Last August, Euripides’ Helena, staged by Vassilis Papavasileu for the State Theater of Northern Greece, could not be performed at the Epidaurus Theater due to a fire that engulfed the country. However, the 25-piece troupe managed to make positive impressions from the Forest Theater in Thessaloniki, where it recently began operations, to the Ancient Theater of Kourion in Cyprus. On the 12th and 13th of the month, Eleni, starring Emily Koliandris, will finally be presented at the Argolic Theater translated by Pantelis Boukalas. “Unfortunately, what we are going through, I think, will not stop there, be it the coronavirus or the fires, the climate crisis. From now on, we must be ready for many adventures,” says actor Themis Panu, who plays the role of Menelaus.

He himself, during a hiatus from KTHBE performances, and also in connection with the recent release of his fourth book, Into the Doorknockers of Memory We Attended at Best (published by Agra), speaks to K about how he loves. Keywords: theatre, writing, Istanbul, where he was born.

Helena, an anti-war work, was written shortly after the crushing defeat of the Athenians in the Sicilian campaign. Relying not on the Homeric version of the myth, but on the version created by the lyricist Stysichorus, Euripides presents the Trojan War as a massacre of an “idol” and not a real woman. But what does the Helen we see in Epidaurus have? “View of Papavasileu. The constant striving to create a space between the stage and the audience to meet and do something. Something doesn’t always happen, but when it does, like now, in this performance, it confirms the value of the theater and the meaning of being an actor as well as an active spectator,” says Themis Panu.

“When there are people who work for a “get a sandwich” pay, and not for a rehearsal, the venue depreciates. They were exacerbated by the financial crisis.”

According to director V. Papavasiliou, “all wars need embellishment in order to flare up. Whether the subject of the dispute is called Troy or Sicily, the victorious machine always needs an “empty shirt”, “Elena” to go forward, a motivation baptized with a name. The results are inevitably comical-tragic.”

“Besides, life is also a comic tragedy,” adds T. Panu. “However, the show is not exactly a comedy, but it has fun and joy in it. For example, I don’t do comedies. Menelaus is suffering here. The degenerate Homeric hero, who is in absolute poverty, asks for alms. Think of one of today’s leaders who shows up in his underpants and eats nothing. If he shows it, it causes the public shame, and maybe pleasure, because he is humiliated.

The discussion turns to the theatre, its problems, the cannibalistic and divisive behavior that is manifested on the Internet. “If you think about the evolution of the Greek state, it was never a single entity,” Themis says to Panou. “He was busy from 1830 to 1920 with disputes. Unity hasn’t always set us apart, but for me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Who do I join on the other side? he answers. And he adds that what the space is experiencing, especially in the last two years, is the result of a chronic systematic deprofessionalization over a period of 20 years. “When there are people who work for ‘get a sandwich’ pay instead of getting rehearsal money, or they’re told ‘come play but if it rains you won’t get paid’”, the venue devalues. They were exacerbated by the financial crisis. So when a young actor learns that it’s okay to work for free, then anything can happen.”

An acclaimed theater and film actor who won the Best Performance Award for Alexandros Avranas’ Miss Violence in 2013 at the Venice Film Festival, Themis Panou is also the author of four books. In the book “We came to the discovery of memory in good clothes”, as in the previous ones, “Suddenly … and the return” (Rodakios), “Vita brevis. Stories for scoundrels” (Kastaniotis), “Partheristai me lighe aestimtos” (Agra), the title for it, as well as the cover, are important. “I want a relationship with the reader to be created, interaction with just a glance before turning the first page. This particular book is a conversation – a response to another book related to my hometown, Istanbul.”

“I just want to make a living and be able to buy books”

T. Panu wanted to write about the city where he was born, about what marked and defined him. What was his own City like? “Today it does not exist. It is a globalized metropolis, something hybrid. Jews, Turks, Christians, Kurds lived in the strait where I lived. We lived together, we worked together, we entered their houses, they entered ours. We had my fears of being persecuted, they weren’t always pleasant, but we co-existed.” Thirteen years that defined him, and “at my age I don’t want to see this stuff as something from the past, but as something alive that I’m still with I communicate.”

In the 50 years since his forced flight in 1973, which forced him to fly between the two places, he has visited Istanbul eight times. In 2019, he traveled to his district in Sisli for the last time. “Here is such a paradox: while the whole area has changed, this road is exactly the same. Another house, mother’s, was on the Bosporus.

Today’s Petralona area is also multicultural. “The mix of cultures in the center of Athens is rich.” When the adaptation came to Greece, “it was obviously a shock. Even though the city was expatriates, the Greek state treated us like foreigners for many years. Every six months I went to Allodapon for the appropriate renewals and finally, ten years later, I received a Greek identity card.” And, as happens with those who share a homeland and survived “Us” and “You”, he faced hostility from all sides, “like” you are a Turk, you are a foreigner, “stupid aggression.” On the other hand, he heard about…

“Istanbul, where I was born today, does not exist. It’s a globalized metropolis, something hybrid.”

The first five years in Athens were difficult for the family. “My father was a butcher and continued the same work here. A small and medium-sized family that survived by daily work. He himself studied at the Faculty of Law, did not receive a diploma, preferred the acting path, went to the school of Evgenia Hadzhikou, and then, “when he became too old, he went and completed his studies in the theater. The city was very theatrical. The Greek communities gathered around the church, which had a hall for events.” He really enjoyed it, as did writing, even when he was a teenager. “However, he also came out late, in 2001, and is developing along with the theater. I have always wanted to read, write and perform. I did not aspire to houses or wealth. Just to make a living and be able to buy books.”

In the last eight years he has written more systematically. “There is always a text that I work on. Tyranixia was also written over time, at least a decade. I write again and again until it takes its final form. Concrete prose, 85 pages, began with a double volume.” How much does it “hurt” when a writer flies? “When you finish something, you understand what you wanted to write. In the theater, I understand that I played when I’m worried, and not before.

He is a good watcher of the city. “Fortunately, I don’t have a car – someone protected me – I had a motorcycle, but I left it as a child. I travel on foot, I really like the train. In the subway, I look at the passengers, especially those sitting opposite, mostly into each other’s eyes. They notice with confidence that the other does not see them. Observation helps me both in the theater and in writing.

He is already writing his fifth book, and when you ask him when the best one will be, he laughs: “It should be ripe, maybe in three or five years.” In the meantime, he participated in Andrzej Jakimowski’s Polish film “Goat Mountain”, which was filmed on Nisyros, and in the winter we will see him in the new ERT fantasy series “Fire and Wind” about the stormy love between George Papandreou and Kiveli. Theater projects include Tony Kushner’s House Bright as Day (at the National Theatre) and Gogol’s successful Players. “What more could you want? I only need time to read books.”