Eftihia – Life Has Two Doors

The Greek Blues known as Rebetiko is a genre of music that became a lifestyle for the poor and disenfranchised during the nineteen twenties and thirties.  After the destruction of Smyrna in Asia Minor during the 1922 occupation, the residing Greeks were forced to immigrate to Greece. They survived and yet thrived during these arduous years to sing and dance their blues away in tavernas where their local musicians and artists would gather to entertain the crowds.

A true icon of this Rebetiko cultural movement was Eftihia Papagiannopoulou (1893-1972), born in Smyrna and forced to leave her homeland, where she faced refugee status and many hardships. Her life was like a roller coaster; at the age of sixteen she was coerced into an arranged marriage by her widowed mother to a wealthy man, twenty years older than her. She bore him two daughters. They soon separated. Feeling an absence in her life, she only learnt the meaning of love when she chased her own dreams and that is when she found her true calling. Eftihia took to the stage and joined a reputable theatre company while spending many long hours in libraries voraciously reading all the classics. It triggered her journey as poet and later as a reputable Rebetiko lyricist and songwriter.

Writer Helen Yotis has created a colourful rendition of Eftihia’s life, seducing us much like her muse, with florid and heart wrenching words that reflect on the crippling poverty, adventures and infamy that surrounded her world. Yotis explores her strength, determination and passion for life, family, and writing.

Director Maria Theodorakis has crafted an atmospheric and mood driven production, with the impeccable casting of Katerina Kotsonis as the chain-smoking Eftihia. Kotsonis gives an austere and unrelenting characterisation of this real true-spirited artist who would stop at nothing to create; she was not about fame; she was about   survival, juggling a gambling addiction, relinquishing royalties. While protecting her loved ones she pursued her love of her craft, never without a pencil in her hand.

Theodorakis has carefully orchestrated   the usage of songs / original lyrics written by Eftihia Papagiannopoulou; sung with a yearning sultry mellowness by Singer in Red (Alkitisi Pitsaki), who also provides a contrasting and haunting dramatization of the more harrowing events in Eftihia’s life. Musical director and sound design Andrew Patterson on piano, with Jacob Papadopoulos on Bouzouki, create ambience that complements the emotional journey of this controversial and talented heroine of the Rebetiko cultural movement.

Flora Georgiou

Photographer: Darren Gill