Review | “Mengele” by Anastasia Koumidou: the “games” of a Nazi. Undoubtedly, this identity game, this kind of “theatre within a theater”, is in itself an element of intrigue for any director. And here the Anastasia Koumidouactually worked on it.
THE Thanasis Triaridis writes “Mengele” with the position that Mengele represents “the greatest historical evil”. A position that cannot be disputed, if one considers the atrocities of the “Angel of Death” as he was called, who used children as guinea pigs in Auschwitz. A Nazi to the end, an advocate of the theory of superior races, he annihilated the human condition in sadistic ways, all in the name of “science”.
The meeting of two strangers in a train carriage (look at the carriages that loaded deported Jews, homosexuals, gypsies etc. to their concentration and extermination camps) will trigger an identity game between them, where he becomes Mengele and she she will become Esther, a minor Jewish girl. Her capacity as a historian investigating the works and days of the criminal captain is the trigger and the stimulus.
THE Thanasis Triaridis, once again involves in his work, his favorite psychological game of roles and identity, “If I am, you are”, shuffling the deck of historical-social phenomena and turning the collective memory into a personal one. And although this game, which is often found in his work, presents a special interest in the management, appreciation and valuation of historical or mythological material, one cannot fail to notice the danger that lurks in falling into a revisionist (at least) and anti-historical explanation of it. While on first reading the author’s view that “Mengele was who he was because he could” (with psychology, psychiatry, libido, etc. being tools of his exploration) seems a correct position, rather it ultimately turns the conversation in a misleading and wrong direction.
And to put it bluntly, Mengele was what he was because he was an unrepentant Nazi. In other words, he represented the worst ideological-political form of capitalism and worked in its service. Neither he, nor Hitler, committed their crimes because they were mentally ill, sexually insatiable or incompetent, drunk on power and other theories, washed up by Nazism. Their imprint on history was not psychological, nor certainly anthropological. It was clearly political. The theory that is formulated that “man avoids facing the horror of his species”, is part of a “shuffling” of human behavior, which does not take into account the economic and social conditions that determine it, and is therefore ultimately disorienting and unscientific .
In pure theater now, the Anastasia Koumidou he actually had stiff, untheatrical material to handle. The theatricality in his work Thanasis Triaridis, precisely because it is a pretext for the development of his thought, passes into the second part. Most of his works, theatrical by convention, can stand on their own as essays or be delivered as lectures without much need for performing arts. And “Mengele” is no exception, since the absence of action is absolutely obvious, static is its characteristic and the scene is simply the vehicle of the author’s psychographically complex writing. Undoubtedly, this identity game, this kind of “theatre within a theater”, is in itself an element of intrigue for any director. And here the Anastasia Koumidou, actually worked on it. Raised mirrors -glasses (artistic environment Konstantinos Pavlidis), in an excellent find-commentary, playing with what one can see versus what there is to see and investing in the structure of the work itself. His Youcali Kurt Weill is positioned as an ironic soundscape of the performance (Theodoros Lotis – Claude Poltis). His lights Giorgos Agiannitis they contribute catalytically to the saturation of the atmosphere. Her direction Anastasia Koumidou dialectically gives meaning to the text, finding support in its interrogatives and allusions. The cold and claustrophobic wagon, with its short-circuited darkness, mirrors the tragic fusion of reality and fantasy, revealingly redefining the game as a pretext for crime. Just as Mengele used Science, that is.
The great difficulty of the show is the two interpretative levels in which the actors will have to enter. THE Lykourgos Badras, in addition to the charm he brings to the role, that “bad guy” charm he’s drawn to, he has a toolbox that allows him to maneuver and dive into these difficult interpretive inversions of the role and not become a “decal” of it. THE Vera Makromaridou, in lower tones, seems to be seduced by the “victimization” of her role in the context of the dramatic game, resorting from the beginning to the performance of a textured fragility, which however remains in a straight line throughout the performance. Her interpretation is balanced, but there is no spark in her impression.
The show goes up to Noūs Theater – Creative space every Wednesday & Thursday at 21:00. Tickets can be purchased HERE
Author: Thanasis Triaridis
Dramatic editing / Direction: Anastasia Koumidou
Sound Processing: Theodoros Lotis
Sounds: Claude Poltis
Recordings: Victor Mastela
Art editing: Konstantinos Pavlidis
Movement: Christina Vassilopoulou
Lighting design: George Agiannitis
Assistant Director: Evangelia Kalogiannis
Photos/trailer: Grigoris Karkalis
Contact: Chryssa Matsagani
Production: Noūs Theater – Creative space
Interpretation: Lykourgos Badras, Vera Makromaridou