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Kyrgiakos Methodius Argyropoulos is a director and producer of puppet theater plays. He staged more than 60 theater plays in Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Sliven and Yambol and over 20 performances abroad. His performances are presented in the Grotesque theater in Krakow, on the stages of the National Theater in Athens, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, Teatro Tesaliko in Larissa, Neo Teatro, Sofuli Theatre and in the American College of Thessaloniki.

The director works in the field of TV theatre too. In 1981 he made the play The Little Sunflower for the Polish National Television and in 1992 – Four Tales of a Dragon for the Bulgarian National Television. Winner of numerous awards and honours. He is the husband of the Bulgarian actress Plamena Getova. He talks with www.grreporter.info about his work as manager of the Puppet Theatre, his dreams related to the art of doing theater for children and about his three homelands...

GRREPORTER: What does it mean to be the manager of a puppet theater? Tension, responsibility, satisfaction?

Kyrgiakos Argyropoulos: This is a long conversation. On the one hand, you are satisfied with doing what you’ve dreamed to do, that you're still in the field of creativity and art. On the other hand, what you want to do is beyond the time limits you would like to be. Things change and theater must change. The working conditions must be changed. Tremendous efforts are necessary to persuade institutions and organizations that something has to happen. That we have entered into another stage of our civilization. Because we are part of the attitude to the young generation and should talk with them in a different way. The dialogue should be modern and appropriate to our strivings. We can not talk about beauty, fairy tales from the stage of a shabby and inartistic theater and every shiny candy shop to be more attractive than it. Because this affects the human senses.

GRREPORTER: What makes the Bulgarian puppet theater different?

Kyrgiakos Argyropoulos: Bulgaria has a school, because the Theatre Academy trains such students. Puppet theater acting, directing, set design, all these make the young people who graduate the academy professionals. The level is high, but as we look around the world, we see that where there are clear rules for the existence and support of theater groups, people compensate the lack of professionalism with ideas and searches. And with experiments in the development of a separate genre, in communication with the audience, with imagery of the show. This puts the Bulgarian school in a slightly arrogant and overstated position. But I see that this wall cracks. I personally seek to give young people more opportunities to experiment and search for new forms. And I must tell you that it is difficult to achieve. Another thing that affects very much the situation of the theater in Bulgaria is that professionals are being created but the theaters themselves are shrinking. And here again we return to the issue of the exodus of young and talented people looking for their development abroad. After they graduate the Theatre Academy they can not sell themselves on the market, which is shrank because there are not enough theater groups or the theatre groups in the country do not meet the high requirements of the Sofia theaters. So, they are forced to seek work abroad. There are many capable young people who work in Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Poland. I found three Bulgarian actors in Polish theaters... Other people quit their profession and begin to work something else. I found many actors who work as PRs and take managerial posts in the field of communications or telecommunications. I am very surprised that they are taking this way and do not go in the theater. But obviously, they get  good education that helps them to sell their skills in the modern world.

GRREPORTER: What is the puppet theater audience in Bulgaria?
 
Kyrgiakos Argyropoulos: It may sound strange, but the child audience is very grateful, it is not easy to lie to it. But it is the same everywhere. Wherever I've been with our or foreign performances I see children are the same. Of course, it appears very much in countries where there are clear rules that children are somehow slightly different than ours. Not emotionally, but they are taught to respect the rules. There are norms there and you can feel it. You see the children are paid much attention to this. I do not mean intellectuality and the development of children. What I mean is that they teach them to become citizens of a society in which there are rules. And to observe them. While our children are free to live in their emotions. The children in those countries know that they may show their emotions at one place, and elsewhere they are not allowed to do it.

GRREPORTER: What is your dream as a director of the puppet theater in Sofia?

Kyrgiakos Argyropoulos: One longs for one thing. It is either unattainable, or gets uninteresting in other moments. You tell yourself: “This dream is not more beautiful than that.” My dream is to make a different theater in the good sense while I am in this theater and to convince the municipality that Sofia needs a new puppet theater. Despite the crisis. Because it anyway will go away. This I have already achieved in 70% -80%. We have to work to build a truly beautiful, comfortable, attractive new puppet theater to become training and working centre for children. A place that will be a centre for creating art for children. But the children themselves to be able to learn about the theater, how this is done, and do a theatre themselves.

GRREPORTER: How do you feel like a Greek who was born in Poland and lives in Bulgaria? Citizen of Europe, the world?