Culture Belongs To Humanity! Not To The Armies

An Interview with Bouboulina Nikaki, Thessaloniki-Athens, Greece – International theatre festival`s expert, theatre critic, literary translator and program advisor; founder/editor of the platform Theatre Cultures.

Ms. Bouboulina Nikaki is an independent theatre researcher & critic, an international cultural relations consultant and a literary translator. In 2006-2007, she was nominated for the ‘Marios Ploritis Theatre Translation Award’ for her translation in Greek of the play “Alpenstock” by Remi De Vos. In 2008, she received the award for best literary translation, from the Association of Greek Literary Translators. While living in Greece, she has been actively involved in the Modern Drama Forum supporting the introduction of new playwrights in Greek theatre. As a theatre critic (member of the IATC and of the ITI at that time) a trilingual translator and an ex-member of the committees “Maison d’Europe et d’Orient” and “Maison Antoine Vitez” (2006-2016) in Paris, she has contributed in promoting theatre and intercultural dialogue. In 2010, Ms Nikaki founded the French & English speaking original internet platform ‘Theatre Cultures’ for promoting quality theatrical productions from all over the world, quality theatre festivals and cultivating intercultural dialogue. The Facebook page “Theatre Cultures” has been offering useful information about international theater festivals to the global theatre community since 2013. For her original vision she has given important interviews in various countries.

Ivanka Apostolova Baskar: Bouboulina, you are the founder and editor of “Theatre Cultures”, what kind of international network and communication field is it? Under what conditions this open network was initiated and formed? And what is its role and purpose today, within the contemporary theater community, toward the inter cities collaborations and toward international collaborations?

Bouboulina Nikaki: “Theatre Cultures” was an online tool for the benefit of international theatre festivals, for curators and also a site for international readership.  It was also a stage for intellectuals, mainly from non-western countries and a field of intercultural dialogue. In parallel, a facebook page “Theatre Cultures” was created as an open international network for the international theatre community, providing information about international collaborations and open calls of international theatre festivals. My experience in some parts of the world had shown me the differences of support of the states to the culture and mainly to the art of theatre. So, I decided to find a way to offer the information that I was receiving from international festivals, or organizations, to the world theatre community. In some areas, such as in the Near East, or in Greece, theatre artists needed this information very much. Some networks have been created on the initiative of political organizations, for example. In fact, to be a member and to receive this kind of information, interested artists have to pay a membership, like in a club. But not everybody in the world can afford the membership. And technology today permits to create open networks for free in a very easy way, more democratic. “Theatre Cultures” network/community proves that this is something that can be created on the initiative of the artists, of the festivals, of anyone! So, it is also a matter about initiative and emancipation.

IAB: When we met, you mentioned to me about two fractions of theater critics in Greece? Why are there two?

BN: In fact, there are three of them. This is the result of spoiling the “Union of Music and Theatre Greek Critics”. Interior problems of legality and transparency pulled apart the Union. Many members abstained themselves from the procedures and seceded from the Union, as a sign of disappointment and disagreement. Several of them created a new association, the “Hellenic Association of Theatre and Performing Arts Critics” (https://www.greektheatrecritics.gr/) and most of them – if not all of them – are theatrologists. Finally, the rest of the theatre and music critics became members of the third Association, the “Association of music, theatre and dance Greek Critics”, which was the shelter for the ones who were somehow less antagonistic than the others. They organize events, such as seminars for instance, to which the members of the two other Associations are encouraged to participate. The two first Associations ignore the other two Associations, acting as if they were the only representatives of Greek theatre Critics. It is a pity, because collaborations between them would be fruitful and even necessary in some cases. But this is also a phenomenon of lack of the culture of collaborations in general and of acting like being the One, in a society in fragmentation.

Photo credits by Bouboulina Nikaki.

IAB: In the current time of crisis of critical thought, in your opinion, how do national, regional, and international theater criticism manage to survive and preserve its continuity and meaning?

BN: Very often, we see that it doesn’t manage to survive. Because of the different interests pushed by the newspapers, magazines, journals, etc. Or because of the absence of personal view on things and on Art. We must not forget also that we don’t live in the sixties with all those intellectuals and brilliant minds! But we live in a moment of History where the idea of “cultural product” versus “piece of art” is more obvious than ever. It is about “political” and “apolitic” thought.  Nowadays, we have some examples of very nice texts by nice writers, with a penetrating sight on theatre, or in art in general, giving the essential idea or problematic, even, or mainly, in a few lines. But aren’t they the ones who have a political conscience? I think that this is an interesting question.

IAB: In your opinion as theatre critic, what are the criteria for a good theater performance, what does a really good theater performance mean today?

