One of the directions of the theatrical winter, which began with full houses, is the Greek performance. Theatrical novels, stories, testimonies, stage compositions, monologues, general small and large stages, works of different generations, writings and heights.

Irini Mutraki, playwright, head of dramaturgy, library, archives and international relations at the National Theatre, and creator of the Greek Play project with the aim of studying, strengthening and popularizing the modern Greek play, knows the landscape very well, teaching in the postgraduate studies of theater studies departments of the universities of Athens and the Peloponnese. He argues that the heyday of Greek plays is not in this year, but in recent years. “After running the capital, we have a kind of multi-artist who writes, directs, performs his works, sometimes also takes on the musical editing of the show or set design.”

A basket of Greek work holds a lot. However, as Ir “K” says. Mutraki, “There is a very long distance from conception to execution. Many have been involved in the solution development process to make their mark. This is how we get unfinished texts, with errors or insufficiently elaborated.

He notes that creative writing workshops also contributed to the explosion of Greek art, which proliferated, pushing many towards the theatre. “We have the production of new texts that are carried out in apprenticeship mode and are presented in unfinished form or in the form of prototypes.”

She created the Greek Play Project herself out of a need to talk about contemporary Greek drama. She is pleased with the success of the Greek Play Project in New York, where contemporary Greek plays (Dimitriadis, Dimos, Mavritsakis, Phylaktakis, Triaridis, Mustaklidou, Reppa-Papathanasiou, etc.) have been presented in English for the American public, translations have been made, publications .

The outstanding works of the last decade, Irini Mutraki emphasizes, “managed to penetrate deeper into the essence of man, to get away from situations and ethnography.”

Diversity, gender issues, #MeToo stand out because “these are issues that concern them or that they have faced. On the other hand, I feel they could sell better. So far on these issues, I think we do not have very important projects. However, the dramaturgy is good and has reflexes. Thanks to the tests, worthy projects will come out. ”

The needs of today’s 20-year-olds are registering on social media and reaching theaters and alternative venues, which are multiplying.

This year three plays by Vassilis Katsikonuris are being staged on the same number of stages. “Makis” at the Neo Cosmos Theater with Errikos Litsis, who wrote the direction in collaboration with the author, and two new ones. Cheetah. Desert Goalkeeper” at the “Station” theater with Giorgos Ninos and “California Dreamin 2” in Apo Mihanis directed by Dimitris Mylonas. “The first sequel to the game”, as they say.

Interest in the modern Greek play is fermenting, “not having in mind anything specific or direction,” comments V. Katsikonuris and recalls that in the 90s, Greek plays were practically not staged. “Then he should have had a leftist streak – we were coming out of post-colonialism – now we are coming out of the crisis. Globalization and what is happening to us is an interesting material for young writers, and they have everything they need for this. Many creative writing workshops can help them. In previous generations, there was a legacy of the elders. Yaks. Campanellis, D. Kehaidis, Lula Anagnostaki, G. Skourtis were seminars in their own right, as were their works. I never thought I’d be writing plays.”

While teaching writing at the Department of Theater Studies at the Hellenic Academy of Sciences, he sees great traction and a good level in students who often ask him, “How can we make a strong drama?”. “Milk”, which he wrote in 2003, gave a great boost to Greek creativity, influenced writers and aroused public interest. This year, V. Katsikonuris is also signing on to direct Nikos Dimitropoulos’s “Frank mockery” at Theater 104. “One type of direction is the script, and the other is directing,” he notes.

Director Nikos Diamantis, chairman of the Interior Ministry’s Committee for State Drama Awards, reads about 100 plays a year and claims that new generations are entering the field with stronger demands, a result of the last 20 years. If immigration has been one of the main issues since 2000, then “during the economic crisis, this has turned into a strong existential stream of self-reference with questions of sexual identity, family, individual position of everyone in society. Today’s 20-year-old worries about where and how he will live, how he will have sex, where he will go at night, etc. Needs that are easily captured on social networks and reach the theater and alternative spaces that multiply.”

He also emphasizes that the linguistic inversion that took place 20 years ago with J.Economides’ cinematic Spiritokuto and its theatrical adaptation in Victoria by the 90°C group influenced theater, according to Lena Kitsopoulou, “because they used some aspects of everyday language expression, swearing and its automatic repetition. Shock was the new trend that rejuvenated the theatre.”

Greek plays are popular, although staging them is usually an adventure for the writers. “All committees of the last 20 years have proposed concrete measures to all ministers of culture to support the activities of the Greek theater,” admits Nikos Diamantis and adds: “However, over the past two years, the monetary rewards of state awards have increased. “.