Heels hammer Greek heritage

Tag : leather heels

CHEWING gum, high heels, booming speakers and other modern plaguesare seriously damaging Greece's 2500-year-old outdoor theatres andshould be banned, according to the country's powerful archeologicalestablishment.
As the shows become more elaborate, with bulkier sets, high-volumespeakers, and high heels clattering on the ancient marble, expertsfear that theatres such as Epidavros, built 2400 years ago for menin leather sandals and relying on natural acoustics, are underthreat.
Add the wads of used chewing gum that regularly stud the oldterraced marble seats, requiring painstaking removal, and theCentral Archeological Council has declared war on modernity.
"We find ourselves regularly cleaning kilos of chewing gumfrom the Herodes Atticus theatre," said Kathy Paraschi, anarchitect working on the Parthenon restoration.
"It's an amazing and awful situation," she said.
"Speaking as a woman and an Athenian, I like my fashionablespiky heels." But wearing them to Epidavros is "liketaking a hammer and splitting the blocks apart".
The Central Archeological Council is considering a ban on chewinggum and high heels, though the Herodes Atticus theatre on the southside of the Acropolis is made of tougher Attic marble and canbetter stand up to modern footwear.
Avant-garde directors are also being blamed for damaging the siteswhere ancient writers once performed their plays, with ever biggersets and louder performances.
At Epidavros last month Matthias Langhoff, a German director,interrupted his production of Sophocles's Philoctetes, revamped asan anti-war play.
In mid-performance he harangued his audience to denounce what hecalled "Greek culture-politics".
The council had objected to Langhoff's large set andinterpretation, which they said took unacceptable liberties withSophocles's original text.
The Times