Stupidity: What lies within

Satirical monologue penned by surrealist Sakis Serefas features comedian Dimitris Piatas

By Olga Sella - Kathimerini

What kind of curriculum do you get at “Stupidity” private college? It’s the ideal place for the study of stupidity and where “professor” Dimitris Piatas is giving the college’s final seminar, defending stupidity as the antidote to our era’s intelligence. He insists that stupidity is an intrinsic part of who we are and that we have to get to know it and learn to love it.

This, in a nutshell, is the story behind a production taking place tomorrow and Wednesday at the Scholeion venue, as part of the ongoing Greek Festival. “A Seminar on Stupidity or the Malign Effects of Stupidity” is based on a sharp satirical text by surrealist Sakis Serefas.

In order to support his position, professor Piatas returns to his childhood years as well as incidents in his adult life where he had to face the stupidity of others by enlisting his own.

The play’s principal motto is an old Arabic proverb: “Stupidity may be a gift from God but it should never be overused.”

“This is my first ever commission and it came from an actor of the caliber of Dimitris Piatas,” said playwright Sakis Serefas to Kathimerini. “I really enjoyed the idea and took on the project immediately. It took me back to familiar things. Stupidity – sure, I have been accused of it and I have, in turn, accused others of it. And I came to realize that I have had a great deal of stimulus regarding this issue. We have either endured it coming from others or have unwillingly exercised it ourselves, since, in the end, no one escapes its mechanism. I believe it’s a mechanism that lies dormant in each and every one of us and becomes activated at different moments in our lives. We think that the stupid guy is someone like the kind of character interpreted by comedian Yiannis Gionakis in old Greek comedies. It’s nothing like that, and it has nothing to do with education or social status. It can be found in the nucleus of human existence, raising its head every now and then. In the play, its advocate claims that, given that stupidity exists in all of us, we must learn how to handle it. We have to come to terms with this machine and make it part of our behavior,” added Serefas.

For those involved with the production, the play offers a chance to reflect and look out for stupidity in the fields of art, culture, religion and lawmaking since the beginning of mankind.

“A Seminar on Stupidity” is a municipal and regional Theater of Corfu – Commedia Theater Company production and is directed by Katerina Polychronopoulou.

Scholeion, 52 Pireos. Starts at 9.30 p.m. For tickets, contact the Greek Festival box office at 39 Panepistimiou, tel 210.327.2000. For more information, visit www.greekfestival.gr.