Stages Network – Athenian Theaters present Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy “He Who Saves Himself Is Saved,” directed by Tamilla Koulieva and featuring a large cast of leading actors. It is a tender situational comedy brimming with spirit that highlights the warmth and humor of traveling theater troupes—the so-called “boukouki” troupes that form the roots of modern theater. Thanasis Kourlambas speaks to the Stages Network camera and to Nikos Thrasyvoulos. At the beginning of the conversation, he describes a key scene from the play in which the “boulouki” actors are rehearsing a play. He then discusses his very interesting experience as a student, when he participated in the creation of Theodoros Exarchos’s book on Greek actors. There, among other things, he came into contact with veteran actors who shared their experiences with the boulouktsides with him. He emphasizes that the bouzoukia kept theater alive in the provinces, since the Municipal and Regional Theaters (DIPETHE) emerged as “a response to the provinces’ need to see theater.” He also describes other scenes from the play in his own distinctive way. The conversation also included a beautiful story he shared about Orestis Makris. The late, great actor, speaking about the difficulty of touring, had said: “You say Greece is small—well, go walk across it and see just how big it is!”. The discussion concluded with another affectionate reference by Thanasis Kourlambas to the series “Agios Eros,” which has now come to an end.
