Foreign productions stay through season
Up until recently, Greek theatergoers were lucky if a foreign play was on stage for more than three or four days. Now they have the opportunity to see a different theater company from abroad for two weeks, every fortnight all year round at the former Coronet cinema in Pangrati, which has recently been transformed into a high-tech theater. The first three months of the series, which begins in November, will feature the best groups from the world-famous Blacklight Theater of Prague. The curtain will rise on November 8 and stay up until February 2, and the local audience will be able to enjoy four groups, among which is Snerc, the group headed by the Blacklight Theater’s founder. Comedy, acrobatics Other highlights in the series include two performances by the St Petersburg’s Comic Trust group, an English comedy duo, and an Indian group which will present a show titled «Shukham and Sapragati» that contains masterful acrobatics. To follow is the French company Monsoon, who have made a name on the international scene for their ingenious use of unlikely objects and materials such as water, dust and brooms to make music. The entire series has been organized by the founding members of the high-caliber Half Note Jazz Club and Megafon Live Activities, with the cooperation of the Coronet cinema-turned-theater. «This was always part of our plans,» said Panayiotis Georgas, one of the main people behind the successful concerts organized at the Half Note. «We didn’t have the space to host such events but with the cooperation of Spyros Mourelatos, who owns the Coronet, we were able to proceed with our plans. «We attended many shows at numerous international festivals, especially the Edinburgh Festival. Our attention was first drawn to the groups of the Blacklight Theater of Prague, each of which present their own interpretation of the theatrical genre they are involved in,» explained Georgas. More highlights Other dates worth noting are November 21, when the Image Theater group, headed by the man who introduced the comic element to the Blacklight Theater, Alexander Cihar, will present «Fiction.» Snerc follows on December 6 with a classic rendition of the work «The Flying Bicycle,» while Omega Art will end the series with «Miss Sony,» a performance based on the marriage between drama and the aesthetics of comic book strips.
