The show “The Last Apology of Nikos Koemtzis” which premiered in Athens at the Stathmos theater the previous Monday, is coming to Patras for three unique performances, on Friday 4th, Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th October.
In an interesting interview on pelop.gr, Vangelis and Markos Gettos talk about the challenge of bringing Nikos Koemtzis to life on stage — a story that walks a delicate balance between social injustice and individual responsibility.
Vangelis Gettos, author of the play, analyzes the need to neither embellish nor demonize Koemtzis, while at the same time incorporating the historical tragedies of the country into the dramatic narrative.
Markos Gettos, in the role of Nikos, reveals how he managed to distance himself from the violence that surrounded the character, rendering him as a complex anti-hero, beyond teachings. Together, they illuminate the dark and at the same time majestic side of the human psyche, with the audience invited to decide what Koemtzis’ truth is in today’s age.
Markos Gettos in the role of Nikos Koemtzis (Photo: Manos Xirouhakis)
Vangelis Gettos: “Looking for the truth behind Nikos Koemtzis”
– Do you think that the act of Koemtzis’ apology is more important than the outcome of the trial or the social crisis? What is the central message you wanted to convey through his last apology?
Your question draws me inexorably to issues that are current and topical. In essence, you are asking me whether the “public feeling about justice”, in the end, is more important than the institutional judgments or the judgments of artificial social majorities. As a lawyer I have to say “no”. As a citizen who sees the greatest crimes of the state committed and covered up with no money, I will say yes: a judge comes and goes. History is eternal. The moments when a judge aligns with History are rare but remain in the collective memory forever.
– Koemtzis tells his story to the public and not to the judges. How would he react to a society that now “judges” on social media?
Perhaps the most essential question I was asked to answer this whole period! During the period of the crime – the days of the occupation of the Law School, February 1973 – but also of the trial – 6 days before the uprising of the Polytechnic, November 1973 – Koemtzis cannot find sympathizers, junta gar. With the Postcolonization, heads of the then counterculture write and speak about him. Savvopoulos, Gogou and others. In the current conditions of digital dictatorship, he probably wouldn’t have time to react. They would have executed him before he could become an urban legend.
– Koemtzis, as a symbol of an entire generation of marginalized people, what do you think he represents in today’s society? What is the modern “transformation” of this story?
Although I’m not a fan of historical and social reductions, I see in his face the pain of people and peoples who had a life in their mouths. I happened to work with unaccompanied refugee minors from African and Arab countries. These brats lived, perhaps still live, in the hunt even if they had no involvement with the law: papers, police, judges, boards of directors, more papers, more rants in the department every three or so. I saw many erupt violently. Some of them in a very violent, even heinous way. You don’t have to be a Christian to understand that when you force a man to live like a mouse, at some point the mouse will become a rabid beast.
– Koemtzis’ narrative remains on a thin line between self-criticism and self-justification. How did you manage this duality so as not to lead the audience to easy sympathies or accusations?
Koemtzis never “excused” or “justified” himself. He himself asked to be executed immediately after the three were executed. This is the clearest, the grandest I would say, confession. I relied heavily on this admission of his. She guided me in a way that was safe, fair and dare I say exciting in avoiding easy approaches. The Koemtzis case is not part of the series, it is not another case of the police report. It is limbic. There is something metaphysical about it. Within these contexts it would be ridiculous to try to reduce the debate to a “report of eight” level that simply vindicates the “damaged” or condemns the anthropomorphic “monster”.
“Koemtzis is a child of Greece” says the author of the play, Vangelis Gettos, speaking to pelop.gr (Photo: Haris Panagiotou)
– Koemtzis’ act for a zeibeki is a turning point. How do you see the relationship between this cultural symbol and the explosion of violence? Was the delivery a form of oppression or expression for the hero?
It’s time to argue. The killing was not done for a zeibekiko. Koemtzis is a genuine child of the post-conflict erevus. A Bulgarian refugee by origin and the child of an ELAS captain who was tortured and humiliated like the rest of the rebel generation of the Resistance. Let the research bring to light a terrible discovery: the very same scene of the “Fairy of Athens”, the scene that leads to the triple murder, occurred with analogies when Nicos and Demosthenes, his brother, were children. The details on this on stage. As far as tradition is concerned, Koemtzis belongs to the traditions and value code of the metropolitan underworld. He had lived long to wait for one more zeibeki to kill three people.
– Many times crimes related to personal honor become objects of folk art. What is it that makes the story of Koemtzis so attractive to artists, and what was your own artistic impulse to capture it theatrically?
Nothing attracts me to the crime of Koemtzis. I don’t secretly gloat that he ate two policemen inside the dictatorship. Others – and artists – found this commendable. I am driven by the science of understanding, whether it is called psychology or sociology or criminology. Daring to look at the darkest sides of people and having the composure to navigate through those unspeakable darknesses is what motivated me to write, to speak, to express myself.
