Zorba the Greek - by Mikis Theodorakis

Introduction by Ornella Rota

Zorba the elusive Greek Tzigane, Zorba the archetype of the primordial attachment to life, Zorba the problematic modern man: these are the three interpretations that, in this book, have been respectively suggested by the coreographer Lorca Massine, by the musician Mikis Theodorakis and by the philosopher Emanuele Severino. All three are linked together by a common guiding thread, that is, freedom. Zorba is a free man who wants to remain free. Zorba is intellectually and emotionally mobile, according to the tradition of the ancient Mediterranean peoples, and he is capable of being self-sufficient: he says what he thinks, he does what he pleases. The legend pictures him as an impetuous character, full of ardour, vehemence and enthusiasm.

Final scene from Cacoyannis's movie

Since 1965, when Cacoyannis' film first appeared, his dance has become the symbol of the joy of living, of a kind of blissfulness which is entirely physical, sunshiny, scorching.

As he is totally indifferent to other people's opinions and reactions, he might seem to be a cynical character. Undoubtedly, his behaviour constantly appears to evade any standard, any conventional scruple and rule. In the ballet, his irrevocable impulse is to pour out the most profound movements of his ego, in a liberating dynamism which at times can recall futurism and surrealism, but which basically remains solidly naturalistic. His behaviour is both polemic and generous and follows the tradition of the ancient Mediterranean peoples, who combatively defended both the weight of their own opinions within the community and the independence of their Land against invaders. Kazantzakis' novel {the present performance in any case is intended to deeply differ from it} is set in Crete; the ballet is set in an unnamed Greek island. A precise geographic reference doesn't seem to be necessary.

Continuously involved in passions, joys, pains, in the contrasts of existence, day after day Zorba throws himself heart and soul into life, into its furious restlessness and its mild memories, into its exiles and its peacefulness, into its contradictions. Zorba's story is the one of a human being who is involved in the inevitable intertwinement with the existence of other human beings.

The character is intended to be a proud and legitimate representative of everyday mankind, as -once more through an ideal link to the traditions of the ancient Mediterranean peoples -he knows that the motions, the manners and the criteria of his way of living are applied and approved by masses of people. On the other hand, not even does Theodorakis' music convey the destiny or the fever or the thought of a solitary protagonist. On the contrary, it has always expressed the presence and the inspiration of a chorus, of a community, beyond rational control and, at the same time, outside of the irrational world.

Besides representing the myth of living without alibis, Zorba can also be the myth of dawn, when - every day - anything can still happen. He is not, however, the myth of youth. The various versions of the legend all agree on this point: the character is in his manhood. This might be the reason why his imperious participation in life is also characterized by a trend -which isn't at all contradictory -of existential detachment. It is as though by constantly squeezing things Zorba had succeeded in seizing their essence, as though he had dried them up and now he were stylizing their appearance only according to the outline drawn by the nerves. Zorba's outlook on the world, therefore, has neither the limited appetites of young people, nor their yearning for fragility , nor their parsimony in adhering to things. Zorba is even less the myth of youthfulness: he immediately recognizes forms of jarring stubbornness and of swaggering complicity, of tenderness and of manoeuvres.
His strength lies in doing whatever happens. This attitude of his is a direct derivation of the pure Greek faith in becoming which, as Emanuele Severino explains, still conditions the evolution of present-day European culture and history. The only values Zorba is ready to fight for are the search for happiness and freedom. In this way, too, he is linked to ideals that belonged to the tradition of the ancient Mediterranean peoples.

It was possible for this legend to spread all over the world because the yearning for freedom joins the South, the North, the East and the West. Thus Zorba's features, his costume and his enemy could be sculptured in any colour, context and century. This is so even though for us it is difficult to set them outside of the Mediterranean area.

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