Ménélas rebétiko rapsodie Simon Abkarian

Text published in the editions actes-Sud papiers in November, 2012 2014 Molière (naming) of the Musical Theater

Crédit Photo : Antoine Agoudjian

Création in Paris au Theater Grand Parquet in January 2013. On Tour in France.

Delegated production and contact: Karinne Méraud

Tel. +33 (0)5 53 29 47 42 - Mobile +33 (0)6 11 71 57 06 kmeraud@sfr.fr - www.ksamka.com

Ménélas rebétiko rapsodie Simon Abkarian

With : Simon Abkarian (author, director and actor) Grigoris Vasilas (musician, bouzouki player) Giannis Evangelou (musician, guitar player)

artistic collaborator Natasha Koutroumpa, Catherine Schaub-Abkarian and Pierre Ziadé

lighting design: Jean-Michel Bauer stage technician : Maral Abkarian

I have set about writing a play for one actor

Ménélas rebétiko rapsodie

From Menelaus and Helen, we have some ideas, points of view that are often confined to

arbitrariness/the arbitrary and clichés. Menelaus is always described as a weak, a feeble, even a cowardly character. The fact that Helen’s husband is not up to it/ cannot satisfy her removes any passionate drive from her flight / The fact that Helen’s husband cannot satisfy her makes her flight devoid of passionate drive. She is not fleeing with Pâris, she is running away from a guy (that is) deprived of charm and beauty.

Thence, she becomes the whore archetype. The one/she who generates/is the origin of discord and death. She is not allowed to control/decide over her own destiny. In those archaic times when women were objects of (all sorts of) desire, it was hard for men, still nowadays, to understand/accept the decision of a woman in love.

I wanted to/My aim was to question/examine and comprehend Menelaus’ solitude, and with much caution outline his heartache in the shade of/concealed by the Troyan war. I wanted to use written words, a dense and arduous language, poetical, lyrical and crude idioms.

The different styles/the variety of languages will become theatre through (a process of) incarnation/personification/embodiment and incantation, through the art of performing. Like/as in my last production Pénélope ô Pénélope, I wanted to tend towards/ I aimed at using a French language which does not despise subjunctives and conditionals.

I wanted to focus on the verb, without artifice. Thus, the stage adaptation will be devoid of any effects. There will be three chairs, one table, one actor and two musicians. Rebetes.

I had long wanted to produce a show about Menelaus and Helen with my friend Grigoris

Vasilas, an exceptional/gifted/virtuoso bouzouki player, and Kostas Tsekouras, a fabulous guitar player. Both play Rebetiko in the band Dromos. Rebetiko refers to the music that appeared in

Asia Minor in the 1920’s, a music played in ill repute places / an infamous music, the blues of

Greece/Greek blues.

They sing about lost love, treason, honor killing, alcohol, drugs.

Rebetes songs are the last spasms/jerks of a free speech.

Were they not forbidden under Metaxas’ dictatorship? Indeed/yes, those songs were too subversive but most of all they were considered too oriental.

Fascist colonels dreamt of an Occidental/a Western Greece.

Attaturc, the neighbour, did he not replace the traditional fez by the cap. Above all did he not ban sufi orders?

Oriental had become a regression, one had to be occidental whatever the cost / Being occidental had become the rule, whatever the cost. The negative effects are coming into light today. (It is not the « occidental » aspect that is negative but the « whatever the cost » aspect naturally.)

Bouzoukis and baklamas had to be annihilated, poetic therefore subversive Rebetiko voices were banned from the radio / poetic therefore subversive Rebetiko voices were not to be heard on the radio any longer.

Rebetes songs are the last spasms/jerks of the Greek tragedy.

On several occasions, Grigoris and I met in Greece and elsewhere.

Time and time again/invariably we sung and danced at a dinner table.

But most importantly, we promised one another to work together one day.

A production: Ménélas rapsodie.

A promise we will keep, he with his bouzouki and voice from the olden times and I with my

writting/words.

Simon Abkarian

Simon Abkarian, author, director and actor Together with his team, he directed Peines d'amour perdues (Love's Labour's Lost) by Shakespeare (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, 1998), L’Ultime Chant de Troie, a personal adaptation after/based on Euripides, Aeschylus, Seneca and Parouïr Sevak (MC93 de Bobigny, 2000) and Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare (Théâtre National de Chaillot, 2003). He also directed Mata Hari by Jean Bescos at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris) and at the Théâtre National de Toulouse (Toulouse, France) in 2010/2011. In 2008, he wrote and