– The work reviews several historical periods, from the occupation to the junta. How did these periods shape the way Koemtzis dealt with his fate and how do you try to bring out these influences dramaturgically?
Koemtzis is a child of Greece. His story intertwines, inscribes, converses and collides with the great history, the History of a country that divided its children into two categories. I hope the audience will share my anxiety to avoid the didactic, the lesson, the cheap historicisms. The key that opened the creative door for me and that the whole team of the show holds tightly in their hands is the approach of Koemtzis as an anti-hero and not as a hero. Far from empty and inadequate moralistic dilemmas: “good” vs “bad”. The history of a country is refined in the lives of everyday people in a much more complex way.
Markos Gettos: “The challenge of being Nikos Koemtzis on stage”
– What was the most difficult emotional situation you had to experience on stage to express Koemtzis? Was there ever a moment that made it difficult for you, even personally?
The work of Vangelis contains a density both on a realistic and fictional level. This choice of him for me, as an actor, is a great gift. My personal references and examples in the course of my life come several times and are linked with the life of Nikos Koemtzis. I can’t say that I struggled emotionally because the long-term research I did didn’t let me get involved in psychological terms. I connected with him on purely dramatic terms. If this managed to make me look or be in the eyes of the viewers Nikos or Markos playing Koemtzis, I invite you to judge it yourself.
– Nikos Koemtzis is both a “perpetrator” and a “victim” of his society. How did you manage to bring out this double dimension, without exonerating him or demonizing him?
I did not succeed, but Koemtzis himself did. In his autobiography, he analyzes with all sincerity and rich evidence, how he arrived at the fatal event. At the same time, the text of Vangelis Gettos sets this double dimension as a core theme and makes it clear with a terrific poetic separation.
– During the preparation of the role, how did you manage the need to distance yourself from the character and at the same time fully experience it on stage?
To tell you the truth, detachment (at least for me) comes later, with the end of the performances. This does not mean that I behave like a killer in my daily life, but the understanding both in this particular work and in others is always present.
“I connected with him in purely dramatic terms” notes Markos Gettos referring to the hero he embodies on stage (Photo: Manos Xirouhakis)
– Playing a man who became a symbol of an entire social period, what is the biggest burden you felt to bring to the stage? How did this character’s “legacy” affect you?
In the first contacts I made with the actors of the show, specifically with my director Alexandros Balamotis and my kinesiologist Augustinos Koumoulos, my fears were not many because I had by my side artists with a long journey in the field who created a solid field of trust. We did not face any theatrical or social burden. Our work was beyond artistic and completely practical, to answer the hows and whys of both the role and the surrounding atmosphere.
– The zeibekiko dance is a turning point in the history of Koemtzis. How did you approach this element as an actor and what were you trying to express through this scene?
I think this is not the tipping point. His whole life was a bend, and it just happened that the bomb was unsecured on the occasion of a zeibekiko that was never danced in the end.
– The theater stage gives you the freedom to create your own Koemtzis. Which aspect of his character did you choose to emphasize and which did you choose to leave aside in order to connect with the audience?
All aspects of our Koemtzis have been dealt with wisely and sparingly. We bring the result of this birth on stage.
– This role forces you to confront the concept of violence. Do you think this violence was the result of Koemtzis’ personal traumas, or was it the system that finally “led him to the point of no return”?
Unfortunately, violence was, is and will be a part of our lives. Of course, the system, as we are used to saying, uses violence as it pleases. We see the results every day. At least for us in “Last Apology of Nikos Koemtzis”, violence is not the means but the result.
For three days, the show “The Last Apology of Nikos Koemtzis” will be presented at the Epikentro+ theater (Photo: Manos Xirouhakis)
Info
“The Last Apology of Nikos Koemtzis”
Text: Vangelis Gettos
Directed by: Alexandros Nikolaos Balamotis
Stage costume: Alegia Papageorgiou
Research Associate: Fotis Palamiotis
Music – sound design: Dimitris Hatzizisis
Lighting design: Lampros Papoulias
Motion editing: Augustinos Koumoulos
Social media: Ideation
Photos: Manos Xirouhakis
Contact person: Evangelia Skrompola
Teaser-Trailer: Makis Matsoukas, Konstantinos Kalavrezos, Alexandros Masmanidis
Production company: The Prodigy Theater Company
Interpretation: Markos Gettos
The voice of Dimitris Miliotis is recorded in the role of the Policeman.
Information
Performances in Patras at Epikentro+ theater
Days: Friday 4/10 – Saturday 5/10 – Sunday 6/10
Time: 9.15 pm
Tickets: 15 euros (regular) 12 euros (reduced) 7 euros (drama school students – acting imperfections)
Presale: https://www.ticketservices.gr/…/i-teleytaia-apologia…/
Information – reservations: 2610 46 10 50
#Vangelis #Markos #Gettos #talk #Nikos #Koemtzis
