Irène Bonnaud: “The civil war is a very delicate topic in Greece”

 Interview to Rania Papadopoulou

 Read Here the interview in Greek:

http://www.alfavita.gr/arthron/tehni/irene-bonnaud-o-emfylios-polemos-einai-ena-eyaisthito-thema-stin-ellada

Based on Ilias Poulos’ book, “Tachkent – memories in exile” and Dimitris Alexakis’ text, the musical play “Polemos Topion” directed by Irène Bonnaud, which will be presented at KET until 17^th of June, narrates the history of Civil War through  the soldiers’ of the democratic army interviews, who were transfered in Tashkent in October 1949, after the end of Greek Civil War. The director creates a bridge between present and past, trying to reveal those historical data, which constitute the collective memory. On stage, Foteini Banou and the Musicians Michalis Katachanas and Vasilis Tzavaras transfer the audience to the past and improvising they bring them back to the present 

Some days, before the end of the performances, the director Irène Bonnaud talked with Rania Papadopoulou about the performances, the civil war, the memory and the history that isn’t written by the winners, but by oral narration.

- What inspired you to work with the theme of civil war?

I.B.: It was Dimitris Alexakis and Fotini Banou who gave me Ilias Poulos’ book,  Tachkent – memories in exile, one year ago, telling me that it could be a good material for a show. I found the book very powerful and touching - the testimonies  it contains are precious because people felt they could trust Ilias, they are very honest and sincere about their experiences during the civil war. It always has been the topic I was interested in, how people’s  private lives, their sentimental, family, individual stories are intertwined with history with capital H, with big political or economical events.

-How is the play structured and how can the music awaken the memory?

Ι.Β.: It’s a musical performance. Besides Ilias Poulos’ book, we read many other books before we started rehearsing, historical books, testimonies, memoirs, and so on, and it struck me how the landscapes were important, how the soldiers of the democratic army had to walk all the time from one position to the other, endless walks in the mountains through the night. But it’s very difficult to give the feeling of a landscape on stage, landscape is much more something for movies. So, I felt that the only way to give this feeling could be through music – that’s why the music is as much important as the text, there are two musicans on stage, they use some traditional melodies and tunes, ipirotika songs, russian songs, but always with a contemporary spirit and sound. I hope the spectators can see all the images in their head when listening to the music.

Foteini Banou at Polemos Topion

- What difficulties did you face during the research for the play?

Ι.Β.: Of course the civil war is a very delicate topic in Greece, you can feel that each historian has his own view on the subject, depending on his own political positions, etc. And many archives have been destroyed or the access to it is still difficult. And of course, many people are also very emotional about it, because some family members were involved, sometimes on both sides in the same family... But it was no surprise for me, my both parents were history teachers, and there are many sensitive topics in french history too, like the decolonization warsfor instance. It was interesting that many people of my generation  (so the third generation after the war, the grand-children generation) seemed very much interested and eager to know how, why, etc. It was very interesting to talk to people, they often told me very interesting stories.

- How does the improvisation works to the play?

Ι.Β.: Well, the text was not improvised at all, because I made a montage prior to the rehearsals with the testimonies from Ilias Poulos’ book and the two texts Dimitris Alexakis wrote for the show. His texts are much more about the memory of the civil war for our generation – how to deal with the past in the present time...The improvisation was mostly important for the music, the two musicans of the show, Michalis Katachanas and Vassilis Tzavaras, come from the experimental and jazz music scene, so they work a lot with improvisation -  sometimes on material I provided, like an ipirotiko song or a tune taken from russian composers - even if we have a strong frame, they are still improvising for each performance a little bit.

-Who writes the history in a war?

Ι.Β.: People always say, history is written by the winners. But it’s obvious, there’ s another tradition, maybe more secret, more hidden, which is the oral tradition, the oral transmission inside the families – grandparents talking to their grandchildren, children asking questions to older people. I can feel, it’s very strong here in Greece regarding the civil war, or the german occupation, or the refugees coming from Asia Minor. Even if some topics are not much officially discussed like the civil war, there are some stories going around, among family members, among friends. It’s some kind of oral history from underneath, people’s history, not the official history of the schoolbooks...

-What is your opinion about the censorship in art?

Ι.Β.: We should fight against it!

- What are your next plans?

Ι.Β.: Something completely different, and in France this time. With some actors who I like very much, I will stage some one-act comedies of the Napolitan playwright Eduardo di Filippo. It’s a very funny plays of course, but Di Filippo’s plays have also their dark side, because he described very well the daily life in the poorest neighborhoods of Napoli, so it’s small people dealing with big social and economical problems, once more...