BN: I think that in any case, what is the most important in a performance is what we call the “truth”, which always leaves the spectator with a sentiment of joy, of relief, of satisfaction. It doesn’t matter if it is expensive, or a very poor production, this criteria is above all. Some funds ask the artists to do this or that on the stage, to finance their work, to have this or that element on stage… This is suspicious… This is some of the “criteria”. This is a kind of censorship too, in our “free world”. But an actor alone on stage is able to create a whole world of narration, or of a poem, by his/her speech and/or by his/her body.

IAB: Today, in the time of various global and local corruptions, and in terms of awards and their impact, are the awards still a relevant benchmark for quality in the theater and performing arts that singles out the best, the authentic and innovative?

BN: Maybe today a more relevant benchmark for quality in the theatre is the participation in some theatre festivals: the ones that take risks, the audacious, the courageous festivals.

IAB: In your opinion (and overview), objectively and subjectively, what stands out as unique, fascinating, relevant, consistent in the contemporary theater in Greece, from the stages in Athens, Thessaloniki, Aegean, Ionian island(s) theaters, theaters in Epirus, Aegean Macedonia, Peloponnese, Cyprus…? What is offered and created?

BN: Well, in Greece, almost the whole theatre activity happens mainly in Athens.  Thessaloniki follows, with the productions of the National Theatre of Northern Greece and with some very few independent theatre performances. In the rest of Greece, there are some Municipal and Regional Theatres, with a weak activity in most cases and with rare visits of their performances in Athens. So, in Greece there are two or three different theatre categories, from this point of view, with two or three different kinds of audiences, more or less educated in art and in theatre. Of course, national mass media do not see what is produced out of Athens and of Thessaloniki. So, this production stays unknown to the big audience of the country. Greece needs a brave decentralization.

IAB: What is the role of contemporary theater today and here in relation to contemporary cultural diplomacy? And to what extent does cultural diplomacy manage to relativize political and economic tensions in the Balkans and around the world?

BN: Theatre, or other arts, has no role in relation to cultural diplomacy. It is the management and the communication of the performances that defines the role. Of course, theatre is an art that has a bigger impact on a society than other arts, even if in a smaller part of a society. The music, for instance, has a larger but weaker impact, even if in a bigger part of a society. We cannot measure the impact of cultural diplomacy on such precise problems and domains, such as relativization of political and economic tensions, in any area. In general, cultural diplomacy works in a parallel way than the problems or solutions of this kind of problems or politics. This is not a fire extinguisher. It is however a soft “weapon” that would have excellent results in the Balkans or in the Middle East. Something else is the fact that some people with a kind of power in their hands find the title “Cultural diplomacy” fascinating for their CV, but have no real relation and knowledge of this field. And this combination gives no results. There is a kind of new wave about “Cultural diplomacy” containing persons inappropriate to conceive or apply projects of Cultural diplomacy, on a small or on a higher escalation. But few people are interested about it, because it is kind of something new and considered more or less as unnecessary and as a domain of the Ministry of Culture.

Photo credits by Bouboulina Nikaki.

IAB: Going through your professional references, I notice several of your collaborations with theater artists in R. North Macedonia, please share your reflections – what are / were  they, what makes them relevant and what are their artistic qualities, in your opinion?

BN: Well, around ten years ago, Bajrush Mjaku had invited me to Skopje for his premiere of “Socrate’s Apology”, in the direction of Dino Mustafic. I considered this invitation as a very big honor and I accepted his invitation without hesitating at all. It was a very nice modern performance, with Bajrush – excellent actor – as Socrates and Besford Idrizi as Plato. The wonderful set-designing was made by the great architect Krste Dzidrov. Recently, he passed away unfortunately… A beautiful mind, a gold heart person. I had suggested the performance to several international theatre festivals. But in Greece, it was never invited, despite my efforts in different circumstances. It was the time of the embargo of Greece against North Macedonia, but even later. What a pity on the level of symbolism. That was a lost opportunity…

IAB: What is the cultural crisis through Greek eyes, today and now, or before-during and after Covid-19?

BN: Before, during and after Covid-19, art saved people from getting crazy. Even through radio and TV. We lived in our houses as if we were in prison. The freedom of circulating was limited to the edge, especially in the cities. What was specifically in crisis was the relating of people to society and to art. Today and now, I see a cultural crisis in the European countries who cancelled Russian theatre performances, dance or concerts, as a position in the Russian-Ukraine war. If I am not mistaken, in Poland, Russian composers have been completely forbidden… But culture belongs to humanity! Not to the armies. We would not listen to the music of Schubert, for instance, if we had thought about what Nazi Germany did against humanity!

IAB: Thank you very much dear Bouboulina Nikaki.

Interviewer Ivanka Apostolova Baskar

Skopje/Athens, 2025