Winter drama
THOC’s season has a production for all tastes
One of Shakespeare’s best loved and most controversial works, a reworking of an ancient Greek myth and a contemporary play written within the bouvard convention of French comedy comprise THOC’s winter season; an outstandingly diverse series of theatrical productions playing now.
The theatrical hat-trick from the Cyprus Theatre Organisation covers virtually all the theater going public’s tastes. THOC is helping to establish Cyprus as a leading player in European Theatre. A flesh-pounding, vengeful and extraordinary summer of rehearsals, has come to fruition with The Merchant of Venice, Medea and Mr. Amilkar, playing at a theatre near you.
The Merchant of Venice
Errikou Mbelie is the brilliant mind behind the Old Bard’s new translation into Greek. Add this recent translation to the skills of one of our most talented theatre directors, Varnava Kyriaki, and you have a subtle reworking of The Merchant of Venice, which brings to life some of the play’s most debatable themes.
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved works and also the most controversial, having been criticised for its anti-Semitic portrayal of Shylock the Jew. The Old Bard’s Shylock is commonly presented as a miserly, tormented but also tormenting character, fuelling the anti-Semitism debate. While Shakespeare’s Jews have always been ill-portrayed, only recently in contemporary productions, such as those of the New York’s Yiddish Theatre in Manhattan, has the role of Shylock being portrayed sympathetically. So how has THOC chosen to portray this Venetian villain?
“I declare that I am fond of Shylock!” says Kyriaki.
“I don’t think that anybody today can look at The Merchant of Venice without bearing in mind the history of Jewish persecution.
“Jews were only allowed to enter England after 400 years and nobody can forget the whole situation in Venice in Elizabethan times. We know the Jews were living in ghettos at night. During the day they were could mix with Venetians but they were forced to wear a red hat. They had no political or social rights at the time.” he said.
Many contemporary critics, who subscribe to the Shakespeare is an Anti-Semite school of thought, believe that Shylock’s final conversion to Christianity is Shakespeare’s idea of a happy-ending.
Says Kyriaki, “Shylock’s final punishment in court is very hard. I don’t think Shakespeare meant it as a happy end to his play. Or that he meant to ask a man to refuse his religion, which is contemptible.
“And when Shylock insists on the pound of flesh, I believe he does this because the Christians took away his daughter, Jessica. I think at that moment Shakespeare portrays him as a different person, furious and hating the Christians because of what they did to him.”
In Act Three, Shakespeare puts one of his most eloquent speeches into the mouths of his villain. The monolgue beginning with, “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs”, is, says Kyriaki, not only Shylock speaking, but the whole of history speaking, the history of every depressed people.
Another question in The Merchant of Venice is that of pederasty; the erotic relationship between an adolescent boy and an adult man outside of his immediate family. This relationship was idealised between the ancient Greeks and was practiced as male bisexuality and as a moral and educational institution. Re-reading Shakespeare, many critics question whether Antonio’s utter devotion to Bassanio suggests a sexual bond.
“In my performance it’s ambiguous. You don’t ask actors to relay general ideas as they did in Elizabethan times, you must ask matter of fact. I try to create a simple performance that is complex psychologically. So it’s not pederasty necessarily, but there is the suggestion.”
The Merchant of Venice
Greek production by THOC with Varnava Kyriaki directing. Municipal Theatre Latsia, Nicosia. 8.30pm. Every Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6.30 pm until January 15. Tel: 22-772395 /22-492900. www.thoc.org.cy
Municipal Theatre Larnaca, December 8, 8pm. Markideon Theatre, Paphos, December 9, 8pm.
Mister Amilkar
THOC is also producing the comedy, Mr Amilkar, by French playwright YB Zamiak. In a game of acrobatic twists and turns, the play portrays the life of Alexandros Amilkar whose over-inflated ego inhibits him from conducting successful relationships. Striving for happiness, he attempts to recreate his own existence by hiring a young actress to play the role of the ‘perfect spouse’, a young prostitute to play his daughter and an out-of-work artist to play his long-time family friend.
