Journey of discovery staged at Halandri
American playwright Glen Berger’s work «Underneath the Lintel,» being staged for the last time tonight at the Arts Center of Halandri after Vangelis Hadziyiannidis’s «Disguise,» is a journey of external and internal discovery. The monologue is directed by Costis Antonopoulos and stars Manos Vakoussis. «What interests me more and more is finding ways to cover a very broad horizon,» said Berger in an interview with Kathimerini. «I want to cover as many events in human history and the universe as I can. At the same time, all of my works are inspired by music. Before writing ‘Underneath the Lintel,’ I listened to 1920s jazz. As a result, the play has that melancholy, but also happy, dancing quality of the era.» Berger, who currently resides in New York with his wife and their newborn baby, is a member of the New Dramatists group. He has written seven plays, including the award-winning «Great Men of Science Nos. 21 & 22» and «Underneath the Lintel.» «In my plays, I want to unravel the size of the universe and the life that has lived on earth, the fact that we will all die, and our awe when faced with the unexplained,» said Berger. He was positive that an artist should be politicized. «To understand politics, you must see things from a broader perspective. I think that over the next century our society will be concerned with the ecological disaster. Our duty is to find creative ways to instruct the audience. Most people do not grasp that what is good for each of us also benefits everyone. Let us find ways to depict, through art, man’s connection to all creatures on earth.» Berger also started writing works for children and texts for cartoons about four years ago. «I am interested in expressing my creativity in different ways. The solutions you have to find when working with cartoons are liberating. I like Shakespeare’s last plays, fairy tales that contain great truths. this is the way I like to approach children.» «Every time I am disappointed, I think of theater’s unique power. When an actor looks at a piece of paper and says what he sees is a beautiful lake, the audience will believe him. The audience’s ability to see what is not visible is theater’s great legacy.»
