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 While cash-strapped Greeks forgo the cinema and other
luxuries, theater ticket sales are booming -- even if theaters
struggle to cover their costs and actors often go unpaid.
Greeks can often catch echoes, even in ancient drama, of their
current tribulations -- and Aristophanes' comedy of political
intrigue "Ecclesiazusae", or "The Assembly Women" -- in which
women take control of Athens and set up a communist-style
government -- is no exception.
The main female character is dressed as the fiery leftist
speaker of Greece's parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou.
"Times are more difficult financially, but I would never abandon
the theater. It's a form of cultural education. One can't
replace that," said Maria Tsilibi, a teacher, one of the 20,000
people who flocked to watch "Ecclesiazusae".
"It's an important part of our history."
The very words "theater", "tragedy" and "comedy" are Greek,
harking back to Athens' golden age in the fifth century B.C.
when dramatists such as Aristophanes, Sophocles and Aeschylus
used venues like Epidaurus to explore the human condition.
"I have reduced my spending on cinema, drinking, parties, but I
still haven't cut down on theater," said student Spyros
Giannakakos. "It is part of our national pride; we can achieve
'catharsis' through it and this is what we need today."
Catharsis, a key concept of ancient Greek drama, denotes
cleansing but it does not come without sacrifice, say both
actors and theater owners, who paint a grimmer picture about
what is going on behind the stage.
HARD TIMES
"The theater's audience is loyal and growing, but that shouldn’t
hide the fact that today's plays are made on very low budgets
and many actors are unpaid, primarily the young ones," says
Nikos Chatzopoulos, general secretary of the Actors' Union.
Unemployment among actors has reached a whopping 92 percent, he
said, yet drama schools still churn out about 500 actors
annually.
The number of plays performed in Greece is set to increase to
around 1,000 next season, starting in October, from 858 last
year, said Maria Kryou, theater editor of Athinorama, Greece's
most popular city guide.
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"People still visit theaters because the ticket fees are much lower
than they used to be. But the plays are not profitable for theater
owners. Only about 15 theaters manage to make ends meet and cover
their costs," the Athina Theatre's manager Dimitris Fotopoulos said.
Cinemas -- another Greek word -- are having a tougher time.
"Our official data shows a definite decline in (sale of) cinema
tickets," said Annie Kazerou, spokeswoman for the Greek Film Centre.
"From 11.7 million tickets in 2010, they amounted to only 8.9
million last year. This year, even though there was an ambitious
start due to some big Hollywood productions, the numbers have
dropped," she said, adding that they had taken a hit when the
government imposed capital controls this summer amid fears that
Greece might have to quit the euro.
As a result of a new bailout Greece is negotiating with the European
Union and International Monetary Fund, value-added tax in cinemas
will now rise to 23 percent. By contrast, the Greek government will
cut VAT on theater tickets to just 6 percent to help support the
domestic arts scene.
The Gazarte and Athinon Arena music venues in Athens have moved from
staging concerts to plays.
Tickets to plays with well-known actors that once cost 20 to 40
euros are now 10 to 25 euros -- or with promotions and subscriptions
even cheaper. A cinema ticket costs 5 to 8 euros.
Giannis Zouganelis, one of Greece's best-known actors and a
protagonist in "Ecclesiazusae", has a simple explanation for his
compatriots' continued attachment to theater.
"People need to feel human," he told Reuters. "If Athens doesn't put
on many plays, who would? The Dutch? They produce tulips, cows. What
we produce is theater."
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Gareth Jones)
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