directed Pénélope ô Pénélope, a theatre play published by Actes Sud papiers and was awarded first prize by the federation of critic for best drama. It was performed at Théâtre national de Chaillot in 2008 and toured in 2009/2010 in France, Beirut, Madrid.... He also wrote Ménélas rapsodie which was published by Actes-Sud Papiers in 2012. Ménélas rebétiko Rapsodie was produced in 2013 at the théâtre du Grand Parquet in Paris and toured in 2013-2014. He worked on the continuation of Pénélope ô Pénélope, Le dernier jour du jeûne was created in September 2013 at the théâtre du Gymnase in Marseille (France) and was performed at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre (France) in March 2014. Both shows were nominated for the French Molière Award in 2014. He was a comedian at Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil: L’Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk (The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia) and L’Indiade by Hélène Cixous, Les Atrides (The Atreides) by Euripides and Aeschylus... Later on, he worked with Irina Brook for Une bête sur la lune (Beast on the Moon) by Richard Kalinoski for which he won the Molière Award for best actor in 2001. He also collaborated with Silviu Purcarete, Paul Golub, Antoine Campo, Simon McBurney, Peter Brook, Cécile Garcia-Fogel, Laurent Pelly... In 2004 and 2005, he led the improvisation class at the French Conservatoire National supérieur d’art dramatique. He acted in many movies under the direction of Cédric Klapisch, Marie Vermillard, Michel Deville, Xavier Durringer, Atom Egoyan, Jonathan Demme, Robert Kéchichian, Serge Lepéron, Frédérique Balekdjian, Sophie Marceau, Thomas Vincent, Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, Jean Pierre Sinapi, Sally Potter, Robert Guédiguian, Martin Campbell, Eric Barbier, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Karim Dridi, Philippe Haim, Jean Michel Ribes, Hervé Hadmar, Gilles Banier...

Grigoris Vasilas, musician, bouzouki player Grigoris Vasilas, a Greek bouzouki player and singer worked with several artists of/belonging to his country. He also teaches music. He has travelled a lot around the world, performing numerous concerts. He is one of the founders of DROMOS (the path), a band driven by passion and love for popular Greek music. In France, he worked with Georges Lavaudan, Patrick Sommier and Simon Abkarian in theatre plays and with Brigitte Roüan in a movie.

Giannis Evangelou, musician, guitar player Giannis Evangelou was born in Athens in 1985, he studied music from the age of 7 with Kerasona Philippiada Preveza. A graduate in physical education at the gymnastics academy, he prefered music and became a professional folk guitar player. He performed with numerous Greek artists in his country and abroad and toured nationally as well as internationally with

bouzouki musicians Grigoris Vasilas, Nikos Tatassopoulos…

Jean-Michel Bauer, lighting design After a training at Beverly Emmons with Bob Wilson, he worked as a lighting designer under the direction of Simon Abkarian, Simone Benmussa, Georges Bigot, Antoine Bourseiller, Carolyn Carlson, Philippe Ducou, Robert Fortune, Christina Galstian-Agoudjian, Claire Heggen and Yves Marc, Otomar Krejca, Jean-Paul Lucet, Caroline Marcadé, Ariane Mnouchkine-Théâtre du Soleil, Christophe Rauck, le Petit Théâtre de Pain, Jean-Luc Terrade.

He is the conceptor of the lighting design of Walygator Parc, an amusement park in Eastern France and of the European Archaeological Park at Bliesbruck-Reinheim. He participated in a research programm on the simulation of natural lighting at ENTPE in Lyon under the authority of the CNRS. He created a simulation of summer lighting for the AFE at the Festival des Lumières de Lyon.

Catherine Schaub-Abkarian, artistic collaborator After studying Fine Arts and dance (Kathakali is the dance-drama from Southern India),

Catherine met with Peter Schumann (Bread and Puppet Theater – USA), a decisive encounter that led to a long artistic and theatre collaboration in France and in the USA. In 1985, she joined Ariane Mnouchkine’s Théâtre du Soleil and performed in L’Histoire terrible mais inachevée by Norodom Sihanouk and L’Indiade by Hélène Cixous, in Les Atrides : Iphigénie à Aulis by Euripides, in L’Orestie by Aeschylus, a performance in which she was an actor playing the role of Coryphaeus as well as the director and choreographer of the choir’s dances. She

performed under the direction of Paul Golub , Silviu Purcarete, Agnès Delume, Simon Mc Burney and the Théâtre de Complicité, a company in which she produced Mnemonic in London, a show that was awarded the critics prize for best overseas performance in 2000-2001. She also performed for Sharokh Meshkin Ghalam, Valérie Grail, Philippe Mentha... and Simon Abkarian: Peines d'amour perdues (Love's Labour's Lost), L’Ultime Chant de Troie, Titus Andronicus, Pénélope ô Pénélope. She directed Gilgamesh-Chantier de Fouille, a dance-drama production with actors from Syria that was created at the opera house of Damascus in 2006, and then toured in Syria, Yemen, Tunisia, France…

Natasha Koutroumpa, translator and artistic collaborator A native from Athens, Natasha became a teacher after a doctorate at the Medical School of Athens. She studied traditional Greek dances and participated in numerous conferences on

theatre. Since 2002, she has been working with Grigoris Vasilas and his Dromos bouzouki band

as an artistic collaborator organizing concerts and shows in Athens and all over the world.

