Zorba's Last Dance plays to full house every night

It's a sold out season for Tom Petsinis' new play “Zorbas' last dance”.

(L-R) Dimitrios Koutsoukos, Evangellos Arabatzis, Donna Dimovski-Kantarovski: the cast of Tom Petsinis' play Zorbas' last dance Credit: Darren Gill/supplied by D. Koutsoukos

Dimitrios Koutsoukos and Evaggelos Arabatzis play to full house every night at La Mama theatre in Melbourne's inner city Carlton.

It's been sixty years since the movie Zorba's the Greek by Mihalis Cacoyiannis became a big success and won many Oscar nominations and an Oscar. Anthony Quinn's portrayal of larger than life Mihalis Zorbas and the famous syrtaki by Mikis Theodorakis took the cinema goers by storm. In 2024, the same dance takes on new dimensions in the “Zorba's Last Dance”.

The play, written by Tom Petsinis, brings to life the real Zorba, Yiorgis Zorbas — the man on whom Kazantzakis based Alexis Zorbas in his "Zorba the Greek" novel. Yiorgis Zorbas seeks vindication from the author who changed his name and demands the novel be 'corrected'. At the same time, the play connects Kazantzakis' era with modern day Melbourne through the lives of two Melbourne raised Greek -Australian friends.

The two protagonists, Dimitrios Koutsoukos and Evangelos Arampatzis, have taken on dual roles with varying demands each. They effortlessly switch from one to another to pose questions, often unsaid, as they tackle their feelings at what life throws at them. And just as Zorbas, they want to leave behind a legacy, a memory of them that will live on.

The light and shade in the songs by Donna Dimovski-Kantarovski, who plays the second wife of George Zorba, convey a whole gamut of emotions. Although largely a silent figure in the play her constant presence compels the audience to pay extra attention to the dialogues and sharpen their senses to the journey through the different eras.