Despina Zacharopoulou DIRECTS “The Fallen Dervish”

12.11.22 @ 21:00

KE.ME.THE.T.

Photo: Ioanna Noir Zacharopoulou

Photo: Ioanna Noir Zacharopoulou

Photo: Ioanna Noir Zacharopoulou

“The Fallen Dervish” is one of the most famous short stories written by Alexandros Papadiamantis, due to the inclusion of all those elements that characterize the author’s idiosyncratic language. Papadiamantis’ language combines archaizing with spoken forms of Modern Greek, in ways that no other Greek short story writer could touch. In so doing, Papadiamantis’ texts are impossible to translate into another language. In “The Fallen Dervish,” the main body of the text is written in archaizing forms of Modern Greek, while simpler forms of Greek, as spoken in everyday life, are used throughout the dialogues, as well as at certain points within the narrative itself.

If one would like to approach the socio-historical context in which Papadiamantis wrote “The Fallen Dervish,” one should certainly take into account that this short story was published in January 1896, about three months before the first modern revival of the Olympic Games in Athens. Papadiamantis, while being attuned to the transitional period in which Greece was at that time, trying between heterogeneous forces to construct a cultural identity from the ruins of its Ancient past, the Ottoman influence and the gaze of the West upon it, places in his short story a wandering dervish. This homeless stranger appears as an enigmatic figure who plays the ney flute around the area of Thesion, at a time when the underground railway was being constructed, and salep was sold at the streets. What Papadiamantis tries to achieve through this atmospheric short story is to highlight the multicultural landscape of Athens at the end of the 19th century.

The way we approached “The Fallen Dervish” was mainly based on foregrounding the author’s language, in an attempt to bring it back to the present, while respecting the idioms, the atmosphere and the rhythm to which Papadiamantis introduces us. For this reason, we decided to strip the theatrical space to the bare minimum, using natural sound in the voice and musical instruments. Our goal is to invite the audience to exit the high speed that characterizes today’s daily life, to slow down and to experience unfamiliar kinds of rhythm, vibration and flow.

Alexandros Papadiamantis
“The Fallen Dervish”
Every Saturday at 9pm, from November 12th 2022 to January 21st 2023,
at KE.ME.THE.T (23, Koilis str., Ano Petralona, Athens).
RSVP: 6939669218.

Directed by: Despina Zacharopoulou – Giannis Karounis.
Light Design: Despina Zacharopoulou
Actor on stage: Giannis Karounis
Ney: Eleni Baili
Percussion: Evangelia Stavrou

General Admission: 10 euros
Admission for four people: 8 euros each
Unemployed, SEH members, ARTWORKS Fellows, disabled: 5 euros
Special prices for organized groups.
Production: Active Body Theater (Instagram: @activebodytheaterworkshop)