Galery

1

The story of Yannis is the story of a boy who has fought for his dream of becoming an actor. For years he hasn’t got the courage to oppose his parents for their sacrifices to give him good education – a guarantee of secure employment and salary. He has been running against himself for years. He studied, graduated and worked not what he wanted. And he was not happy. Until one day life itself came to ask if he will not at last turn to his dream of becoming an actor ...

Being an actor is a vocation. To find your vocation could be easy or ... difficult. It is difficult when you haven’t understood or fight against to understand who you are. What is your role in your own life. For to play roles, you have to find yours first. And this sometimes turns to be a serious battle. You have to find your personality and to build it. You need dreams. But a man needs personality to dream. Otherwise, what you have succeeded in falls into an abyss and looses its meaning. And man gets lost. Or, as Yannis says, "becomes indifferent spectator of yourself." Then, the man should swim a sea of mistakes and oceans of doubt before reaching the ultimate goal, yourself. Once you find yourself you have to win the right to be yourself and follow your dreams. But this is not always easy. Especially when they clash with the dreams of the people who love us. Yannis, however, made it!

I can tell you a lot about my childhood. I'm from the generation that grew up in blocks of flats. I have not had the chance to play in the street like many other children in the countryside or like the older generations. The 1980s generation passed from the street games and football to another way of life and children began to grow at home – with TV and games, more inside and less outside.

But when I think back, this certainly has something to do with my passions for acting. I got a sharp eye since I was a child. The children that spent their childhood in games in the streets are not so observant. Their manners are freer and easier, they have had more contacts. They have certainly found themselves faster. They were more extroverts. They say that previous generations have matured faster. I haven’t got a brother or sister. This is also a big disadvantage. When a child does not spend time outdoors playing but sits at home watching TV the presence of another child is very important. Otherwise, loneliness comes by itself. I am not saying that those who have brothers are the most social persons in the world, of course. But you can learn a lot from cohabitation. You learn life faster. You divide the family problems, the rules, you learn to fight.

Evidently, the 1980s generations and after have different growing models. Social medium has changed and many people at my age do not know themselves. We haven’t tried to hear ourselves. We have followed some established pathways, advices, guidance.

Going I was to theatre rehearsals with my father since I was 5 years old. But he had no connection with art. He was doing amateur theatre but very rarely. I remember to this day that I heard them all saying some strange words and laughing. I thought then that if I memorize these words they will laugh at me. So, I was getting on stage after the rehearsal without anyone seeing me and I said what I remembered. This was my first contact with theatre.

As a child I spent most of the time alone. My parents worked as servants and they went out at 06.30 in the morning and came home at 06.00 in the afternoon. I came home by bus after school, called up to tell them that I came back, I heated my meal and I was alone till the evening. My parents’ coming home was very important to me. There was life at home again. But they were usually tired. My mother was barely able to cook and to do some other two or three things. And help me for school. My father was playing with me a little, helped me in math and we went to bed at 22.00 o’clock.

Naturally, my life was very monotonous until I got 18. That was obvious in my behaviour. I was moody, I had friends and companies, but I was not a particularly happy child. The problems in my head were not resolved. I was not of those children who have understood the things and the only thing they were interested was to go and buy pants or socks. I thought about many things ...

The truth is that I matured earlier than my peers. Other people were telling me that too. However, compared to some kids I had a happy childhood. I was fortunate to have good parents who sacrificed a lot for me. Not only money but time too. In the summer, when there was no school, my father came from work and picked me up with the bike to go to play on the square. I have not grown up in a neighbourhood where children play free and their mothers only call them to go home to sleep. But on the other hand, I had parents whose priority was to spend my time well, as better as possible.