A terrifying regime and the importance of healing wounds
The premiere of Ariel Dorfman’s work «Death and the Maiden,» produced by the National Theater’s Experimental Stage, took place recently at the company’s new venue, the Apo Michanis Theater, opposite Koumoundourou Square. The play is well-known thanks to its successful film adaptation, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver. «Death and the Maiden» was staged 12 years ago under the direction of Pantelis Voulgaris, featuring actress Themis Bazaka. The new cast features some young and promising actors: Pinelopi Markopoulou, a bright new presence on the Greek theater scene, and young Dimitris Mylonas, as well as older and credible Nikos Alexiou. The production is directed by Giorgos Sachinis, who along with his theater company Ohi Paizoume has staged two productions that have caught the attention of the theater world. The three characters unravel a drama that touches both public and private lives. It is the story of a woman who was tortured under Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile and who is now trying with her husband to heal the wounds of their life. Then, one day, a stranger bearing a strong resemblance to the woman’s torturer invades their lives. His presence has a crucial effect and forces the couple to face moral and emotional dilemmas. The play was chosen by the director, Giorgos Sachinis. «Stathis Livathinos, who is in charge of the Experimental Stage, had seen my company’s performances and was kind enough to suggest a collaboration with the National Theater’s Experimental Stage. I suggested we stage this play.» Sachinis insisted his choice was not based on the play’s political content. «That wasn’t the reason that made me want to work on this play. Of course, it is a very powerful play regarding its structure and its characters, but I am mostly interested in it because it deals with something very up-to-date. We live in a time when easy answers are given to matters related to memory and to forgetting events of the past. Entirely different answers are given without much thinking, depending on the circumstances and people’s beliefs, to questions such as what must a person do when they have been tortured under a dictatorship and then their expectations to see the tormentors punished are not fulfilled. ‘Forget and move on, look forward’ is one answer; ‘Don’t forget, fight for justice and maintain all the anger inside you’ is another easy answer. I think that nowadays, when we see easy answers being given to crucial issues – such as terrorism and the war that was begun in the name of its extinction – and when the younger generations have not experienced dictatorships and other similar situations, this play moves the brain a little. It also shakes our conscience, which has been shaped in front of the television, and the easy answers.» Sachinis said the director’s aim was to probe deep into the personal relations that developed between the three characters of the play. «Through these relations and their stalemates we can have a better understanding of how difficult it is to come up with answers for great questions. We attempted that without of course turning the play into a ‘play about personal relations,’ because the text goes much further than that.» That also reflects the young director’s general views about theater: He thinks it must focus on the actors. «That is where it all starts,» he said. «In this case, we are also dealing with a very important text [the translation is by Marlena Georgiadi]. We worked with respect on the text and at the same time we tried to add a contemporary coloring to its deeper meaning, its substance.» For the National Theater production, Sachinis was assisted by Christos Theodorou for the music, Anthoula Mamalou, who designed the sets and costumes, Irini Alexiou, the movement coach and Christina Thanassoula for the lights. National Theater Experimental Stage, 13 Acadimou, tel 210.523.1131.
