The General is Causing Trouble in the Square
Piraeus Municipal Theater | 2019
Persons of different genders and ages, drawn from the middle class, desperately try to communicate through their personal moments or their daily occupations. Sometimes outwardly, sometimes internally, these characters converse with those in their environment, or simply with the person standing next to them, and attempt to engage in meaningful communication, but more often than not enrage themselves in the process. These moments that define this drama raise key questions about our relationships within a community and about bridging the chasm that divides human contact.
Contributors
Playwright: Makis Tsitas
Director: Roula Pateraki
Stage & Costume Design: Lily Pezanou
Music: Nikos Vasiliou
Lighting: Anna Sbokou
Performers:
Giannakou Elisabet, Douka Maria-Nefeli, Zacharis Tryfon, Bitouni Ioanna, Mavrakis Nikos, Papacostas Lefteris, Papoutsi Danae, Rokkos Vangelis, Sarri Myrto, Tsikouras Dimitris
The performance was staged with the support of the three year European Program 2018-2020 “The Dynamism of Greek Language in Theater 2019” at the Piraeus Municipal Theater.
Critical Reviews
“The enfant terrible of Greek literature, Makis Tsitas, strikes again with his latest theater piece; original, strong and very timely, just like his previous work God Is My Witness. Here he has presented five one-act plays that illuminate the human qualities of the person next door, but in the process reveal the tragic state of our personal relations with others in the world today. The performance, directed by the outstanding teacher, director and actress Roula Pateraki, confirms that which we already know: madness is contagious and lethargy is a feature of our age.”
Nikos Batsikanis, criticscorner.gr, 10/06/19
“With frank descriptions and occasional abstraction, through the conflicts of familiar situations and unexpected outcomes, as well as the laconic nature of conversation, The General challenges us to take a look at ourselves naked in the mirror, to look at our obsessions and our psychoses in the eye, our weaknesses and our mistakes, to think, to laugh, and – above all – to play.
[…] Roula Pateraki directs with a well-balanced inventiveness.”
Marion Choreanthi, fractalart.gr, 22/05/19
“Because M. Tsitas does not condemn his characters, but rather the situations which debase a person and the routines that suppress our resistance to the evil, to the bad and to the profane. The imaginative direction of Roula Pateraki brings to life the intentions of the author, confronting the audience with a social problem and calls on them to take a position. Let’s not forget that theater, from the time of its birth, served as a school and as a voice of resistance to any form of authority.”
Anthoula Daniil, frear.gr, 21/05/19
“Everything is magically transformed on the stage by the protagonists themselves who, in addition to their excellent performances, perform a recital, demonstrate a harmonic movement, themselves changing the stage settings and transforming the space onstage. And that is due to the directional guidance of the experienced lady of the theater, Roula Pateraki, who reveals both the inspiration and the inventive plot of the author.”
Maria Kotopouli, Peri Ou, 18/05/19
“Makis Tsitas is original and primal. With a genuine dramatic bent that was apparent from his early childhood, but also in his first award-winning novel with the emblematic title God is My Witness, and which was staged with great success as a theater production and so paved the way for the start of a new and successful career...
“In this particular drama, with its cyclical repetitions that break the linearity of time and shake up the static nature of the conventional urban theater, the narrative passes from transition to transition like a theatrical game with an intense improvisational quality, although once again Roula Pateraki performed a miracle by raising this work to a remarkable theatrical production.”
Konstantinos Bouras, grafei.wordpress.com, 17/05/19
“Even as much as modern Greek theater has disappointed us -- with two or three sensational exceptions that prove the rule -- at least with respect to its two basic pillars: playwriting and directing-acting, this particular production raises both hope and morale. At some point something remarkable always emerges that lifts us from this feeling of destitution.”
Thanassis Liakopoulos, popaganda.gr, 14/05/19