Iro Bezou reads two prose works by Photis Kontoglou

The SNFCC readers' theater series, entitled PARABASES/READINGS, is returning to the core of stage reading this year, drawing inspiration from Cavafy's verse, "Voices, loved and idealized."

7 theater protagonists, 7 "idealized voices," comprise two-people theater companies (in collaboration with young stage directors, renowned Greek composers and/or on-stage musicians) and attempt live theatrical readings of literary texts (short stories, novels, prose), all of them landmark works of Greek literature. In this way, the series utilizes the dramaturgy of the Readings that were recorded and presented by the SNFCC during 2020-2021, attracting great interest from the public.

The texts selection was compiled in collaboration with poet Nikos A. Panagiotopoulos (December 1945 - July 2023), to whose memory the series is dedicated.

Nikos Kouris teams up with Mario Banushi and reads Viral Pneumonia, the only short story Zisimos Lorentzatos ever attempted to write.

Iro Bezou collaborates with Danai Spilioti and reads two pieces of prose by Photis Kontoglou: Conan the God and His Monastery, the So-Called "Submergence" and Hosanna! .

Maria Skoula teams up with Kornilios Selamsis and reads the short story The Detective by Dimitris Hatzis.

Amalia Moutousi collaborates with Emmanouil Kontos and reads Moonstruck by Alexandros Papadiamantis.

Christos Loulis reads excerpts from Erotokritos by Vitsentzos Kornaros.

Akilas Karazisis teams up with Iason Aly and reads excerpts from the Architecture of a Dissolute Life, Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis's trailblazing work.

Anna Kokkinou collaborates with Nikos Veliotis and reads Moskov Selim, the most remarkable short story of Georgios Vizyinos.

Sunday, November 12, 17.00 | LIGHTHOUSE

Iro Bezou reads two prose works by Photis Kontoglou: Conan the God and His Monastery, the So-Called "Submergence" and Hosanna!.
Directed by: Danai Spilioti

The reading is carried out courtesy of the grandsons of Photis Kontoglou, Panagiotis and Fotis Martinos.

Born in Aivali and well-traveled across Europe, Photis Kontoglou (1896-1965) was one of the first refugee artists to be established in Greece through his painting, hagiographical, and literary work. An emblematic figure of the Generation of the '30s, he first appeared in Greek letters after the Asia Minor Catastrophe, presenting a unique personal writing style that was direct and simple, charming, with the spirit of folk narratives, fairy tales and hagiologies.

His second book, Vasanta (Spring in Sanskrit), was published in 1923 and is a collection of short texts, including the short story "Hosanna!"-a heartfelt confession of Kontoglou about his life, his relationship with God and nature, as well as about artistic creation: "My mind," he writes, "is omnipresent... There are ideas that go through one's mind once every one hundred years-others every two hundred years and others yet every thousand years. Then there are other ideas that go through one's mind once, for the first and last time... This is when one realizes that the seams of his head rip open and a green icy light jumps out from inside... Hosanna!"

Twenty years later, in 1943, during the Occupation, his short story Conan the God and His Monastery, the So-Called "Submergence" was published. In this harsh text, a traditional but also modern Photis Kontoglou resorts to the language of the parable in order to emit-according to many-his own antifascist message to the reader and boldly denounce the brutality of that time and human vanity.