None of them wanted to talk about their lives with the selfishness of a sage. Although their decades in the theater and the position recognized by their colleagues allowed them to do this. Ksenia Kalogeropoulou, an actress and playwright, and Vasilis Papavasileu, an actor, director, writer, translator and theater theorist, were awarded the title of honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Theater Studies of the Athens School of Philosophy and, during their first official lecture with the new title, joked generously (sometimes, of course, bitterly ) before the public in the ceremonial hall of the Propylaea of ​​the University of Athens.

Xenia Kalogeropoulou has said that she doesn’t think she performed well in her films in the flourishing Greek cinema of the 60s. “Things were going well in the cinema, people recognized me, but something was missing for me,” he admitted, saying that “when I started working with people from the theater, such as Giannis Houvardas and Thomas Moshopoulos, I was very happy. Because I was part of the troupe, the work was a team effort.” For her, one of the most important elements of a performance is that the actor listens to his teammate. “For years I didn’t ‘listen’, I was drawn to the moment to say my words,” he said. A special experience for her was participation in the 2013 film Before Midnight, starring Ethan Hawke. “I saw him listen to his co-star every time, as if he was hearing something completely new. I realized how important this is for the development of the role,” he emphasized. Her story about the birth of children’s theater in the early 70s, when she collaborated with Stamatis Fasoulis, Yvonne Maltezu, the late Mina Hadjisavva, is delightful. Her contribution to children’s theater is recognized by all Today he wishes “that the Porta Theatre, my theatre, does not become a supermarket while I live.”

“Wisdom is a euphemism for the misdeeds of old age.” This is how Vasilis Papavasiliou began his speech. “The theater is an initiatory experience or an act of love. This is his promise between us. The theater is the call of the orchestra to the hollow, the stage to the square. This is the foundational promise of theater,” he said, adding: “If you illuminate a person with five kilowatts of light, he needs six kilowatts to legitimize his existence and enforce it. The stage performer is not photogenic, he needs to be – if he deserves it – photogenic.” And he emphasized: “Today, screens are defeating the physical presence. The way we do theater will change and we will have holograms. But fundamentally, we make a profession that relies on the uniqueness of the human presence. And it will never end.”