“Sex is forbidden in Gavdos” is the title of the “bitter” comedy by Manos Papadas that will be staged at the Lithographion theater on Saturday, April 6.
What will happen when our two heroes, Margarita and Theofilosmeet “accidentally” in Gavdos and are forced to live together in a rented tent?
They are both authors: Theofilos, who is enjoying his recent recognition and Margarita, the object of his admiration, whose first writing effort years ago, despite its quality, did not have the expected commercial success.
Cohabitation develops into a romance and along the way into a professional partnership. A few days after their return to Athens, Margarita will realize that her dreams have finally started to come true. Excited by the unexpected success, she will trust him to take the next step, but he will not hesitate to take advantage of her in a deceitful way.
After fraud disclosuretheir dual relationship is shaken, the roles of perpetrator and victim are reversed and each of them is faced with their choices.
That’s it in a nutshell the premise of the showand today the Manos Papadas speak to pelop.gr about human relationships, his friends that he “steals” by taking their information for the roles he writes, whether professional relationships that turn into romantic ones last, the abusers, the victims and much more.
Why is sex forbidden in Gavdos?
This title was the temporary title of the project while I was writing it and we were working on it. We were laughing and everyone who heard it was laughing, so we said “we’re keeping him”. It is a saying in the work and from this saying it got its title. But by watching and analyzing the work we actually justified it as “sex is forbidden in Gavdos because you are led to do things that ultimately do not benefit you”.
Do you generally believe in “nothing is more permanent than temporary” or not?
I think yes. I think it applies to everything.
We have a bitter comedy as you describe it. Bitter comedy or bitter reality?
Bitter comedy. Reality no. Anyway the story is a bit far-fetched, although it is inspired by real stories of my friends and acquaintances. But in the convention, the theater, you take things a little too far to make the scenery interesting. The truth is that many events, like the heroes, are real people, which I used and gave greater emphasis in some places to have, as I said, stage interest. However, Theofilos is a real person, although I have changed his last name a bit. Similarly, there is also Margarita, which has many of my pieces.
We are talking about two writers who meet in Gavdos. One is young and follows the spirit of the time with the whole social media part, the communication part, you basically get promoted through them and maybe you’re not that good at your job, but you’re good at the communication part and suddenly you can become very successful simply with a very good advertisement. This hero contrasts with the most “old” part, that of Margarita, who although she is essentially a good writer, is a failure because she is not so commercially successful. So these two come in opposition. For the character of Margarita, in addition to my own pieces, I also used pieces by my writer friends and how they were treated by the publishing houses.
Is publishing houses and the way they work a big sin?
Yes, and even more so now with the “new era” of the book, a theme that the play also deals with, with ebooks and audiobooks, which confronts the old and all of this comes down to the characters falling in love, finally working together in the newly founded company of Theofilos with ebooks and audiobooks.
And the lure he puts to Margarita that they will take their old book that was good and had no sales, will come out as an ebook with the proper promotion that he knows, so he lives a second career. It also has to do with whether I put wine in what I want, if my ambitions are too strong, so I put my personality second, the role of the abuser and the victim alternating between the two characters, who has the upper hand . There is certainly the exploitation part and ultimately everyone is faced with their choices.
How much water do you want to put in your wine?
Generally, I put a little water in my wine now. As you get older you settle for adding a little water to your wine. And you certainly do it in a relationship, so that you have a companionship and certainly in a professional relationship you know that you cannot have the absolute and 100% communication in partnerships. I think as you get older you regress.
Are people ‘softening’ or compromising?
I think they compromise and this word is used a lot in the play, in a very important decision of Margarita, when she wonders that since they don’t give me what I want why do I compromise. There is also the issue of age, that the older you get, the more you compromise because you feel that you won’t have the scope to conquer the ground you want.
We are talking about human relationships. Is there a victim and a perpetrator, or does responsibility in a relationship fall on both of them for what happens?
