A return of a son to his father’s house, looks like an “invasion”, especially when it is inhabited exclusively by men, while he is accompanied by his wife. Extreme conflicts and twists ensue, often teetering between the comic and the tragic.
This is a basic framework of Harold Pinter’s work “The Turn”, through which the award-winning author criticizes patriarchy, family and interpersonal relationships. This play is staged by the State Theater of Northern Greece, directed by Peris Michaelidis, at the Small Theater of the Lazarist Monastery from January 18.
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“My proposal to KTHBE for Pinter’s “Turning” has to do with the premise of the work, which has many points that also concern our current reality. There is a merciless criticism of the patriarchy, while as far as the family is concerned, issues, situations or conflicts are highlighted, which we still see today in the daily press”, says the director of the show, Peris Michaelidis, to the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency.
He himself, as he says, has been following the work of the English writer since the 70s, a time when in England there were various kinds of social inequalities, demonstrated through texts and especially through Pinter, who at times had campaigned in favor of the weak denouncing all forms of authority. “Furthermore, she is a writer who has been associated with the theater of the absurd, which I am very interested in. This text of his is of great interest because it formed the basis for the upcoming in-yer-face movement in England, which is the “theatre in the face”, with Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson and all this group of children who she effectively denounced the system but at the same time she was also against herself”, underlines Mr. Michaelidis.
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“Invasion” of the paternal home and disruption of the suffocatingly patriarchal framework
In this particular play, a retired butcher lives in a run-down area in North London, along with his brother, who is a limousine driver, and his two sons, a promoter and a boxer. His eldest son, who is now a professor of philosophy and lives in America, returns to this house after years, together with his wife. The unexpected visit of the couple looks like an invasion that – according to the favorite tactic of the Nobel Prize-winning author – disrupts the already fragile balance and forms new relationships and dynamics. The questions that arise are who will ultimately dominate and who will submit, what role will be imposed on the unique woman and what will she claim for herself.
“This work is characterized as a ‘comedy of menace’ and for me the sense of the comedian is very important, because laughter is inevitable in the development of the case. In other words, through the comic, the tragic situation that prevails is highlighted”, points out Peris Michailidis, declaring that he is happy for the actors who make up the cast of the show, without whom he states that the specific work could not be staged.
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The characters shock not only with their atherostomia, but also with their content, while behind the meticulously structured dialogues, Pinter evokes a constant sense of insecurity, in an ambiguous context, in which the boundaries of true, false are lost , of reality and the dream. “I follow the author, his pauses, his atmosphere and the aesthetics of film noir, which is quite evident in the work, without any additional direction. In fact, through the realistic scenery, the period costumes, the musical editing and the general aesthetics of the show, we are keeping the year 1965. This decade has produced great masterpieces which we are trying to transfer”, concludes Mr. Michaelidis.
The translation is signed by Christina Pambou-Pagoureli and the sets and costumes by Yiannis Metzikof.
Played by: Vassilis Spyropoulos, Konstantinos Hatzisavvas, George Kolovos, Eleni Mischopoulou, Manos Galanis and Thanos Kontogiorgis.
The premiere will take place on Saturday, January 18 at 9:00 p.m. at the Lazarist Monastery Small Theater, where it will be staged every Wednesday and Sunday at 7:00 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 9:00 p.m. and every Saturday with two performances at 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.: 00.
Source: www.zougla.gr
