Gentle, touching, funny. That’s how you describe the show.”Kisses, Oscar”, a bittersweet story of love and growing up, which has already captivated a large number of viewers, in Athens theater.

The protagonist is ten-year-old Oscar, who lives in the hospital, as he suffers from a severe form of leukemia. One day he will overhear the doctor and find out that there is no hope for a cure, in a few days he will die. The sadness of the child is great, time seems to have stopped on a few square meters of the hospital ward. Until Oscar meets Mrs. Rose, one of the volunteers who keep sick children company. Then his daily life changes.

“Hope and joy of life in the foreground”

OUR Cezaris Georgianis (“Antigone”, “Three Sisters” by A. Chekhov, “Agamemnon”, etc.), he adapted and staged the novel by the playwright Eric – Emanuel Schmitt, choosing as the main character Thanasis Tsaltabassi. What fascinated the award-winning actor and made him agree to this production? “We have a relationship of deep gratitude with the director. We always meet, exchange opinions and ideas until we come up with something that inspires both of us a lot. That’s what happened to Oscar.” he says “K” and adds: “This story cannot fail to impress you. Hope and joy of life are in the foreground, and this is what inspired me the most in this wonderful work.

Mrs Rose (Buyer Arvanitis) will bring a ray of optimism into the life of a desperate boy when he proposes a game: to consider every remaining day as a decade of his life. Thus, during his last 11 days, he lives a daily life full of unprecedented emotions and events. He falls in love, is disappointed, fights, forgives, hugs, prays to God and informs him of his desires. The full life he experienced before closing his eyes.

“Here the creative and non-standard thinking of Cesaris always manifests itself, who wanted Rosa to be a person, like everyone else, but who, out of love and care for his neighbor, in this case Oscar, acquires strengths and abilities that even she, as if he himself I didn’t imagine,” explains Tsaltabasis, emphasizing that “one gives life to the other, the relationship is completely bilateral.”

Opening Oscar

Since 1991, participating in theatrical, television and film projects, the actor has played many different roles to this day. What process did he go through to bring this particular character to life? “The pre-work that happens before the work reaches completion is always exciting and challenging at the same time. But when you have such strong writing and such a capable director, everything runs more smoothly,” he says. “Where I mostly “dug” is in small Tanasis. I had to see the world again with the purity and inexperience of a ten-year-old child, without ceasing to be a man of my own age.

The protagonist explains that there is “something poetic” about the approach to the text, and that the hero’s goal was to present himself as “an adult who brings his childhood to life”.

Schmitt’s work is timeless, as are the key messages, most importantly. how important it is to live every momentare as relevant as ever. “We just left our creativity and imagination to the lyrics that inspired us. Messages are appearing,” says Tsaltabasis. “The way the characters deal with an objectively difficult situation of illness, without suffering and passivity, but with imagination, with acting, with light and humor, is the highest message that our show sends.”

I ask the actor what he thinks he “acquired” from his role in Kiss Oscar. “I think that a specific calculation is not possible right now,” he replies. “However, the benefits are many and significant. I’m afraid of sickness and death, but I already think I have more weapons to fight them.”

Next steps

As for the professional level, “I believe that I put another stone in the viewer’s confidence in me, knowing that when he comes to my theater, he will almost certainly have a good time and see something good that will remain in his memory. “. heart for a long time.

As for his next steps, Tsaltabasis mentions that there are discussions about theater, film and television. “However, for now, I’m grateful for my Oscar.”

“Kiss, Oscar”
From March 1 at the Athens Theater every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
8 Bucharest Street, Athens