_book_edcoll_9789401205399_B9789401205399-s014-preview

Karolos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds:
Aristophanes as Popular Theatre
Marina Kotzamani
Aristophanes and the Greek Shadow Puppet theatre Karaghiozis

have been connected in a variety of interesting ways. Karaghiozis is a popular
theatrical genre that was flourishing the first half of the 20th century in
Greece. It has stock characters, traditionally made of leather or cardboard,
who are animated behind an illuminated white screen. The shadow puppet
theatre’s hero is Karaghiozis, a grotesque figure who is always hungry. The
improvised plots typically evolve around Karaghiozis’ comic efforts to find
something to eat. Humour is earthy, farcical and grotesque. The soul of the
shadow puppet theatre is the animator who improvises the action, moves the
puppets on the screen, sings and does the voices of all the characters.
Scholars have noted similarities between Karaghiozis and the heroes
of Aristophanes. Moreover, they have pointed out the existence of structural
resemblances between the scenarios of the shadow puppet theatre and Attic
comedy. 1 Other studies have focused on establishing links between the two
genres, tracing the origin of both to ancient Greek festivities and rituals. 2 A
hitherto almost unexplored field of research concerns the relationship of
Karaghiozis to the performance of Attic comedy in modern Greece. Just like
Karaghiozis, Attic comedy has been interpreted as popular theatre on the
Greek stage since the early 1900s. Characteristically, translators would not
hesitate to render the original into demotic Greek, the low variety of the
language used in colloquial situations. 3 This is of course also the language of
Karaghiozis. In the early part of the century performance of both genres was
strongly associated with low class popular entertainment. 4 There is also
evidence that the revue, another extremely popular theatrical genre at that
time was a common source of inspiration in shaping both the translations of
Aristophanes and the scenarios of Karaghiozis. 5 In the second part of the
20th century Greek artists have perhaps explored the connection between
Karaghiozis and Aristophanes in a more direct way. For example, the
Karaghiozis animator G. Michopoulos did an adaptation of Aristophanes’
Birds for the shadow puppet theatre in 1984. 6 The composer Dionysis
Savvopoulos created a highly original performance piece based on The
Acharnians, freely mixing immediately recognisable elements from
Karaghiozis in his work. 7 Perhaps the initial inspiration for this project came
from a production of The Acharnians presented by Karolos Koun in 1976, in
which the director emphasised a close parallel between the Aristophanic hero
180 Karlos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds
______________________________________________________________
Dikaiopolis and Karaghiozis. 8
In all the instances I mentioned, Greek artists have approached Attic
comedy as popular theatre. It is this association that invites the connection to
the shadow puppet theatre. In an article published in 1963, the painter Yannis
Tsarouchis explains that he has drawn a common lesson from Aristophanes
and Karaghiozis:
The voice of the majestic Dedousaros (a major shadow

puppet player) in the night, the voice of Pan and the Satyrs,
of Zeus and of Aristophanes, was haunting me all my life,
[...] compelling me to scorn with the harshness of youth
9
everything “philological,” “civilized,” “artistic.”
Tsarouchis was a major collaborator in a landmark production of

Aristophanes’ Birds, directed by Karolos Koun in 1959. Koun (1908-1987),
probably the most significant director of the 20th century in Greece, is also a
key figure in the modern stage history of Attic comedy; he directed most of
Aristophanes’ extant plays, fully articulating in his work a sophisticated
popular aesthetic drawn from the Greek folk culture. Far from being
picturesque, folk influence is well assimilated and refined in his work to
produce a powerful modern interpretation of Attic comedy as ritual. At the
same time Koun was sensitive to the political nature of Aristophanes’ plays
and was successful in recasting their relevance in a contemporary context.
Karaghiozis has been a major folk source of inspiration for Koun in
developing his popular approach to Attic comedy. Influence from
Karaghiozis is easy to detect in Koun’s later productions of Attic comedy,
such as The Acharnians (1976) and Peace (1977), in which the Oriental
aesthetic of the mise en scene directly evokes the shadow puppet theatre. In
this article I focus on The Birds and argue that, even though more subtle and
indirect, influence from Karaghiozis is already present in the earlier
production and has inspired Koun to develop a highly original and
imaginative interpretation of the play. His work deserves to be
acknowledged, along with the French director Charles Dullin’s better known
production of The Birds of 1928, as one of the two most significant
productions of the play in the twentieth century.
The Birds is one of Aristophanes’ wildest fantasy plays. At the
opening of the comedy, two Athenians, Pisthetairos and Evelpides are
searching for the land of the birds, as they hope to live there a life free of the
decadence and demagogy of political life which suffocated them in their
native city. The birds are initially hostile to the strangers but welcome them

_book_edcoll_9789401205399_B9789401205399-s014-preview

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

_book_edcoll_9789401205399_B9789401205399-s014-preview

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

_book_edcoll_9789401205399_B9789401205399-s014-preview

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Karolos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds:

Aristophanes as Popular Theatre

Aristophanes and the Greek Shadow Puppet theatre Karaghiozis

The voice of the majestic Dedousaros (a major shadow

Tsarouchis was a major collaborator in a landmark production of

You might also like