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The Good Person of Szechwan


“The Good Person of Szechwan” by Bertolt Brecht
Directed by: Dimitris Karantzas

VENUE: Royal (Vasiliko) Theatre
OPENING: 21 September 2024
DURATION: 160 min (including interval)

 

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A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE PLAY
In the city of Szechwan, China, three gods are looking for a place to spend the night. The prostitute Shen Te is the only one who agrees to put them up. The gods reward her with a substantial sum of money, recognizing in her a good person; the good person they were seeking on the earth. Shen Te opens a tobacconist’s shop with the money. However, the need she feels to help others, and her inability to say no to others, soon lead her into an impasse. Then Shui Ta, the distant cousin who will set things right without recourse to sentimentality or charity, appears.

Starting out from the belief that man is a product of his social environment, that he is malleable and can change, Bertolt Brecht creates a stage experiment which poses a key ethical question: can a good person survive if they stay good in a society based on exploitation and injustice? By taking Shen Te’s good-heartedness as a given, it attempts to establish the limits of tolerance and kindness.

“The Good Person of Szechwan” was first staged in 1943, in Zurich. The work’s main idea seems to have occupied the author for several years, and he began work on its final form as early as 1938. As topical as ever, the work brings the question to the fore: how feasible is it for someone to remain moral in the social conditions of our world?
 
 

CREDITS
Translated by: Anny Koltsidopoulou, Directed by: Dimitris Karantzas, Sets: Konstantinos Skourletis, Costumes: Ioanna Tsami, Music: Dimitris Kamarotos, Movement: Alexis Tsiamoglou, Lighting: Dimitris Kasimatis, Assistant director - Dramaturg: Korina Vasileiadou, Assistant to the set designer: Manolis Psomatakis, Assistant to the costume designer: Sonia Kaitatzi, Production coordinator: Marina Chatziioannou, Stage manager: Marleen Verschuuren, Photographs: Mike Rafail (That Long Black Cloud)
Second assistant to the director (on an internship): Elina Tsiompartzi

Cast: Melina Apostolidou (Mrs. Mi Tzu), Momo Vlachou (Mrs. Yang), Giannis Gkrezios (Policeman), Tzortzina Daliani (Mrs. Shin), Ioanna Demertzidou (Shen Te), Eleni Thymiopoulou (Family: The wife), Giannis Karamfilis (Third God), Angelos Karanikolas (Unemployed), Christos Mastrogiannidis (Family: The husband), Dimitris Naziris (Family: The grandfather), Ioanna Pagiataki (Old rug seller), Orestis Paliadelis (Wang), Christos Stylianou (Carpenter), Stergios Tzaferis (Second God), Chrysa Toumanidou (Family: The sister-in-law), Giannis Tsemperlidis (Sun), Alexis Tsiamoglou (Shu Fu), Maria Chatziioannidou (First God)

Musicians on stage: Danis Koumartzis (guitar), Amalia Sani (cello), Katerina Tavladoraki (clarinet)
Extras: Kosmas Kalaitzidis, Chara Lampi, Konstantinos Popovits

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