A Margarita Zorbala comeback
Singer/actress Margarita Zorbala puts in live appearances only rarely, but when she does she always has something to say. This time, she is embarking on a series of performances where music meets theater, «without one burdening the other,» as director Dimitris Zorbalas, Margarita’s brother, explained. The musical theater performance, titled «I Want to Tell You,» opened at the Theatro Technis on Monday and will be staged Mondays and Tuesdays for the next three weeks. Zorbala’s singing career has overshadowed her acting. A graduate of the National Theater drama school, she has participated in various theater performances in the past, not to mention a television sitcom. «I attended drama school after having released five albums,» she said. «I did it more for my singing, to improve myself on stage. I didn’t want to be an actress.» In the current performance, she is both a singer and an actress. She is joined by three young actresses, Georgia Tsagaraki, Vicky Hadzopoulou and Dimitra Larentzaki, as well as the five-member orchestra of Neoklis Neofytidis. «It started out from my own need to communicate with people; as you know, I don’t appear on stage very often,» said Zorbala when asked about the show. «I have decided that by now I will do nothing compulsive with my art in my life or anything that ‘must’ be done, but only what my soul deems necessary. The basic idea on which we structured the program is that the three actresses, at least in the beginning, play the part of the spectators and ask the artist questions. That is something which often happens in reality – while watching a show the audience has questions for the artist, but those questions never reach the artist. In this case, the questions do reach me and I answer – with songs. I answer, comment and maybe ask new questions with songs. Gradually, the actresses/spectators join in the action, as sometimes the audience also wants to become part of the show…» Dimitris Zorbalas explained that the questions are simple. «They range from personal questions like ‘Why did you disappear all those years?’ to more general ones, but not poetic and so on. We sought human contact and questions we assumed the audience would like to ask.» «But we don’t have any questions like ‘What is your opinion on singing?’» Margarita Zorbala was quick to point out, adding that she is also acting, but only through singing, with intense and constant movement. «I don’t recite any words, any prose. That all rests with the other actresses.» «It is something the whole team built together; we mostly wanted to symbolically represent the union of the spectator with the artist,» said the director. The performance features few of Zorbala’s own songs, which were only included because they suited the plot, according to Zorbala. «There are other songs, foreign – English, Russian, Italian and others – and Greek songs. They are songs – answers to the questions which, in effect, stem from inside me.» Theatro Technis, 14 Frynihou, Plaka, tel 210.322.2464.
