CULTURE

Gogol’s ‘Marriage’ at the Technis

Director and actor Yiannis Bezos, currently staging and starring in Nicolai Gogol’s «Marriage,» promises a «performance that will try to reveal Gogol’s desire for social criticism through humor and the ridicule of his heroes.» Currently on stage at the esteemed Karolos Koun Theatro Technis in central Plaka, «The Marriage» was begun by the Ukrainian playwright in 1833, shortly after he published his immensely successful short-story collection «Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.» He left «The Marriage» in mid-writing to turn his attention to a new comedy, «The Inspector General,» and completed it later, in Rome, before sending it on to St Petersburg for its December 1842 premiere. Gogol himself, like his friends, viewed «The Marriage» and «Dead Souls» as simple farces. Only leading Russian critic Vissarion Bielinsky discerned how faithfully Gogol had reproduced the social ethics of the St Petersburg middle class, elevating the story to a social commentary that is relevant even today. ‘Child of Moliere’ According to Bezos, Gogol was «an authentic child of the great Moliere, presents characters that are charged with the customs of their time and which are essentially very similar to those of the present. «The ease with which you can read easy laughs and farce in Gogol’s work is the greatest trap and it has been well studied and set by the writer. This has to do with his own skewed perspective of the world. It was a world that was intolerable to him, but hilarious to us.» The translation into Greek has been done by Leonidas Karatzas and Dimitris Tarlow, while the sets and costumes are designed by well-known set designer Giorgos Patsas. At the Theatro Technis, the cast is led by Bezos, and includes Natalia Tsaliki, Stelios Mainas and Giorgos Psychoyios, among others. Karolos Koun Theatro Technis, 14 Frynichou, Plaka, tel 210.322.2464.

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