By Christina Savopoulos
“I don’t think my purpose is to do something that the audience wants to watch necessarily, something that will have commercial success. I see theatre as a means to express myself and what I’m thinking,” Jeremy Artis tells The Greek Herald.
The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) is set to present its new theatre production Makriyannis. It’s a solo theatrical monologue performed by Artis and will open from Friday, December 6 to Saturday, December 7.
You’ll find it hard to venture into Melbourne’s Greek theatre space without seeing the passionate and humble Artis. With endless performance experience, he joined the GCM’s Creative Drama & Arts adult group amidst COVID-19 lockdowns and has since directed several of their shows. Artis’ plays with the group have been MόNοι, a story about belonging, then 22, a dramatic look at the Asia Minor Catastrophe, and in 2023, Girls in the Shadows, a successful comedy focusing on women’s struggles over time.
His latest work is a theatrical monologue about the memoirs of General Makriyannis from the 1821 Greek Revolution which is aptly titled, Makriyannis. With a historical and literary focus on the traumas endured during the revolution, the monologue uses Makriyannis’ memoirs to share the story.
Artis’ admiration for the memoirs led him to create this piece of theatre.
“I think it’s an amazing text. It’s a very powerful, strong text about human rights, and freedom… It’s very interesting how [Makriyannis] writes – he was illiterate. He learnt how to write in order to write his memoirs… that makes it powerful. He’s going from being a narrator to [speaking in] first person and changing voices and bringing other people in; it’s a very theatrical form,” he explains.
Artis undertook extensive research into the writings of Makriyannis to create the monologue. He sorted through Makriyannis’ 800-page memoirs and narrowed down key moments of his life and time in the revolution. He also used articles and other literary works of Makriyannis to better understand his character and the life he led.
The monologue is performed in Greek and is accompanied by music and projected visuals and subtitles. Artis decided to employ these elements to engage his audience as he knows “we are so far away from that world” of the 1821 revolution.
When asked about his solo process of refining the monologue, Artis said, “It’s so challenging. You have to be very disciplined—stick to targets and time frames… My biggest concern was the timeline and the characters’ journey. I was trying to keep that even though I was cutting a lot of the text. That was a bit challenging.”
After viewing his performance of Makriyannis, Artis hopes audiences can take away the idea of human freedom. He hopes they can “connect back to our history as Greeks” and with themes of social rights, despite being disconnected from the revolution by time and place.
Artis is excited to share his new work with audiences over two shows this weekend on Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7 at the Doncaster Playhouse. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.greekcommunity.com.au/events/makriyannis
