CULTURE

Five European plays at Goethe

In a thoroughly European theatrical event tonight at the Goethe Institute, actors present excerpts of five European plays translated into Greek. Giorgos Glastras, Lena Kitsopoulou, Amanda Piperaki and Kosmas Fontoukis are giving stage readings from «Le Visiteur» by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, «Death Valley Junction» by Albert Ostermaier, «Suspect Culture: Mainstream» by David Grieg, «Pevertimento y Otros Gestos Para Nada» by Jose Sanchis Sinisterra, and «Kras» by Judith Herzberg, directed by Vicky Georgiadou and Yiannis Moschos. Later, Yiannis Houvardas, artistic director of Theatro tou Notou, will moderate a discussion in which three of the playwrights – Ostermaier, Greig and Herzberg – will participate. (Omirou 14-16, 8.30 p.m.). The event is part of an innovative joint venture by the Goethe Institute, British Council, French Foreign Ministry, the Cervantes Institute, the Royal Netherlands Embassy and Kastaniotis Publishers. The partners selected successful contemporary plays that theater people in Greece would like to see translated. As Goethe Institute Director Horst Deinwallner told the press yesterday at the Cervantes Institute: «The main criterion for selection was success on the stage; we didn’t want to publish for the waste paper basket.» Each cultural foundation undertook the translation costs for a play in its own language, and Kastanotis published them in «European Theater: Five Contemporary Plays» (2002). «The British Council recognizes the importance of strengthening cultural ties between European countries,» director Chris Hickey told the press, and this collective project furthers that aim. A production of «Mainstream» is proving popular at Amore Theater (10 Prigiponison, Polygono), where Grieg will give a short talk about his work after tomorrow’s performance. He is also running a workshop, «Rough Writing for a Rough Theater,» for Athens University postgraduate theater students on Friday. This is an exemplary case of cultural cooperation as Greece embarks on its six-month turn at the rotating presidency of the European Union.

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