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The decision of the National Theatre of Greece to stage a play based on the book by the 17 November terrorist Savvas Xiros and on the minutes of the hearings during the trial against him and the other members of the group has provoked a series of public reactions.

The title of the play is "The Nash Equilibrium" - a term borrowed from game theory, say the authors. On the website of the theatre they explain that it is a combination of strategies of two opponents, the strategy of each of them being the best response to the strategy of the opponent.

The play will be performed on the experimental stage of the theatre. "Inspired by Albert Camus’ "Les Justes", the minutes of the 17 November trial, Savvas Xiros’ book "That Day..." and literary, historical and journalistic texts, Pigi Dimitrakopoulou and her team have constructed a new play about the codes of value, justice and terrorism in recent Greek history."

In a series of publications in the press and on social networks, the comments on the play are especially critical. Their authors resent the fact that the National Theatre of Greece, which operates with taxpayers’ money, is not more careful when choosing what to stage. Savvas Xiros is one of the main executioners of 17 November. He is sentenced to six-fold life imprisonment and 25 years in prison for involvement in five murders, armed robberies, explosions and participation in a terrorist group.

It is worth noting that a play based on the tragic accident off the island of Farmakonisi in January 2014 that killed 12 people was recently performed on the same stage. It was attended by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his wife.

With the support of left-wing human rights activists the surviving migrants accused the members of the Greek coast guard of preventing them from boarding the boat of the service and of not throwing life belts to them. Others say that the ship's crew tied their boat to it and set off to the Turkish territorial waters to return it there.

The play suggested that the trial that had proven the opposite had not administered justice. Without explicitly stating it, it implied that the government of New Democracy and PASOK at the time had exercised political pressure in this direction.

More than a year later, dozens of refugees and migrants drown in the Aegean almost every week but nobody talks about deliberate actions on the part of the coast guard but only about maritime tragedies.

The presentation of Savvas Xiros' book in May 2014 also provoked reactions against the board of the Journalists' Union in Athens, which provided its hall for the event. The decision was taken with a minimal majority and the union chairman at the time voted against it.

The publication of the book by the main executioner of 17 November Dimitris Koufodinas entitled "I was born on 17 November" provoked no less indignation in the public space. In it, he describes the actions of the group that killed 23 people in its 27-year history.