Reviewed by James Karas
Avlaia Theatre of Thessaloniki has
produced a bold production of Golfo in Gothic Manga style that has
some production values a great deal of imaginative touches but a final result
that left me cold.
Golfo was written by Spyros Peresiadis in
1893 in a highly poetic, rural language (you could say hillbilly) and is
described as an idyllic drama. Tassos and Golfo are poor but deeply in love.
Stavroula, the daughter of the wealthy local grandee, let’s say rancher, wants
to marry Tassos. Her haughty cousin Kitsos wants to marry Golfo. Tassos
succumbs to the lure of wealth and disavows Golfo.
She is heartbroken and takes
poison; he repents and apologizes but is too late. The poison takes effect and
he stabs himself. The lovers are joined in death. Think of it as a Romeo and
Juliet story with some variations.
Simos Kakalas takes the main
plotline of Golfo and creates something very different and calls it Golfo!
Director’s Cut. Four actors play seven of the play’s thirteen
characters. Kakalas’s version has a narrator/chorus who becomes perhaps the
play’s most important character. Except for the narrator, the other characters
wear masks and act and speak in a highly stylized way as if they were cartoons
or marionettes. It could easily be taken for children’s theatre because almost
all the actors speak in an unnatural and at times childish voice.
The play opens with a length monologue
by the Narrator. He is wearing a black foustanela
and a black sailor’s hat and accompanies himself on an accordion. He has a long
rambling monologue with a wide range of references almost none of them related
to Golfo. The monologue is self-indulgent
but some of the audience seemed to find it amusing. I assume the Narrator was played
by Kakalas but no attempt was made to identify him or the other actors in the
programme. Presumably the audience knows them all.
When the monologue is over the play
begins. All is back throughout and there are projected videos of black and
white cartoon figures and country scenes as well as photos of the Acropolis.
Tassos and then Golfo appear
wearing masks in and play in stylized movements and stances. When birds are mentioned
the Narrator appears and “produces” the birds and makes what are supposed to be
humorous comments. Tassos disappears and Golfo keeps busy while we wait for Kitsos
to appear. The delay is because the same actor plays both parts, Golfo tells
us. Golfo wears a mask that has wide child-like eyes. She has pigtails, wears a
young girl’s dress and speaks like a child.
The plot of Golfo is told fairly faithfully subject to interpolations and
interruptions. Near the end the actor playing Golfo removes her mask and
delivers a poignant curse to Tassos that is overwhelming in its emotional
impact. She later retracts the curse again very effectively. It serves to emphasize
the beauty of Peresiadis’s verse and the travesty of what Kakalas has done to
the play.
One of the interpolations by Kakalas
is the presentation of a Chaplinesque Hitler and a rendition of “Rudolf the
Red-Nosed Reindeer” in English to the tune of a Greek folk song. That, the English
titles on the screen, the political and cultural references, the awful music
and the self-indulgent humour left me in turn wondering, annoyed and at times
utterly bored.
Simos Kakalas takes credit for
direction, sets, movement and the script (the latter with Xenia Aidonopoulou).
The actors aside from Kakalas are Dimitra Kouza, Elena Mavridou and Mihalis
Valasoglou. As I said, I don’t know who played what role.
The title Golfo! Director’s Cut by
Simos Kakalas is a good indicator of where the play will lead. Spyros
Peresiadis is not mentioned anywhere in the programme but the director’s self-indulgence
is everywhere.
Old wines can be poured into new
bottles and may even gain by the transfer. But mixing new wines with old ones
is a risky task that should be approached with care and humility. Kakalas
exercised neither care nor humility. He jumped on the idea of shoving Golfo into a Gothic Manga straitjacket
and the result was a very bad night at the theatre.
______
Golfo! Director’s
Cut by
Simos Kakalas based on play by Spyros Peresiadis played at the Avlaia Theatre,
Thessaloniki, Greece until September 29, 2014. www.avlaiatheatre.gr
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