Theatre “The Sixth Floor” – Kolymbari, Voukoulies, Alikianos, Kyparissos 6th, 7th, 12th and 20th June

The Kapsomenos Foundation Theatre Group is performing  the comedy “The Sixth Floor” by the Swiss writer Alfred Zeri  with free admission.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

• Friday, June 6, at the Polykentro in Voukolies, in the courtyard

• Saturday, June 7, at Kolymbari, in the open-air theatre at the Fishery Museum.

• Thursday, June 12, at Alikianos, in the courtyard of the Primary School

• Thursday, June 20, at Kyparissos, in the courtyard of the I. N. Agios Georgios, under the shade of the area’s historic cypress tree.
Beginning of each performance: 21:00

The Municipality of Platanias, in collaboration with the theatrical group of the Kapsomenos Foundation and the support of Cultural Associations and Women’s Associations, presents the comedy “The Sixth Floor” by Alfred Zeri, directed by Nikos M. Kapenekakis

ABOUT THE PLAY:

The plot of the play is timeless and particularly relevant today. In the 1930s the residents of an apartment building in Paris live in the midst of the crisis of the times. The daily life of the residents of the sixth floor unfolds through love affairs, conflicts, endless fights, constant incidents, but also the dreams that each person has for his life.

Dreams small and big, dreams that give every person the strength to endure the difficulties of everyday life. However, in the course of the play, the heroes will realize that above and beyond dreams – which unfortunately so rarely come true – there is love, companionship, solidarity, the feeling that we remain united in the face of every difficulty. And only through this feeling can we emerge as true winners in the game of life.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE (performance in Athens)

Despite the fact that the deeply moving and human work “The Sixth Floor” is characterized as a comedy with intense dramatic elements in Paris in the 1930s, it could very well be set in a neighborhood of Athens and seems particularly relevant today, in a time of crisis where we need companionship and love for one another more than ever. 
In the Paris of that era with its enormous artistic flourishing, Picasso, Matisse, Dali and others who shaped the art of the 21st century during this interwar period, and on the sixth floor of a poor apartment building, live the heroes of our work. People struggling for survival, workers, aspiring painters, musicians, lyricists and popular writers who are unable to pay the rent, with empty stomachs and empty plates… but full of hope, waiting for a savior who never comes! Instead, the landlady comes to collect the rent. And then everyone runs to hide… How true, sad but also timeless. 
“However, the masterfully structured comedic-dramatic work of the great writer, which in our performance comes back to life after thirty-one years with the same unique performance by Anna Panagiotopoulou and the exquisite music and songs by Stamatis Kraounakis to lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou, – which wrote their own history in Greek musical theater and are still sung today – is permeated by a great and optimistic message. No matter how difficult and inhumane times we experience in economic crises, pandemics, illnesses and deaths, man continues to hope, to wish, to fall in love, to dream of a better tomorrow and to love! Because somewhere in the heartache and sadness, love comes to a standstill. The hand of one squeezes the other and together, like link by link, it becomes a chain of love that fills the hearts of all of us, surpassing all sadness. and obstacle and fills the soul!

THE SIXTH FLOOR IN GREECE AND IN THE WORLD

The “Sixth Floor” (1937) by the Swiss writer Alfred Gery (1895-1972) has been translated into dozens of languages ​​and has been performed thousands of times all over the world. It was also adapted for cinema – in 1940, a French production – by Maurice Clos with a script and dialogues signed by Roger Vitrac, but also for television: in West Germany, then, in 1954 and, as a mini-series, in the Netherlands in 1961.

In Greece, it was first presented by Marika Kotopouli in 1938 – a great success which she repeated several times. In the ’52 rerun – Marika’s last appearance in Athens before her death – co-starred Dinos Iliopoulos who later – in 1964 – ’65 – presented the play with his troupe and in an adaptation by Dimitris Giannoukakis under the title “The Ladies of the Court” at the Gloria Theater while he also starred in its film adaptation by Dinos Dimopoulos in 1966.

The theatrical success was such that even the then proclaimed monarch, Constantine (Glücksburg), was present at the performance and subsequently in his dressing room.

Sources: Municipality Platanias, Haniotika Nea, plot