypes), Takis Mouzenidis, Pelos Katselis, Kostis Michailidis, Alexis Solomos – the only director who introduced Aristophanes at the ancient theatres (1956) and presented 10 out of his 11 comedies – and, more recently, Spyros Evangelatos, Minos Volanakis, Giorgos Michailidis and many others. These directors have, during the decades, directed or, sometimes, kept up during their efforts, with unique actors and actresses who left their indelible traces on the Athenian stages: Kyveli, Marika Kotopouli, Katina Paxinou, Alexis Minotis, Eleni Papadaki, Emilios Veakis, Vasso Manolidou, Dimitris Horn, Elli Lambeti, Mary Aroni, Katerina Andreadi, Dimitris Myrat, Thanos Kotsopoulos, GREEK THEATRE TRADITION Giorgos Pappas, Christophoros Nezer, Kostas Moussouris, Anna Synodinou, Antigoni Valakou, Nelly Angelidou and others. The people who had the chance to see all of them on stage talk today with admiration about the miracles they have watched and about the unique and ineffable pleasure and joy they have experienced. THE ROLE OF GREEK THEATRE The role of Theatre in Greece has not changed since the Antiquity: then, it used to be amusing, recreational, instructional and, as we have already seen, the audience’s participation was thought to be indispensable, since the tragic poets’ success and establishment, in people’ s minds, as excellent authors and great representatives of the greek culture and civilization, had always to do with the positive or negative reaction of the spectators. Nowadays nothing has actually changed, especially during the summer Festivals of Athens or Epidaurus, where the ancient greek drama gives always the spark, offers pleasure and arouses the interest and the intrigue of the participants, when not provoking them! An important and quite encouraging aspect of the change in the spectators’ participation is the entrance to the theatre world of more and more YOUNG people, who have suddenly discovered the intriguing motivation that action and scenic representation offer. The introduction of the most important theatre currents in the greek theatre (Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism) have made easier the acquaintance and the connection with the European and the American Theatre. The Europeans’ and Americans’ way of writing have, at great extent, influenced the authorship of their Greek colleagues as well as the views of the directors. The combination of theory about GREECE 275 EDUCATION & CULTURE 276 and action into a performance lies basically on the good cooperation between actor and director and their mutual acceptance of certain “conventions”, basic and indispensable aspects that constitute a nice and interesting spectacle. The new generation of modern greek theatre authors follow quite often the patterns and the form of their European and American colleagues, but one should see this effort only as a slight imitation of those writers’ “mould” and not as a complete conveyance of the foreigners’ customs and habits in Greece. The evolution of greek theatre and its regenerative ideas and influences have brought on the surface of greek cultural life a number of notable critics – mainly after 1920 – who established the theatre critique as an important and indispensable factor of the theatrical reality and its creative representation. The Greek writers transform their characters and the events of the play by transporting and establishing them to the greek facts and by describing realistic matters as close to the audience’s experience as possible. In our century one could as well note that the spectators’ reaction towards a performance can also be critical, if one decides to accept Bertolt Brecht’ s view and ideology The first critics – the majority of whom were scholars, theoreticians or even authors or directors (Fotos Politis, Emilios Hourmouzios, Alkis Thrylos, Spyros Melas, Angelos Terzakis, Vassos Varikas, Leon Koukoulas, Marios Ploritis and others) – were usually at the beginning more restraint, more literal or analytical towards the performances, mainly because some of the innovative ideas about GREECE about a critical participation of the audience and a kind of alienation (“Verfremdung”) from what is going on upon stage. CRITIQUE GREEK THEATRE TRADITION seemed to them strange or even provocative and outrageous. Some of them, old – fashioned and preservative, were often demanding towards the new creations and they strictly criticized or even deplored them. One must point out, though, that their critiques were often very interesting, intriguing and with excellent analyses and theoretical views about the plays. Nowadays, the new generation of critics is more open to suggestions, more tolerant, more approving and basically receptive. The plays that were recently written and added to the theatrical “market” (plays of greek or universal origin and descent) found the critics and the critique more mature and forced them towards a further reading, in order to be totally informed about “current” matters or literal texts. MODERN THEATRE GROUPS What strikes today in Athens is the superabundance of theatre groups and buildings – old or modern – that house the efforts of actors and directors in order to present their work as perfectly as possible in front of a curious and, sometimes, voracious audience. At that moment there are more than 300 theatre groups only in Athens and the number increases day by day, if one adds the amateurs, the school or the University groups that make their presence more and more powerful and prominent into the theatre world. Before, for about 60 years (1900 – 1960) there were basically 20 – 25 theatre groups that presented, though, many plays, even two or three every week and two different the same time! NEA SKINI, ROYAL THEATRE, KYVELI’S and ΚΟΤΟPOULI’S groups, NATIONAL THEATRE, LAIKI SKINI and ART THEATRE, PIRAIKO THEATRO by Dimitris Rondiris, KATERINA ANDREADI, KOSTAS MOUSSOURIS, ELLI LAMBETI and DIMITRIS HORN groups e.t.c. Furthermore, one could watch performances of cabaret sketches or farces by groups about GREECE 277 EDUCATION & CULTURE that played in Athens or toured in the province: there, where today life has become very intense and also indispensable, since after 1981 there were created, at almost every town outside Athens, MUNICIPAL THEATRES (around 16: Larissa, Patras, Volos, Veroia, Kavala, Komotini, Kalamata, Kozani, Kerkyra, Chania, Giannena, Agrinio, Serres, Lamia, Rhoded, Chios) with very good directors and actors, some of them protagonists on the main Athenian stages. The increase of theatre interest at the province is very promising for the future and, especially, with the participation of the younger generation. The plays presented oscillate between the classical and the more contemporary repertory, but all of them are received by the audience with a very positive interest and, often, enthusiasm. The return to some species of modern greek theatre and also to farces shows the increase of the audience’s curiosity and interest towards the theatre, which seems more and more to have surpassed the cinema and the other ways of nowadays’ amusement and relaxing. CONCLUSION The new theatre currents are now more arty and sophisticated and some groups present their work based on more peculiar and experimental views that appear to be provocative and appealing for the spectators. The pioneer ideas and versions of some plays seem to at- 278 about GREECE tract basically the younger people (18 – 25 years old) who constitute today the majority of the greek audience: they begin to discover motivations and the spark of the NEW. Finally, one could mention that many years ago (and at a larger extent today) there has started a co – operation between theatre groups that are lodged abroad and greek theatre groups. The NATIONAL THEATRE, the ART THEATRE, the AMPHI – THEATRE, the STATE THEATRE OF NORTHERN GREECE and some of the well – known Athenian groups have traveled to different cities or countries of the world to present their work and to receive, almost always, an enthusiastic welcome. The greek audience had – and still has – the chance to see foreign groups coming to Greece (mainly, since the 1990’s), groups that always have something new, alluring or extreme to propose. The critique and the points of view differ, but the interest remains. The conclusion of all the above shows clearly that greek theatre is not anymore a negligible quantity of Greece’s civilization, but seems more and more to possess a very high position at the Greeks’ estimation and belief of a true, good, interesting, creative and respectable spectacle, a spectacle that could –and should– belong exclusively to the Greeks.