It was October 21, 2022 when Ilias Logothetis, who passed away yesterday at the age of 85, was found for the last time in Patras. The occasion was the presentation at “Agora Argyri” of journalist-author Ilias Georgakis’s book “My Lefkada”, at which event he had undertaken the reading of excerpts from the poem, with his colleague and wife Maria Zahari.
The book referred to his beloved birthplace and the Association of Lefkadians of Patras had made sure to give a melodic “presence” to the evening, singing traditional songs of their place.
THE “Peloponnisos” newspaper he had met our great actor and he had spoken from his soul in our newspaper, testifying his anguish and truth, regarding the theater, Art and Greek society. It was, as always, torrential and caustic.
Let’s recall some of the major references he had made in that exclusive interview of his…
“I WAS NOT IMPRESSED BY GLORY”
«There are no things I mightn’t do because I didn’t even pursue them. I’ve always been self-sufficient. I was not impressed by the glory. Everything that came along the way and in my attempt to stand in the theater was well received. I had the happiness of being close to great teachers and meeting great personalities, such as Hadjidaki, Gatso, Kun, Moralis, Tsarouchi and so many others… I didn’t think I had to have a plan to play. Because when you have a plan in the theater, it means that you are also a protégé of power. My course went very nicely and quietly, without belonging to groups and without begging.”
“IT HAS BECOME A SCANDAL NOW!”
“It’s so easy for someone to get on the stage of the theater now, that it’s a scandal now! Everywhere it is forbidden to go on stage unless you belong to an actors’ guild. In Greece there is nothing, it is rebet-asker! Someone makes 20 to 50 daily wages and becomes an actor! Now come on, find a solution…”.
FICTION ON TELEVISION
“He is not at all, not at all pleased! What is happening on Greek television is not that the serials are not good. The way Greek actors speak has changed! They speak in a way that is not natural. He is so well-formed that the text loses its meaning.”
THE EQUALITY OF LANGUAGE
“It is clear that our tongue doesn’t resonate. Such a beautiful language that we have, now has no melody. The actors speak, with only one chord, with an A Minor or A Major and they don’t change anything! Chords give huge changes to the voice. There is leveling in our language! That is, a monotony! Not only the music of the language has changed, the syntax has also changed. There are many problems…”
FOR HIS AFTERFAME
“I don’t care regarding my reputation at all! This is nonsense, I think…”.
EVEN WORSE
“Things are getting worse and worse. In other words, the soul of man has been besieged by money. There is no other interest in the human soul…”.
TV AUDIENCE
«It allows the Greek public to be educated on television, so that they watch a show just because there is a TV star in the troupe. The evil continues to happen, a theater is filled because some people are on TV and not for the show itself.”
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