Greek Choruses Stage Violent Protest

Greek choruses, an ancient theater tradition in which actors collectively comment on the dramatic action, conducted violent protests in Athens this week.

“Hey, we’re Greek,” said spokesman Nikolas Christopoulos. “What would you expect?”

The choristers supplemented their traditional singing, dancing and narration by setting up street barricades, burning tires, hurling bottle rockets at police, and occupying an administration building. Authorities responded by confiscating their Actors Equity cards and hiring non-Equity choruses for current productions.

Reaction to the replacement choruses was mixed. “A real chorus employs clear enunciation and exaggerated movements to put their point across in the large theater, but these bozos just mumble and stumble,” critic Nikolas Demetriou wrote in the Athens Daily Ouzo. However, Nikolas Apostolou’s review in Athens Monthly Opa praised the replacements’ “fresh, inventive staging,” singling out “the comic relief when one chorister fell off the stage and the others immediately jumped after him.” 

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