One of the greatest achievements of theatre of the 20th Century is that which is grossly named “political theatre”. An achievement less political and more artistic, from the point of view that it opened up new possibilities for an art which was already tuned, and had been so for over two thousand years, to reproduce the relations of power which run throughout social structure. The main procedure involved in this political theatre was historicism; instead of presenting the world as unchanging, theatre now had the ability to show the spectator that which, inevitably, had evaded his perception: the great picture of history which at last was able to fit into the frame of the stage.

 

T.I.N.A., a work to which the writer, Simon Grangeat, gives the subtitle “a short story about the crisis”, is a natural continuation of the “political theatre” of the 20th century whilst also elaborating upon certain characteristics of the 21st century.  It historicizes the present, in other words it uses this age of political cosmogony in which we live as the basic element for a self-referencing allegory.  And, as our world is being taken over by an irrepressible public voice, which rarely overcomes the self-perpetuating clichés, it uses political, social, scientific and journalistic stereotypes as the building blocks in the re-development of scenes, with the use of irony and cynicism, of the dystopia of the post-democratic western world of the crisis. Lastly, it makes a moving attempt to honestly make theatre useful to the spectator and those involved professionally in theatre; to reveal the (evermore) complex mechanisms which are being employed by the (evermore) complex mechanisms of power in order to enslave people and societies. Simon Grangeat’s work serves what the forefather Brecht would have called “the great issue of change”.  

 

A personal epilogue: Having had considerable experience as a director of musical theatre, I am now testing myself, with T.I.N.A. and with the theatre of prose, thanks to the invitation by the French Institute and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. The collaboration with the three wonderful, distinctively different actors (Polixeni Aklidi, George Dampasis and Hector Liatsos), as well as with my colleagues, Maryanni Tzani and Sotiris Stelios, has taught me the joy of shared creation, which is rarely achieved in opera.  In a work which talks about the makeup of the crisis, which we are so bitterly experiencing at all levels of everyday life, the possibility that theatre could create utopian cores of democratic creation, where the power mechanisms that be practically melt into oblivion, is a gesture of resistance against the barbaric storm which followed post-democratic, self-destructive capitalism.

 

 

Simon Grangeat’s T.I.N.A. is a work about the financial crisis.  More than that though, it is a product of a desire for understanding and of a collective effort in order to achieve this understanding. At the same time it suggests the lifting of a prohibition, the refutation of the set belief that serious discussion of the economy is a privilege reserved only for certain technocrats and not for the people, let alone artists of any kind.

 

Grangeat decides to understand the crisis and to turn it into a spectacle, a theatrical work, accessible to the public. T.I.N.A. searches for the reasons behind the global financial crisis in the United States and the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the housing credit market, all the way to the bankruptcy of entire nations. In the form of a political cabaret, the play sets itself up around three actor-narrators who somehow coordinate the flow of its narration, reminding us of its theatricality, whilst interchanging short skits, usually with different protagonists each time, who present different parts of the history of the crisis. For the translator of the work into Greek, the play feels familiar. The Greek experience of the crisis has often brought us face to face as much with the terminology as with the events described by Grangeat. Terms with no need for translation, such as CDS, CDO, primes, subprimes etc have overrun the headlines of newspapers and the evening newscasts for the last few years.  Besides, in this country as well similar attempts were made to popularize the inaccessible financial dialogue, to soften the almost terrorizing function of its specialized terminology. What makes this gesture by Grangeat special, however, can be detected in two areas:  on the one hand in the collective research, blatantly obvious in the extensive footnotes which accompany the work and which could have most certainly been a part of it, and on the other hand in the hilarity of the theatrical act, proof that we can not only have an understanding of the financial crisis, but also laugh freely at it.

 

Simon Grangeat. He started out in theatre in 1998 as a founding member of Traversant 3, an artistic group focused on young audiences.  He presents himself as both a writer and a director but quickly dedicated himself exclusively to writing.  His works, which are sometimes aimed at a younger and sometimes a more adult audience, combine poetic language with an interest in social and political matters of the current times. He has participated in many workshops and writing residencies, his works have been presented at readings at the Comédie Française, the Avignon Festival, the Rond-Point Theatre, the Panta Theatre and more. Besides this work, he also takes part in various events and activities connected to contemporary playwriting.

In 2014, with the initiative of the Panta Theatre, Caen, in cooperation with the Vyrsodepseio/Tannery-Art space Athens (Artistic director:  Elli Papakonstantinou), the play T.I.N.A. by Simon Grangeat, was translated into Greek and presented in its first reading, directed by Guy Delamotte, with a Greek cast, at the Vyrsodepseio in Athens.