Nikolas Stravopodis’ Interview to www.mcf.gr

by Afroditi Ermidi

From February 8th, lonely cartoons (Lonely Tunes) will appear at Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. Get ready to meet your juvenile heroes, once again in year 2010, in order to watch the last episodes of their stories, the ones that their creators never let us see, or even wrote.

Nikolas Stravopodis, the director and scriptwriter of this performance, introduce us to the world of comics, through his own individual point of view, and he invites us to experience this surreal, black comedy.

How are you related to the world of cartoons?
Firstly, I have to admit that I didnt use to watch cartoons throughout my childhood! On the contrary everybody believes that I used to be a cartoon maniac. I actually used to consider them too childish for me! I finally started watching them as a grown up, when I realized that I had a lack of memories that other people of my age did have. On the other hand, being 20 years old, I discovered that I couldnt watch them the same way that I could do it as a child, I have formed a different perspective after all. It was then, that the idea of this performance was born. For instance, Jessica Rabbit as a character reminded me the act of bestiality. Therefore I thought it was something horrible, a beastly creature. Trying in other words to regain lost ground as far as my relation to comics is concerned, I saw them as pervert beings.

Was it this reason that motivated you to demystify our childhood heroes?
Yes, because I dont love them! I am not interested in protecting all those people who, as I am aware, adore them! In fact I think that I dont frustrate anybody. I present cartoons in a realistic dimension, not the way that children watch them. If you see somebody, lets say John, having sex violently with Mary, this will not bother you. On the contrary, if you see Looky Look having sex with Olive, you will be really upset. Candy-Candy is a little girl, just 12 years old, and she has over than 12 affairs. This kind of comic is paedophilic! I cannot understand the reason that this performance would cause any kind of disturbance. If you watch it as cartoons, it is really funny. If you bring it in real life it is disturbing.

Do you believe that the origin of this phenomenon is actually the lost guilessness of childhood?
The thing that scares me is the undoubted corruption of relationships, our personalities as well as the body. Cartoons are a reference to bring you back to the world of reality, to remind you: I used to think this way, then! How have I changed? Where is all that innocence? It was us, who lost it, not our childhood heroes!

Are we going to laugh with this black comedy or we are going to feel sad?
The title surreal black comedy was chosen on purpose, just because I wanted this performance to be an entrapment. It seems to be a very glamorous and shiny project, with wonderful packing but by the time the spectators open it, they will be really shocked. It is a sock on the stomach but the atmosphere is very light-hearted. There are no dark elements. That is to say, that if a 10 year-old child watch the performance (the performance is not suitable for viewers under 18 years old), he or she will have great time, he or she will not understand the real notion of the project. The one that is able to understand, really see and interpret the messages in between the lines of the performance will not have fun, or laugh. Spectators enter a world of fairytales, where childhood heroes appear but in the end they are entrapped (I wont tell even a word further!). I aim to show that its us who changed, not the cartoon characters, nor our heroes. The viewers will not leave the performance in the best mood whatsoever.

Which are your criteria in order to choose those particular heroes to figure in Lonely Tunes?
Apart from Dolly, I didnt want to use animal characters, like the Three little pigs just because it is kind of odd to see an actor dressed like a pig and talk. As far as the other characters are concerned, I was just interested in their stories. For example I was wondering about the fate of the Vanity Smurf the gay Smurf. Where would we meet him in 2010? How the Little Red Riding Hood girl would be in her 60s? How Ovelix would be on his own, without his friend Asterix? How a police officer like Inspector Gadget would be nowadays? These are the initial thoughts in order to find the starting point for the transmutation process of the character.
Finally, I had to watch all the 155 Candy-Candy episodes in order to write the script. I discovered very interested things. For example that she ought to commit suicide in the end, because of depression. That was not allowed by the authorities, who put pressure to alternate the ending to a silly and of course inferior one, compared to the quality of the whole story. It was then, that I decided to create a story having as subject the last episodes of every cartoon.

The way that the performance scene is designed, is very special. Talk to us about it.
I indeed believe that scenery is very important and thats why it costs that much. The grass, the pool, the lights and the costumes resulted to a very high budget for the performance, but thanks to our sponsors the outcome is very exuberant. My purpose was to give spectators the feeling that they are not in a theater hall, but that they went back to kindergarten, where everything is magical. Thats why I removed lights as well as seats.

Do you feel anxiety about your first attempt in scriptwriting and directing?
It sounds awkward to say that I am the director! To be honest I didnt know that I am capable to write a script, I realized it when I was studying. When I was in National Theater School, I used to write some texts for some courses. Having felt the acceptance by the audience, I managed to comprehend that my writing is quite agreeable and that I really like it as well. Being an actor- I dont like to name myself a director- I want to put the spectator into the thinking process, to tease the audience, furthermore I believe that this is my responsibility. This performance will be the most essential disturbance I have ever made personally, as an artist. I hope that everything will run properly and finally the audience will like it!