There is always a rapist and a victim in a relationship, just alternating. It’s a circle. In a healthy context, it is a given that this rotation will occur.
We are talking about communication and you also touched on the subject of social media. Is there communication today or are we just reacting to an image? Do we choose someone to communicate with knowing we’re on the same wavelength, or do we simply choose whoever you market best and hope we’ll benefit?
I think we’re leaning towards the latter. We live in an age where how I position myself matters. Our choices, especially in professions with enough visibility or where we expect visibility from someone, definitely tend towards the latter. Can e.g. if there are two actors and one is very communicative and active on social media and the other is not so with the image of not being so “adventurous”, the first one will be chosen. The part of how you “sell” yourself and how you “manage” yourself is important. And since there are no managers in Greece, unfortunately, each actor undertakes to be his own manager. This is a double-edged sword. Because you may be either exaggerating or underestimating your development in a way.
A relationship project. How theatrical are human relationships for you?
They are very theatrical to me. The projects I deal with or write are purely human relationships, they have no philosophical issues. It excites me to see a personality unfold, I like to see and meet people, I am inspired by how someone reacts to others, in a context.
How many of your friends have you “stolen” to create characters?
Too many! I have stolen them all! Of course I ask for their consent. For this project, I took Theofilos, told him that he inspired me and gave him the project to read. This has also happened with other friends from whom I have been inspired. A man or a woman in my life, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, can suddenly have another gender in the show. Yes I steal them, they all inspire me!
How much does yourself inspire you? You said there are pieces of you in Margarita.
In Margarita we see a tiredness and a defeatism from all that you have not gotten from what you think you deserve. But I believe that this is not only my part but that of all my colleagues. An actor is never satisfied with what he has.
Do you censor the parts of yourself you put into your heroes?
Not at all, why censor them? I like to expose myself. I say it from the beginning. In rehearsals when I’m analyzing the roles and character structures, I “get away” and say that this part belongs to me, that to a friend of mine.
If you were to write the role of Manus on stage what would that character be? How would it be; What would you give him? What would your stage life be like?
I would make him much more emotionally balanced, not have ups and downs. I would make him an accountant because I think that if you don’t have the ambition of the exhibition and the performing arts in general, you are a very happy person. Accountants are very happy, they go to work, finish and go home. I am constantly in a spiritual activity and all this is somewhat tiring. It is not for me, but I would like Manos to go to his office and be happy, to be satisfied.
Does a relationship that turns from professional to romantic have a future?
I’ll tell you from experience that she’s terribly interesting, but you know she’s doomed. If you have a common professional orientation, especially in professions where there is an element of competition, when you and I are both waiting for the “good job”, there is a sting behind the style of “is he better than me?” What does he/she do better than me?’ But even so, there is tremendous understanding in insecurities and sacrifices. So you gain something and lose something.
You told me that the title we see now was a temporary title. If you were to put a title now, after so many shows, what would it be?
I’m so into this title now that I don’t think I’d find anything else. I find him very apt. He intrigues you and may seem superficial but the show touches on a lot of issues that aren’t as superficial as he is. I find it a clever and intriguing title. I don’t think we could find anything better than him.
Info
Coefficients
Conception of the project: Manos Papadas, Chrysa Pozidou, Achilleas Hatjikonstantinou
Directed by: Manos Papadas, Chrysa Pozidou
Theatrical text/sets: Manos Papadas
Directed by: Marios Symeonidis
Assistant director: Katerina Stamataki
Movement/choreography: Marianna Roussou
Poster/trailer: Michalis Mathioudakis
Production: Pardalidou Culture AMKE
Starring: Manos Papadas, Chrysa Pozidou.
Information
Performance duration: 70 minutes
Saturday, April 6, at 9:00 p.m
Ticket Prices: 12 euros (regular) and 10 euros (reduced)
Reservations phone: 2610328394 Lithographion Theatre
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