Outwards and inwards: Picturing of immigration in modern Greek theatre

Abstract

After the Second World War and the 3-year civil war that followed, Greece was devastated, while extreme political polarization made life even more difficult for the people who had sided with the Left, especially poor and working-class people, as might be expected. As communications and transportation technologies had advanced, many thought that the only solution for them would be immigration to USA and Australia, but also to Germany after about 1960. It was not an easy business, due to both political reasons and immigration laws of the reception countries. The first to notice this tendency and record it casually in his plays Odysseus, come home (Οδυσσέα γύρισε σπίτι, 1952) and The court of miracles (Η αυλή των θαυμάτων, 1957) was Iakovos Kambanellis. Loula Anagnostaki focused on it first in her play Victory (Νίκη, 1878) and later, investigating the development in the immigrants’ situation in To you who listen to me (Σ’ εσάς που με ακούτε, 2007), both having Germany as their dramatic space. Also, Panagiotis Mentis wrote about Greek immigrants in the USA in his play Foreigners (Ξένοι, 1998) which won the 3rd price in Onassis’ International Drama Competition. In the later decades the phenomenon of mass, mostly illegal, emigration from Asia and Africa, and of a great number of refugees to the Western countries, has become an international issue. Greece is an immigration entrance point towards several European countries, but also a main reception country. One of the first Greek plays to investigate this phenomenon is Evros across (Ο Έβρος απέναντι, 1999) by Thanasis Papathanasiou – Michalis Repas. Then Chrysa Spilioti wrote Fire and Water (Φωτιά και νερό, 2007), going deep in the existential and inter-relationship problems of immigrants settled in Greece. Vasilis Katsikonouris delved deeper, writing The milk (2011) on the same subject, one of the most successful and sensational plays of recent years. Giannis Tsiros in Unshaven chins (Αξύριστα πηγούνια 2004) and Invisible Olga (Αόρατη Όλγα, 2009) deals with women trafficking. Loula Anagnostaki touches on the same subject in her monologue play The sky crimson (1997). Leia Vitali went further: in Night on the highway (Νύχτα στην Εθνική, 2015) she examines both phenomena dialectically, as they are interwoven in Greece nowadays. Through analysis of these plays and some others, this phenomenon which has become the tragedy of the contemporary world, is presented from the Greek viewpoint.