“THE NIGHT PORTER” and G. PANOUSOPOULOS on STAGE
Theatrical adaptation of the homonym film of Liliana Cavani
By Chara Tsioli
In stage direction, for the first time ever,
of Giorgos Panousopoulos
with
Takis Chrysikakos, Zacharias Rochas, Maria Tsaroucha, Dimitris Kalantzis
With Takis Chrysikakos and Maria Tsaroucha attempting not the (inevitable?) confrontation with the cinematic interpretations but the requested one with their personal limits, while Zacharias Rochas and Dimitris Kalantzis complete the demanding cast, the theatrical “Night Porter” opens on Thursday, May 19th at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, for 15 performances only.
1974. A film is to tell an extreme love story, placing it in the darkest environment the world has ever known. It is “The Night Porter” by Liliana Cavani, where Nazism coincides for the first time with a sexual perversion (sadomasochism) experienced to its utmost limits. Provocative, angering and controversial, the film is also enthralling through two great, benchmark performances (Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling), that render any attempt of repetition or even unscrupulous copying extremely difficult.
Today, this film (successfully re-released on celluloid in 2007) meets the pen of Chara Tsioli and an “eye” whose “view” is much loved, highly respected and loyally followed by an audience of its own.
It is the eye of George Panousopoulos who makes his debut as a theater director, seeing “two people being alone. Two people that couldn’t do otherwise”
PLOT
Max, a former SS concentration camp officer, has managed to avoid punishment and lives in Vienna, working as “The Night Porter” in a luxury hotel. He associates with Bert, also a former SS officer, accomplice to the camp’s atrocities and unadmittedly in love with him. They are both members of a broader ex-Nazi network. One day, Anna – Max’s victim and lover at the concentration camp- arrives at the hotel on the arm of her husband, a famous conductor. The reunion of the one-time lovers, that considered each other dead, rekindles their sadomasochistic relationship which is now lead to its utmost limits, under the threatening pressure of “betrayed” Bert and the tightening siege of the Nazi network.
INSTEAD OF A NOTE*
-The predator’s power lasts as long as its victim is alive.
– You exist because I love you.
– That’s why I love you, in order for you to exist.
*Director’s thoughts, as expressed during rehearsals.
THE PERFORMANCE IS NOT SUITABLE FOR THE UNDERAGED