A contemporary play, Mr Amilkar is written within the French comedy method of bouvard, similar to British farce. The production comes under the direction of Chris Zanos who says, “Zamiak, is not only a clever writer but he is also director and an actor who knows the theatre extremely well so he has written the play as a maestro.”
Zanos explains, “Zamiak plays a game of truth and lies. He is a man who tries to stage a world for himself within his own rules and limits. He wants a daughter and a wife and all the things that are missing in his life which have made him disappointed. So he creates a theatre in his home, paying people to create to be part of his world just like puppets.”
As the play progresses however, Amilkar’s puppets emerge as real people who love and respect him. Amilkar can’t handle the reality that his marionettes have a real life outside his world and he reaches breaking point.
“It sounds serious,” says Zanos, “but it isn’t at all. Even though very serious subjects are touched upon, and our heroes play drama rather than comdey, there are comical moments throughout the play.
“At THOC, our actors love this play. It’s one of the unique moments, everyone involved in a production is in love with a piece of theatre and this shows on stage.
“People can relate to disappointment in life, with its loneliness and shallowness. While life is glorious, within there are people who are alone and disappointed. The play portrays today’s complicated and difficult world, a consequence of globalisation, which everybody can relate to.”
Stavros Louras plays Amilkar, with performances by Anita Santorinaiou, Andreas Tsouris, Maria Margeti, Orestis Sophocleous and Lenia Sorokou with music composed by Savvas Savva.
Mister Amilkar
THOC’s comedy production. Directed by Christos Zanos. Every Friday and Saturday. Until December 4. New Stage THOC. Nicosia. 8pm. £6/£3 concessions. Tel: 22-480300. www.thoc.org.cy
Rialto Theatre, Limassol December 6,7 at 8.30pm, Municipal Theatre, Larnaca on December 13 and 8pm, Markideon Theatre in Paphos at 8pm, Polis Chrysochous Cultural Centre on December 21.
Medea
The early November premier of Medea, by leading German writer, Krista Wolf marked THOC’s participation in experimental theatre. Directed by Stephanou Kotsikou, the play offers a fascinating narration that goes beyond mythology, about the life of a woman who inhabits two different worlds. Ioanna Kammenou Shiafkali plays Medea.
For over 2,000 years, Medea has been one of the most powerful women in Greek myth and literature, drawn for women as a nightmare example of the women scorned. Cast aside by her husband Jason, in revenge, Medea kills the two sons she has borne their ambitious father.
Just as Euripides adapted the myth of Jason and Medea to show the inner emotions of love, passion and vengeance, so too has Krista Wolf appropriated the myth to explore female sexuality and power to reveal a tale which is startlingly relevant to women today.
Wolf portrays an altogether different Medea to the Euripides’ 431 BC tragedy. She portrays a woman who is sexual and warm, as well as inquisitive, dec
isive and outspoken. Crucially, Wolf’s Medea, doesn’t kill her children or her brother.
“In fact, she actually puts down others who do this, and she denounces the old kings that killed their first born children so they could keep hold of their throne. Wolf’s Medea also accuses her father of her brother’s death and Kreontas for the death of his first daughter. Wolf makes her into a woman who denies the deaths she is accused of,” explains Shiafkali.
Shiakali mentions one of her lines which springs to mind, “My hands are still full of wounds, ” she reads. “This line reminds me of Euripides’ Medea, a Medea whose hands are bloodied by the death of her children, but for Wolf, Medea’s wounds are metaphorical.”
THOC’s production will also be featured as part of the New Wave of Ancient Drama (May 19-June 4, 2006) within the framework of Patra’s Cultural Capital of Europe events.
Medea
THOC presents an adaptation of Christa Wolf’s book, Medea. Monologue starring Ioanna Shiafkali. Every Tuesday and Wednesday. Until December 28 Market Theatre Ayios Andreas, 25 Parthenonos, Nicosia. 8pm. £6/£3. Tel: 22-773571/ 22-772395
Also showing at Technochoros ETHAL Limassol. December 1/2. 8.30pm
