Its author values it as “the work of his whole life”, which condenses all his age stages. He characteristically notes: “I conceived it young, I wrote it as a man, I rewrote it in mid-length, I finished it almost old”, while his central heroine with faith and consistency decides: “In this small and poor house, nothing has changed from the inside and as long as I live, I will not let anything change that.”
The reason for “The Secret of Countess Valeriana” by Grigorios Xenopoulos, originally a short story, which was adapted into a play at the beginning of the 20th century and first performed in the “New Stage” by Konstantinos Christomanos, not with great success. Great ladies of our theater supported his central role, which is the whole drama: Evangelia Paraskevopoulou, Marika Kotopoulis, Kyveli and Anna Synodinou, confirming what has been written that this is a role reserved for great performers.
The case takes place in Zakynthos, the author’s birthplace, with the noble Valere family having fallen into a difficult financial situation. Countess Valeriana possesses the secret of a medicine-sophie, which cures the eyes of men, a secret handed down from Valeriana to Valeriana, and bound by oath not only not to be revealed, but always to be offered uncharitably.
Her children, not so much Conte Valéris’s bumbling son, as her new bride, pressure Valeria to give in to the solution offered by trading the secret, with the opportunist and fraudster Giortzis Papouza lurking in order to take advantage of the opportunity. The noblewoman, however, remains adamant and loyal to family principles and values, with Xenopoulos giving a grand yet tragic resolution to his drama, teaching that the superior man fights and dies in need of his conscience, his oath, his honor and his ideal.
In the work, reminiscent of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, some bend under the weight of survival and others under the weight of surrender. For the old class, represented by the Countess, adherence to moral values is non-negotiable. As mentioned in the play “The rings may fall, but the fingers remain”. For the new generation and the bourgeoisie, then beginning to take shape in society and represented by the bride of the family and the opportunist Papouza, vows are obsolete and traditions are outdated.
The work puts at its core the moral and ideological dilemma of the struggle of debt and need, the value of honor and dignity, which is confronted with survival and the temptation of money. From the dynamics to the death of Valeraina, which forms the backbone of the drama, the dilemma has been answered and its answer is, which updates Xenopoulos’ drama against the fallen moral and value system of our time.
Faced with the tradition of the important role of the Contessa, Nena Mendi comes this theatrical winter, at the most mature moment of her long career. He is surrounded by Nikos Nikas as Count Valery and Vasiliki Truffakou as the young bride. Giorgos Kapetanakos plays the role of George Papouza and Maria Kanellopoulou plays the maid Orsola.
A distribution orchestrated by the worthy Petros Zoulias, with respect to the spirit of the work and the climate of the time. The setting of the stage area was overseen by Mary Filippou and its lighting by Melina Masha. The clothing approach of the heroes is signed by Nikos Charlautis and the music by Minoas Matsas, with Sofia Kapsourou writing the lyrics for “Mystiko”.
A face-to-face performance, produced by the Greater Hellenic Foundation, at the “Hellenic World” theater.
*Christina Kokkota is a philologist-theatreologist.
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