Dozens of Greek Melburnians arrived at the St Dimitrios Church Hall in Prahran on Sunday evening to enjoy the much anticipated performance Twenty Two (Eikosi Dyo), dedicated to the 100 years from the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
The play, based on real life accounts from survivors and a scene from Iakovos Kampanellis’ book The Courtyard of Wonders, was directed by Jeremy Artis, a young Greek Australian creative with a promising future.
The production was created with the support of the Creative Drama and Arts Centre (CDAC) of the Greek Community of Melbourne.
The play also features Elli Papadimitriou’s iconic novel ‘The Common Reason’ while Dido Sotiriou’s ‘The Dead Are Waiting’ also loan the performance some strong, evocative themes.
Actors Ioanna Kothroula, Maria-Stella Papageorgiou, Giannis Lyris, Jeremy Artis, Maria Bakalidou, Syrmo Kapoutsi, Pam Pollalis, Panos Apostolou and Ioanna Gagani gave voice to the migrant stories and the novels used to bring the play to life. All immigrants themselves. Their performances touched the audience and were met with a standing ovation.
The live music by Giorgos, Thodoris and Christina Athanasopoulos took everyone on a journey.
While attendance exceeded expectations, the church hall did not add to the experience, as many members of the audience complained about the quality of sound being compromised and the limited view.
After the end of the performance many theatre-goers mentioned that it had been suggested in the past that the Prahran church hall could become an official theatre hall for the community.
The issue of many cultural club spaces that have halls and rooms which cannot any longer support the needs of the community was also raised, as members of the audience urged clubs to work with the Greek Community in order to find solutions for the proper hosting of events.
With lobbying from the president of the Greek Community of Melbourne Bill Papastergiadis and the members of the council prior to the recent state election, Labor committed to invest $400,000 towards the renovation of the Prahran Hall into a multipurpose space for the Community.