Spring weather: heavy rain, lightning, thunder, corruption of the Lord. A flurry of profanity, flat speech, banal dialogues, pretentious meanings, sonorous intonations of obscene leaders of the cries of dramatic faces. Literally and metaphorically, “Kolokairos” is a new work by Antonis Tsiotsiopulos (a joint production of the Neo Kosmos Theater and the Tseni Karesis Theatre), which to a certain extent expands dramaturgy in the area of ​​dramaturgy of “foreign”, “other” and “other”.

The arrival of a “foreigner” causes the expected upheavals, stirs up the social fabric of our everyday phobia. The action takes place in a decadent liquor store in Elefsina. Sophocles has been absent for five years and returns on the occasion of the death of his mother to the nightclub “Refinery”, which he was the owner of in the past, and there he meets his brother, wife, his best man and his employees. However, his return comes as a surprise to the family, because Sophocles returns as a “woman” in a skirt, heels and a wig, as “such”, as a “traveler”, as his screaming brother calls him.

The author burrows into the Eleusinian kennel, into the remnants of yesterday’s nightly fun, with the “cold weather” dragging on outside the window, in order to literally capture the rubbish of disparate discourse, fragments of words and meanings, to photograph all the details of this dead-end relationship of friends and relatives. It is clear that the subject matter of the play could be taught in the department of social anthropology, but as dramaturgy it presents many gaps, gaps and imperfections, mainly in terms of the psychological texture of the roles and the treatment of dramatic situations. The verisimilitude of speech or comical wedges is not enough; The “family” of Eleusis has as its distant relative the family of Korydallos, “Spirtokutos”. This lumpen-proletariat speaks the language of profanity and tries to rise and get rich, in general “to do the right thing”, without moral remorse and value prohibitions.

The “family” of Eleusis has as its distant relative the family of Korydallos, “Spirtokutos”.

The question remains open: to what extent does the author manage to overcome the realistic limits so that his work is not considered a product of “convenience” and is not listed in the genre of realistic “superficial” ethnography? “Romanticism or Realism?”. “Realism,” the author replies. More precisely, the naturalism reflected in the original stage space, designed with an obsession with doghouse details by Natassa Papastergiou and expertly edited in terms of lighting by Vassilis Klotsotiras. The music of Kostas Nikolopoulos framed the “capsule” songs of pain and love grief and completed the correspondence between the thematic material and real life in a nightclub. Director Yorgos Paloubis, familiar with the codes of socialist realism (he recently directed Shaved Chins), organizes the theatrical action by highlighting dramatic figures who are constantly on the verge of delinquency while maintaining a tone of mystery about their past and future. He manages well to equate wrongdoing with populism, but does not avoid the temptation of superficial acting, graphic description of the characters and the situations in which they find themselves. The pace of the performance, fast and aggressive, is in constant tension, without weakening the interest of the most diverse audience.

Stathis Stamulakatos interprets Sophocles as a sensitive hero who sincerely mourns his mother, and colors the role of the transgender with special touches of interpretation, perhaps more interesting than the nuances of Sophocles as Mary’s husband. Stelios Dimopoulos as Dimitris follows an intense directorial pace, creating a pleasing alternation of interpretive range, comedy and drama. Thanos Alexiou excels as Makis and as a comedic counterweight to the dramatic form. Vasiliki Dialina and Antonis Tsiotsiopulos emphasize the underlined rough realism with their interpretations and support the aesthetics of the lumpen heroes of the performance. The scriptwriter and director throw material into a boiling cauldron, but in the end they do not cause an explosion. The naturalistic details were not shrouded in a poetic fog to lift the spectacle into a dark realm, existential and truly ontological. In addition, as one of the heroes of the play declares with humor and cynicism: “In such bad weather, there will be a magnificent funeral.”

Ms. Rhea Grigoriou holds a PhD in History and Drama from AUTH and is Professor of Greek Culture at EAP.