IN “SUMMERTIME” BY YANNIS SCURLETIS, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHY IT WILL NEVER BE AUTUMN

THE Yannis Skourletis he is a director deeply idiosyncratic. The works he chooses can be likened to small dramatic oases that work in a revelatory way within us. The “summertime”his new play Akis Dimos is no exception. It is a completely contemporary work with a romantic envelope that speaks in the first person in the present tense about everything we are experiencing today: the climate crisis, the fires, the floods, the unrestrained touristization of everything, the absolute gentrification that we all exist inside and outside.

The bijoux de kant team and director Yiannis Skourletis they “come to life” on stage a multidimensional universe. The scene at Bellos theater it looks like a post-apocalyptic landscape. Totally Greek, summery and touristic. What would be left of the “greek summer” after an absolute disaster? Impressive posters depicting ancient Greek temples, with neon signs informing us which ancient temple we are in, scattered plastic bottles and plastic garbage bags to remind us who we are, what we export and what we sell.

And it doesn’t say to… autumn

The protagonists are Chronis, a young tour guide who in another life might have been Dionysos, and Teresa, a radio producer of a provincial station who may have been called Myrini in the past. Their meeting looks like a dystopian event. It takes place in a warm November, like the one we are living in now with the summer not saying to leave and remaining unborn on the ramparts.

The natural succession of things and seasons has been disturbed. Both heroes are standing in the ruins of an archaeological site in an unnatural stifling heat. He is waiting for winter to cool off. She can’t wait for November to come to live the love of her life under the rain. Lost in their conversations, Teresa and Chronis suspect that their need for coolness and rain may not be satisfied and they timidly begin the first steps of awareness in a present for which it is rather late to do anything to change anything .

And; Is this November?… Where are the first rains, the muddy rains, the raincoats?… One breath from Christmas and we’re coming and going with the mule… Autumn and papayas. Have you seen any fruit decline? Tiga the dumps in the peaches… I fall asleep drenched in sweat. The balcony door is wide open and it’s blowing… To come in and rob me, to spray me, to wake up at noon at 35 degrees and even the cotton swabs are missing… (excerpt from the work)

The look of Yannis Skourletis took off his text Akis Dimos. A text with writing that perfectly balances between realism, symbolism and ultimately poetry itself and that takes us from Aristophanes and the Dream Criticism of Artemidorus to Vivaldi’s “4 Seasons” and the winter blues of Sophia Vembo.

The two heroes look like two survivors who, suspicious and, at the same time, unsuspecting about the future chat, sing or monologue incoherently in ancient Greek ruins. Scientific theories, catastrophic scenarios, ancient prophecies, new oracles and personal anxieties. Everything has a place in their discussion. As if they are living their last moments. Like an invisible threat surrounding them suffocating and draining them.

Real revelation o Yannis Tsoumarakis, who in the role of Chronis gives a captivating interpretation of multiple nuances and intensities at only 23 years old. Excellent too Calliroi Myriagou as Teresa she gives a more introspective, but equally powerful performance that balances perfectly between the dramatic and the more comedic elements.

Conclusion

A show with heroes that give the impression of being thrown out of the pages of a modern cartoon and one consistent in its familiar form Yannis Skourletis which comes to confirm what we all feel. How an invisible menacing cord keeps tightening around us.