Representatives of disabled artists speak of insulting and derogatory behaviour on the part of the former artistic director of the National Theatre.
As they say, «the former artistic director of the National, Mr. Stathis Livatinos, has shown us not only that he lacks an open and progressive spirit, but also that he is attached to racist stereotypes of bygone eras, belittling disabled artists in a profoundly ingrained half-suffering and without any willingness to cooperate on an equal basis. It devalued our education, our knowledge and underestimated the ability of every disabled artist to stand as exactly what he is, an artist.».
As stated in a complaint text, filed on 11 March with the Greek Actors' Union, met in December 2017 with the then Artistic Director of the National Theatre to discuss the exclusion of a deaf candidate from the entrance examinations of the drama school, despite the fact that the condition of «artimelia», which was previously provided by Presidential Decree for private drama schools, has been abolished.
They say that although after mobilizations that took place, the leadership of the National Theatre, with the agreement of the Ministry of Culture, pledged to accept applications from people with disabilities and to contribute to the processing of the necessary functional and educational adjustments required for the unhindered integration of people with disabilities in the context of theatrical education, the intentions of Stathis Livadinos, as expressed in their meeting, turned out to be completely different. He was reportedly totally opposed to the prospect of participation by people with disabilities both in classes and in the performances of the National Theatre.
«The purpose of the National Theatre is to bring out professionals from its school in a difficult labour market and that the disabled actor will not be able to become a professional and will not be able to find a job as an artist, it is one thing to be an amateur and another to be a professional» he replied to them in his attempt to explain his attitude and when he was informed that many foreign schools have practices for disabled actors he replied cynically: «The issue is not the right but how to cope with the pressures of the courses, when there are students who arrive with rehearsals up to 12 hours at the school how a disabled person will cope with these pressures. After all, the theatre is not democratic, it is fascist and selects the most competent...! We at the National are looking for champions. We do not apply rights, but we look for skills».
According to the lengthy text of the complaint, the former artistic director of the National Theatre faced with stubborn negativity, distrust, disdain and aggression, at times, the arguments put forward by the representatives of the Disabled Actors Movement. In one of their proposals, which referred to the annual admission to the drama school of the National Theatre of people with disabilities through the quota system, Mr.Livatinos exploded saying: «What are you talking about? They're going to fill the National with cripples! With the quota system, if the other guy is not worthy, will he join the National because he is disabled, next to the other guys who are championship athletes?;».
He even ruled out any possibility of a disabled person becoming a professional artist, expressing the harsh view that «the disabled actor will not be able to become a professional and will not be able to find work as an artist». In his persistent attempt to justify his attitude, he went so far as to make an unfortunate simile which, rightly, provoked strong reactions: «If I put a disabled person on stage and next to him an actor, the best actor you can get, everyone will look at the disabled person. What it's like when you put an animal on stage. No one looks at the actor, no matter how good he is, everyone looks at the animal...».
The text of the complaint of the Disabled Artists' Movement concludes with full of symbolism, the phrase «The time has come for fear to change sides». See the text as posted on the Disabled Artists' Movement Facebook page.
Marios Athanasiou for Stathis Livathinos: He humiliated disabled actors
Ο Marios Athanasiou had made a related post on Instagram writing: «Libatinos, former director of the National Theatre. Humiliates for an hour a movement of disabled artists, asking for participation in performances. “Theatre is not democratic, it's fascist,” he said. And he closes giving a pen to a child who can't... “write down something I'm going to tell you.” You have more apologies, don't stop.».
