THERE WAS public outrage a few weeks ago when it was reported that Cyprus Theatre Organisation (THOC) had not been invited to stage a play in the Epidauros Festival held in Greece every summer. THOC had been taking part in the festival of ancient Greek theatre for the last 25 years and the organisation’s bosses did not take kindly to the news.
And to add insult to injury, in the very year Cyprus was excluded, a Turkish theatre group was invited to take part.
THOC boss, Andis Bargillis wrote to complain and contacted the president in the hope of reversing the decision. In public statements, he repeatedly implied there had been some kind of conspiracy, claiming that the festival’s new director had been “pressured from certain places so that Cyprus did not take part”. The festival’s new director Giorgos Loukos, refused to bow to the pressure, stating that THOC did not have a “monopolistic” right to participate in Epidauros.
A brief comment in Monday’s Politis put the matter into perspective. “It is possible that the decision was taken on exclusively artistic criteria,” wrote the correspondent, adding that things often had a “logical” explanation. “THOC could be going through an artistic decline,” the correspondent suggested, calling for more honest debate, instead of always “covering up problems” by blaming them on “evil” outsiders.
This was the only explanation that was different, with the correspondent daring to mention the unmentionable, that THOC could have been excluded because its productions may not have been considered of a high enough standard for the festival. Perhaps the new director wants to take the festival in a different direction – encouraging different cultural perspectives or making it more innovative – and concluded that Cyprus’ state theatre had nothing to offer.
How presumptuous of THOC to expect to have a standing invitation to Epidauros, irrespective of the quality of its productions, simply because we believe Greece has a moral obligation to support Cyprus. Instead of protesting and claiming we were the victims of a conspiracy, the THOC top brass could have used this snub to engage in a little self-criticism and re-examine the way things operate at the state theatre.
Could it be that the actors, who are public employees and often behave as such, do not put much effort into their work? Are the directors it employs getting too old and too complacent to produce meaningful work? Is the absence of demanding audiences and critics causing a general decline in Cyprus theatre? We do not know the answers to these questions, but this is what the people who are interested in Cyprus theatre should be asking instead of expressing outrage and reporting imaginary conspiracies.
Cyprus theatre could gain something from treating the Epidauros snub as a wake-up call.
