2024-07-25 23:04:19
Many do not know their names, because they are the actors, those workers of the spirit, who collaborate with the great and subversive director Theodoros Terzopoulos and more. And this happens because they are not in the limelight. One of them, the creator of high aesthetics, is Gianniotissa Aglaia Pappa.
We discovered her years ago and since then we have been following her almost every step of the way. We thought it would be appropriate to speak with her on the occasion of her coming to the ancient theater of Dodoni tomorrow evening. Of course, two conversations with her are not enough to get to know her. One knows Aglaia Pappa if she is in front of him on the board performing. With her body and soul. With her inner discipline, which can be seen in her life, even in the hardships that find her. The viewer also knows her from her truth. The one she herself teaches young actors. Because teaching for her is not a quality, it is a behavior. Her biography is rich, her collaborations are great with Kakogiannis, Lefteris Vogiatzis, Vassiliev, Terzopoulos, Houvardas, Livathinos, as well as Cl. Logi (La comedia Della Vanita). These minimums so as not to offend her modesty and discretion.
Welcome, Aglaia Pappa, to the ancient theater of Dodoni, your special homeland, as we know that you always proudly declare that you are a Gianniotissa. How is it true that you carry such a legacy, since you are the daughter and daughter-in-law of great spiritual people who left their mark on the place, your late father Vassilis Pappas supreme judge and his brother Giorgos Aragis, as we all know him doctor Giorgos Pappas, as a poet , writer and literary critic
Welcome I found you. I have quite a few years to come and honestly I feel excited. My mother and father are from Gianniotissa. You ask me about the weight of my ancestry. I think the legacy is heavier when you’re young. When you feel like you have to prove something, live up to those who came before you. But as you grow up, you understand that you don’t need to prove anything to anyone, because whether you want it or not, you are their continuation. They exist in you, in your thinking, in your books, in what you are. And then the burden turns into boldness, adventure, strength, stubbornness, i.e. into a path of personal freedom. I owe a lot to my father, and by extension to my grandfather – who was a teacher – who, like so many Epirotians, despite the great difficulties they faced, never stopped fighting for a better day.
So that our compatriots can get to know you better, since your collaborations are always selective, what was your artistic starting point and through your path in the field of art. How did you develop as a person and as an actor? What has the theater given you and what is it that keeps you always there and with such strength?
I almost forget how I started….I think my relationship with poetry and poetic texts was the big reason. And above all my love for fairy tales, i.e. any kind of oral storytelling. That’s how I got from philology to theater. The following, as a route, is only about my CV. Because the theater is absolutely identical to the moment. The moment it becomes an event, an experience for both the actor and the viewer. This power of the moment that dies to be reborn fuller, stronger the next day, is what keeps me going and I hope it will keep me going for a long time. The theater has a dimension of explosive youth, it forces you to be constantly alert, you never stop discovering the world, especially when you are close to great directors – such as Th. Terzopoulos.
In the Oresteia you play the last tragedy of the trilogy, in the Eumenides you play the pivotal role of the Goddess Athena. Are you “carrying” all the weight of the previous two that have just been introduced? What is the experience and experience of the actor who participates in teaching (enacting) a trilogy of tragedies and how does he relate to each one, without having a role in all of them?
Obviously during rehearsals I was constantly present in all parts of the trilogy. So I know well the path of the show, its ontological direction. The thought of Th. Terzopoulos that led him to the specific directorial choices. But until there. When we entered the last phase before the premiere, I stopped watching the rehearsal, I had to practice maintaining the required energy through the wait. After all, Athena does not belong to the myth.
How do you approach a role that is as archetypal as that of the Goddess Athena, while also maintaining a human face, so that the viewer can identify?
Like everyone else. Otherwise what???? It is not possible to play god or goddess. In large texts the role is hidden within the work. In the absolute literal sense of the word. My friend Aristotle in POETRY says it: A role is an act that speaks. From how a role speaks we understand who it is and not the other way around.
How does one highlight the given timelessness of a work such as the Oresteia without becoming didactic and paternalistic?
This is probably a question for Mr. Terzopoulos. But I will give you a moment from a recent conversation we had. He spoke to me about ontological topicality, about deep memory, the subconscious, deep desires, where an issue loses its boundaries and finds them again elsewhere.
There is a truth in the Terzopoulos theater. Physical theater, truth, group. How do you relate to these three concepts?
Yes, there is ABSOLUTE TRUTH in the theater of T. Terzopoulos.