Pierre Ziadé, collaborateur artistique As Simon Abkarian’s artistic collaborator, he has participated in each of his theatre productions since 2000, l’Ultime Chant de Troie (Seneca), then Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare), Pénélope ô Pénélope (Simon Abkarian), Mata-Hari: Projet exécution (Jean Bescos) and le dernier jour du jeûne (Simon Abkarian), a 2013-2014 coproduction between the théâtre du gymnase de Marseille and the théâtre des Amandiers de Nanterre. In parallel, he worked with Wajdi Mouawad in the production of Ciels at the Avignon festival in 2009 and managed the artistic matters on tour in 2009-2010 Since 1999, he has taken part in several opera productions: Robert Fortune Candide (Bernstein), L’Île du rêve (Hahn), La Belle Hélène (Offenbach), La Traviata (Verdi), and Mireille (Gounod) that was presented at the chorégies d’Orange, not forgetting La Flûte enchantée (Mozart) that was created at the opera house of Vichy in 2000. He also participated in theatre productions: La Surprise de l’amour (Marivaux), La Poudre aux yeux (Labiche), Paroles (Prévert)... He collaborated with Rosalie Varda for the organisation/setting up of formal ceremonies at the Cannes festival between 2004 and 2007. As a director, he coordinated a Franco-Chinese research programm called Contours in Hong-Kong in 2004. He set up and organised events for Market place (GL Events) between 2002 and 2003, more recently A ticket for love for IDTGV between 2007 and 2011, and an event for the 40th anniversary of FIAP’s open house in 2008.

Ménélas Rapsodie

71 - Since you’ve gone, our bed is a tomb that rejects me.

72 - Any comfort has become foreign to my flesh.

73 - Now I understand their exile ‘bout which the faraway Ionian bards chant.

74 - I understand the bitterness of the bread and wine when you are the

stranger

75 - I fathom that I am dead to joy.

76 - The night and I drag ourselves in the palace you’ve deserted.

77 - The statues once graceful, have turned into stone.

78 - The songs have been silenced.

79 - The mirrors have become tarnished without you.

80 - Aphrodite, in her entirety, has run away.

81 - In your wake, my eyes feast upon my tears.

82 - The windows, the doors call your name, “Helen, Helen, Helen…”

83 - The wind stinging and slapping my face echoes your name, henceforth

atrophied.

84 - Hell, Hell, Hell.

85 - Oh, Helen, my sweet and tender wife, Coryphaeus of my thoughts.

86 - You embodied our dances.

87 At your approach, my heart would beat wildly, like that of the sponge hunter

fighting to rise from the abyssal depths.

88 - Soaked in dark blood, today it has ceased to beat.

89 - On the pale beach, the trail of your escape is still wet.

90 - Your footprints on the sand… Along with the Trojan’s.

91 - You embarked, clasping onto one another.\

92 - Water won’t erase a thing. Everything is carved into my eyes.

93 - On that morning, standing on the pier, I ceased being Menelaus.

94 - On that morning the King of Sparta fell on his knees, in the curve of a wave

that was endlessly dying.

95 - How can I live without you?

96 - Has anyone ever seen the salt withdraw from the sea?

97 - How to erase the vestiges of our embrace?

98 – There is nothing but sand in me, with your name written on it.

99 - And was it not in the embrace that the king became a man, the man a child,

and the child pure spirit?

100 - Helen, Helen, Helen.

101 - I declaim your name, like those senile priests, when they invoke a god who

will never come.

102 - No, the miracle of your return will not happen.

103 - It is an illusion, an evil charm that haunts my sleep.

104 –Everything is white.

105 – Sleep has abandoned me

106 - In the chamber of my nights, I wander, looking down at my feet.

107 - I look like the culprit searching for an alibi.

108 - Here I am, stooped like the arch of a bridge.

109 - Like a snared horse left on the side of the road.

110 - No one to talk to me

111 - No one to chase away the flies that feed upon my eyes.

112 – No one to prevent the ticks from sucking my blood.

113 - Poor forgotten beast… Who will ever set you free?

Simon Abkarian

Technical and financial conditions

Ménélas rebétiko rapsodie

by Simon Abkarian

5 000 € (excluding tax) for one performance Seating capacity 350 to 400

Runtime: 70 minutes Touring crew: 7 people

(2 musicians, 1 actor, 1 technical coordinator, 1 stage and props manager 1 artistic collaborator, 1 Greek music manager)

Accommodation, per diems and transportation for 7 people Transportation of set: cost by kilometre

7 second class train tickets (SNCF) from Paris (3 flight fares from Greece for the musicians and the interpreter to be divided according to touring/ the tour in France)

Volume discount / regressive fee

1 performance: 5 000 € (excluding tax) 2 performances: 9 500 € (excluding tax) 3 performances: 14 000 € (excluding tax) 4 performances: 18 000 € (excluding tax)

Technical requirements

Proscenium: height 7 m minimum - opening: 12 m Stage: width 12 m - height 7 m minimum – depth: 8 m minimum

Arrival of the crew 2 days before the show in the evening Set up and rehearsals 5 shifts * 4hrs

Technical matters: Jean-Michel Bauer jeanmibauer@mac.com

+33 (0)6 80 23 26 79

Delegated production and contact: Karinne Méraud

Tel. +33 (0)5 53 29 47 42 - Mobile +33 (0)6 11 71 57 06 kmeraud@sfr.fr - www.ksamka.com