23 February, 2009

Theatre-Going in Athens

Hubby won a couple of theatre ticket on a radio programme competition. He usually never wins any lottery and it was a great joy for him.

The tickets were for this play: Εκτοός ελεγχού...όλα (Out of Order). Originally written by Ray Cooney, it was a satirical commedy of the Thatcher period.

The main actors are Giorgos Konstantinou and Vasilis Tsivilikas, the latter being the translator and the stage director. Hubby said Konstantinou had some big hit TV commedy drammas, when he was younger.



Unfortunately I don't know Greek well enough to understand what was funny about conversation, but I could recognised that it was funny and well acted (the audience was very happy). Especially Tsivilikas was fantastic and even the other actors, who must have seen him acting so many times since the opening in November last year, could not help laughing.

If you are interested, it is still on at Peroke Theatre near Metaxourgio Metro station, ticket priced 23 and 20 euros (I guess it differs depending on day and time).

That is all about the play, but I also want to write about the theatre.

When you buy the ticket, you are given a coded memo like this. With this, you have no idea where you can seat.

And that is exactly the point. You have to ask theatre attendants which seats are yours and you have to pay tip only for this service. Hubby, unfamiliar to the theatre, did not pay her and she did not complain, but we observed most of the people were paying them some coins, mostly a euro, but one woman paid a 5 euro note! (but I think she was just showing off and it is not the norm). Inside the theatre, there were also programme vendors (5 euro for a small pamphlet).

This is the view from my seat; although they were give-away tickets, we were given decent seats.

What surprised me not the least was the messy floor: the small pieces on the ground were broken crisps. Evidently the did not clean the floor between the first and the second show.


I don't know much about the theatre, but in cinemas of the countries I lived, there always is cleaning time after each projection. I would have prefered to have more cleaners than attendants in the theatre.

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