The most successful comedy by Dimitra Papadopoulou

Grandpa has High Blood Pressure

is presented this summer

at the Atrium of the

«Hellenic Cosmos» Cultural Centre

The frantic comedy by Dimitra Papadopoulou returns this summer, directed by Christos Tripodis, and premieres on July 5th at the Atrium of the «Hellenic Cosmos» Cultural Centre, in a production by the company Methexis. The role of Grandpa is played by Tasos Chalkias. Alongside him are Krateros Katsoulis, Marilou Katsafadou, Dimitra Stogianni, Iro Pektesi, and Aris Antonopoulos.

A grandpa, three outrageous granddaughters, a "cop," an idealistic young man, a "murder," and a romantic dinner with lentils lead a crazy Greek family into hilarious situations. Three sisters at a turning point in their lives: anarchist Popi, who "falls" for the love of a "cop"; frightened Fofi, who declares her personal revolution and sets new terms and rules in her life; and careerist Maria, who aims to finally become a mother, get entangled in uncontrollable misunderstandings. The connecting link of all, the leftist and demented Grandpa, becomes the ideological inspiration for the founding of a new political movement named "Psaxou." The movement, created by Haris, Maria's partner, aspires to be the voice of the younger generation of Greeks.



The legendary "Grandpa" by Dimitra Papadopoulou, after its staging in 1997 and 2012, returns dynamically to bring joy and laughter to our summer nights, with more "pressure" than ever.

Note from the Author Dimitra Papadopoulou:

Globally, comedy is a genre on the brink of extinction. Everywhere I hear that producers "are looking for comedy and cannot find it"... It is a time when drama, pain, violence, mental illnesses, and "splatter" abound in entertainment. Why? Because comedy requires magnanimity, which means not taking oneself seriously, which means knowing my insignificance, even the triviality of my problem, and having the strength to distance myself and laugh at it.

Comedy is now inaccessible because it cannot compete with drama, which can easily evoke emotions with simple means like death, sickness, blood, violent outbursts, and other such charming things. Breaking a head, for example, or disemboweling someone, with the upgrade of the image and the wealth of effects, easily stirs up abundant emotions and excitements, while laughter is a much more difficult mechanism to produce and to stir intense emotions. For all these and many more reasons, which for the sake of brevity I will stop here, comedy remains a genre on the brink of extinction, a genre for a museum.

But I will always fight for this genre because it is the only genre my soul appreciates.

Grandpa has High Blood Pressure is my first play, written in a difficult time for me but filled with love for people. The sure thing is that to make comedy, above all, you must love people and not want to stain them with any of your toxins, and you must seek from your abundance to give joy. And to this day, fortunately, many people have laughed with this play. No other emotion do I want to share with you. I hope I always have the strength for difficulties to keep me in this alchemical process of comedy. I think there is no greater gift than this genre. Have fun from an old time of mine that turned into laughter, and I hope this performance achieves it once again.