The last place you’d expect a group of German performers to put on a show right now is Athens, given the German government’s hard line approach to the Greek debt crisis. Germany, it is safe to say, is not Greece’s most favored nation.
Indeed, there is a great deal of anti-German feeling here at the moment — though it must be said, most of it is aimed directly at the country’s leader, Angela Merkel, and her finance minister. But a small theater group called She She Pop chose this week, of all weeks, to make its Greek debut.
She She Pop is an all-female German group performing offbeat shows about social issues. It’s been highly popular at alternative venues across Europe. But Lisa Lucassen, a member of the group, admits a certain nervousness about coming to Athens: “And I thought about putting some place on my body the sentence: ‘I didn’t vote for her.'”
“Her,” meaning Merkel.
The actresses expected at least the occasional boo. But Wenke Seemen, another member, said they have not encountered any hostility from the audiences. And off stage, only the odd barbed question: “‘Why is your government acting like that?’ And I could only explain my personal point of view.”
Seemen does not agree with Germany’s position in the debt talks, “not at all.”
These women are not flag-waving German nationalists. Ask Wenke about her own national identity, and she says, “I am…a European.”
“A European rather than a German?” I ask.
“Rather than a German. Right.”
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