‘Yellow Gloves’ back on stage

Much-loved 1950s Sakellarios-Yiannakopoulos comedy farce at the Park Theater in Athens

By Vassilis Angelikopoulos - Kathimerini

The play “Kitrina Gantia” (Yellow Gloves), a much-loved comedy farce written by the legendary Sakellarios-Yiannakopoulos duo and first performed by Vassilis Logothetidis in the 1950s, followed by a film version starring Nikos Stavridis, is currently on stage at the Park Theater — the only establishment still operating in the once-blooming theater district of Alexandras Avenue.

Half a century after its debut, the play is being revived in a production featuring Christos Hadzipanayiotis, a low-profile actor who is becoming a stable presence on the Greek comedy scene.

“I don’t usually work on things I’m not attracted to; I don’t consider my work a job, I love it and enjoy it,” says the actor, in response to an observation that he’s spending the summer in the boiling capital.

So what attracted him to “Yellow Gloves?”

“First of all, this is the first time I’m acting in a farce, a Greek one for that matter, which happens to be one of the best. I loved the part and wanted to see myself in it. The second incentive was the presence of director Costas Tsianos. He was my teacher at drama school but we never had the chance to work together until now. Costas was actually the first person who told me to go into comedy; he said that it was something that suited me.”

While working on the part, the actor was tempted to imagine how Logothetidis had interpreted the role — he had already seen the movie with Stavridis.

“This role has been marked, interpreted, by two great actors. I got over it, however, because I believe that each role is a vehicle to speak about ourselves. Besides, I cannot mimic others, I don’t know how. The only way was for me to approach the role via my own means and through it to talk about myself,” says Hadzipanayiotis.

The play highlights an age of innocence, that of postwar Greece. The work’s atmosphere is further enhanced by Tsianos’s decision to add songs and a small scenes with dancing.

Leading the 20-member cast alongside Hadzipanayiotis in a role once played by actresses Ilya Livikou and Maro Kontou is Katerina Lehou.

Park Theater, 36 Alexandras Avenue, tel 210.821.3920 and 210.821.7369.