The Countess of the Factory

at the Embassy Theater

COMPLETED

One of the biggest theatrical hits, “The Countess of the Factory” by Asimakis Gialamas and Kostas Pretenderis, will be performed at the renovated EMBASSY THEATER starting October 16.

The play is directed by Stamatis Fasoulis, who conceived the idea of staging the play both because of its social and political nature, which reflects the era, as well as because the production fits perfectly into the overall framework of the centennial celebration of Kostas Pretenderis’s birth.

“The Countess of the Factory” will be staged at the EMBASSY THEATER, which has now been completely transformed! With its stage having expanded dramatically, featuring new, state-of-the-art lighting fixtures, and modern technical equipment, it is one of the most beautiful and functional theaters in central Athens.

The play stars: Dimitra Matsouka, Giorgos Pyrpasopoulos, Sara Ganoti, Antigone Drakoulaki, Nikos Stavrakoudis, Giorgos Biniaris, Iason Papamathaiou, Kyriakos Salis, Koralia Tsoga, Vangelis Salevris, Margarita Loumaki, and Maria Eleftheriadou.

A few words about the project:

We are in Athens. One year after the July events and one year before the dictatorship.

Around the “Countess of the Factory” —a young upper-class woman with a dynamic personality and charm (Dimitra Matsouka)—the whole of Athens, not to mention the whole of Greece at the time, flocks to her.

Villas and courtyards, pastry shops, police stations, factories in a fully revolutionary mood, and protests set the scene for the story. Along with these elements, the play highlights the prevailing trends of the era in the realms of politics and love. The countess’s love for her exact opposite: a commoner, a police officer by profession.

Rather than blossoming in a “rosy” setting—as was customary in that distant yet so familiar era—comes to life in postwar Greece, which is struggling to find its rightful place in the world. Class struggles, favors of all kinds, backroom deals, and petty scams that may well continue to this day.

In contrast to the Countess, a police officer (Giorgos Pyrpasopoulos), with all the traits of his profession, tries to put handcuffs on her as a thief but ultimately finds himself handcuffed by love.

Surrounding them are a petty thief, a “notorious” communist, and a working mother and union activist who fights tirelessly for workers’ rights.

“The Countess of the Factory” is one of the few plays ever written that so aptly depicts the pre-dictatorship era.

The left, the right, the plutocracy, the lumpen proletariat, servants, and ladies of high society—all of these make up the society of that time, and at the center of it all is a countess. The Countess of the Factory!

The play premiered in October 1966 at the Florinda Theater, performed by the troupe led by Stefanos Linaios, Maros Kontou, and Nikos Rizos. The play was so successful that it was adapted into a film in 1969, with Anna Fonsou playing the role of the Countess.