193-226

An (almost) unknown play by Crigorios Xenopoulos.

• Πετράκου, Κυριακή

In the last decade of 19th century, Grigorios Xenopoulos (1867-1951) decided to write for the theater. His first play, «The Foster – Father» and the second, called «The third» were both staged in 1895, and gave him a «succes d 'estime». In 1896 or ‘97 he wrote a third play, which he titled «The Comedy of Death» , imitating perhaps Ibsen’s «The Comedy of Love». He read it in Kostis Palamas’ literary salon and the poet was impressed. Xenopoulos did not give it for performance, though. He submitted it instead to a drama contest, performed by the University of Athens, hoping to win the prize, which was 1000 drs, a considerable sum then. This contest, called «Lassanis' contest» was run on a legacy left by G. Lassants on this purpose. It had begun in 1889 and took place occasionally until 1910. Participation was anonymous and the name of the writer became known only in case of prize - winning. It gave specific directions as to the language and style of the submitted plays. This directions were so conservative old - fashioned that the playwrights were indignant and often protested through the press. They participated, nevertheless, because the prize was a strong attraction and the winning play was more possible than not to be staged. Xenopoulos acted likewise in 1899. He reentitled his play «The Late Mausolos» and sent it, believing that, despite its modern style, he might win as it wasa comedy and the rules for a comedy were laxer than those for tragedy. He nearly did. That is, the commitee praised the language and style of the play and thought it the second — best. They found it lacking in plot and action and gave the prize to another comedy, somewhat similar to it. Xenopoulos must have been shocked by this failure, as he did not reveal the fact until 25 years later. Even then, one of his fellow playwrighs said that the failure was due to the modern style of the play. That was not absolutely true. The jury had commented that it did not resemble enough to a true «tranche de vie». They thought that such slices did not exist, or, if they did, they should not. The manuscript of the play (the 1st act) was found among others in the National Library. It is anonymous and was identified by research. The play has clear traces of Ibsen's influence. Besides the title, the subjects of the hypocritically lamenting widow andthat of the man who must always tell the truth and defy the social conventions (as in the «Wild Duck»), belong clearly to that trend.

• Arts

• Θέατρο

Θεατρικό έργο, Γρηγόρης Ξενόπουλος