The Microphone Tragedy: An Ode to Thessaloniki That Was Never Heard!
A unique, inevitable and unprecedented experience, putting the audience’s kindness to the test and the performers’ resilience to the ultimate test in the face of an unmistakably obvious artistic failure!
But who was to blame? The microphone, the parking situation, or the voices of those who dared to speak?
esterday, at the Ivanofeia, the small amateur theatre group of Esai en Roí took to the stage, as it does every year, to open the event with a short ode to Thessaloniki, performed in Greek, English, Swedish and sign language.
First, we lost the battle with parking. We arrived late, without a rehearsal. Then began the sound adventure. We spent quite some time on stage while the people in charge tried to adjust and fix things, but in the end, the microphones simply refused to cooperate. Organising an event certainly comes with its technical challenges; it just so happened that this time, the sound decided not to participate at all!
The audience did not even realise when we had begun. We recited, gestured, froze and got tangled up in cables. One performer tried to make herself heard by shouting, while another delivered his lines quietly, as the text demanded—with the result that we ended up giving a performance that not even its own protagonists could hear!
Three languages, sign language, one message and zero sound. A full-blown silent movie at the Ivanofeia!
What a pity, because we had prepared something beautiful for our city. Nevertheless, this was the message we wanted to share—and we are leaving it here in the hope that, this time, it will reach its destination.
🇬🇷 Greek
Welcome to Thessaloniki.
Here, where the road meets the city, a journey through time begins. Thessaloniki is not simply a place; it is a living history, written in stone, sea and light.
Here, the city begins.
Here, your journey into Thessaloniki begins.
Here, a story continues.
Welcome to the city of memory, sea and light.
🇬🇧 English
Welcome to Thessaloniki.
Here, where the road meets the city, a journey through time begins. Thessaloniki is not simply a place; it is a living history, written in stone, sea and light.
Here, the city begins.
Here, your journey into Thessaloniki begins.
Here, a story continues.
Welcome to the city of memory, sea and light.
🇸🇪 Swedish
Välkommen till Thessaloniki.
Här, där vägen möter staden, börjar en resa genom tiden. Thessaloniki är inte bara en plats; det är en levande historia, skriven i sten, hav och ljus.
Här börjar staden.
Här börjar din resa genom Thessaloniki.
Här fortsätter en historia.
Välkommen till minnenas, havets och ljusets stad.
A question for the reader: Next time, should we rehearse a silent movie instead—and simply send a video if we fail to make it on time?
A Social Meta-Analysis
In the end, of course, everyone has a point: the organisers are wrestling with time, schedules and the technical demands of an event; the technicians are trying to tame machines that, as we all know, have personalities of their own; the performers insist that the message must be heard, even when the sound stubbornly refuses to cooperate; and the audience politely wonders whether the performance has actually begun or whether this is still the rehearsal.
No one is entirely to blame, and everyone unwittingly takes part in a miniature version of our society: good intentions, limited resources, mutual dependencies and a collective effort that does not always go according to plan.
Fortunately, the audience’s kindness proved stronger than the decibels, and the self-deprecating humour of Esaei en Rhoí can turn a minor organisational mishap into a shared memory.
Because, ultimately, culture is measured not only by whether the microphones work, but also by how we treat one another when nothing works at all!
Comments