In the theatrical period, when the Greek drama finds a special response from the public, Pantelis Flatsousis decided to stage the political novel by Rhea Galanakis “Extraordinary Humiliation” on the stage of the Thesion Theatre. The focus of the project is the second memorandum, which was adopted today, February 12, 2012, as well as everything that followed that night that turned Athens into a battlefield. From Kapnikarya, Kolokotroni, Korai, Syntagma, the narrow streets of Plaka, peaceful demonstrators and rioters, incidents, barricades, catastrophes, burned down cinemas of the Stadium…

“We used Rhea Galanaki’s novel to talk about that period. Not so much because of the events of 2012 and the events of the crisis themselves, but as an occasion to look at where Greek society is today. How he coped with the injury,” says Pantelis Flatsousis “K” (New Theater Artist Award of the Union of Theater and Music Critics of Greece, 2022).

Extreme Humiliation (Kastaniotis Publishing) was published in 2015, but P. Flatsousis read the book during the pandemic and, according to him, we now live in a time when crises follow one after another. Then it was the economy, then refugees, healthcare, pandemic, climate and geopolitics. “We live in a dense historical time, certainly interesting for the historian of the future. Art in general (theatre, cinema, literature) did not face the years of the economic crisis artistically. We were very close, but somehow you have to talk about these events. While reading the book, I saw that this is a very good literary tool for transferring to the theater. It deals with the problem of the financial crisis, giving yet another depth. Because if we talk too close to what is happening, the emotional can talk about how we felt then. There was a strong feeling that we were victims. However, it was not about who was to blame. A series of events forms a historical knot.”

The focus of the project is the second memorandum, which was adopted on February 12, 2012, and everything that followed that night.

Modern secular events are of great interest to him as vehicles that the director observes, but not to dwell on them. This runs through Rhea Galanaki’s book and his talk “because we can draw conclusions from the present into much larger issues and longer historical periods. We also automatically see the stories of people in historical times. Thus we are trying to discuss the much more important questions raised by the ancient tragedies. There is a wonderful phrase in the novel, which we also kept in the play: “Athens today is a place of tragedy”, meaning 2012, in the sense of the city, democracy, human destinies, circumstances. This is what we are trying to illuminate and see in our own lives.”

He himself was 26 years old that night on February 12, 2012. What does he remember? “It was the night that the second memorandum was adopted and a great demonstration followed which resulted in the burning of many parts of Athens. Among them are “Apollo” and “Attikon”, still unhealed wounds in the city’s urban housing stock. It was a dark period. I was very worried. I had just graduated from drama school and felt like I had no future. I wondered “how will I live?”. I didn’t quite understand what was going on. In those years, we formed the arsenal of our reaction.”

What did he hide from the novel in the text that he (and the team) wrote for the play staged by Panayota Konstantinakov? “Theatrical narrative is more concise. We have definitely thrown and additions have been made. Rhea Galanaki’s work has many faces, and the main characters belong to the generation of polytechnics. We are trying to tell the story of post-political Greece and the clash of generations, the generation of the Polytech and my own generation, to which we can ask the question: the generation of what event is this?

Two elderly women sneak out of the hostel they are staying in to go to a big demonstration and find themselves in the events that followed that night. They belong to a generation that lived in greater security, and now they experience greater insecurity, which will henceforth become the norm for their lives, their peers, older or younger. “Today,” says P. Flatsuzis, “this has become the rule of our whole life. We experience an odyssey closer to James Joyce’s Odyssey than to Homer’s Odyssey. We’re trying to approach this narrative by focusing on my own generation. And we use it to find the identity of an entire era. In 1978, people understood what a historical moment was, but today? The theater raises questions and tries to initiate a new dialogue.”

“Only a new experience can raise new questions”

Eleven years later, he does not know if this crisis was the matrix of subsequent crises. “Don’t look at the situation in Greece in isolation. We live in an era of globalization, and everything depends on events.” Then he took his first professional steps. “I have not seen another working example. Some, a little older than me, say “before that we lived well” or “we are paid better.” Those of us who started working after 2010 have not experienced this. Instead, we lived at a time when we had to do a lot of work to survive, but the difference between us and the next generation is that we grew up safe as children. The current generation of 20-25 year olds grew up with insecurity and are experiencing professional insecurities. I am glad because they are more assertive in matters than we are. We were arrested six times.”

We saw how they demanded an increase in art education, how they rallied two years ago, condemning abusive behavior, etc. “Yes, obvious problems that during the crisis we wondered how to improve, for example. art education, and let’s go further. Bravo to this generation for saying things that my generation could accept. The main problem is that modern culture is not part of the modern Greek identity.”

How does he see the inflation of shows and bands? “Undoubtedly,” replies P. Flatsouzis and adds: “It is impossible to limit human need. Moreover, the appeal of so many to art reveals something sociologically. Redefining criteria, as well as the lack of opportunity for success in other professional areas. When I was 17 years old, I was told: “Where will you go to become an artist, you will starve.” These arguments were well founded. Some would say “become a lawyer”. Today, at 37 years old, my lawyer friends work for the same money or less than artists, endless hours and in a toxic environment.”

He chose the theater and became one of the talented representatives of a new generation of directors. “Something pulled me into space. When I joined the school groups, being an introverted child, I felt that I had found a meeting point. I liked watching plays and films – I’m still not sure which I prefer – but since school I have been working as a director. Since my art education was not academic, I entered the University of Piraeus, but never completed it. If there was an Academy of Arts, I would go there.”

He went to drama school and after graduating worked as an actor, as he says “preparing for directing”, then as an assistant director alongside Thomas Moshopoulos and Anestis Azas, until he found his own way in his own performances. P. Flatsuzi is looking for new forms in the theater. “I want to make shows that talk about contemporary content and what the viewer, when they leave the house and go for food or drinks after that, is surprised and discusses, looking for answers to questions. What worries me is the new dramaturgy and stage performances. Only new experiences can raise new questions.”