I’m not very fond of the idea of elaborating on an artist or his work, but since Harry Klynn is a unique phenomenon in the Greek Show Business, I feel that some information which will help us unravel this demon might be useful. Harry Klynn does not belong to the theatre. Neither prose, nor revue even if he is able to fill up the halls.

Harry Klynn cannot be categorized under music either. He is not a singer, for instance, even if he has released numerous records and cassettes in the market. And he is not  an entertainer, although he may reign in night clubs and cabarets. The only thing linking this man to these fields in show business mentioned above, is his need to appear before a live audience.

Other than that, the stage is no more than a pretext for him. Harry Klynn is a man of the market. Not the contemporary but the ancient Greek one. He can pose as another Diogenis, or a reverse of the sophists. He could definitely incite the inspiration of Aristophane or Menander. Harry Klynn belongs to the Vine harvest. He is a Satyr who cut out from the followers of Dionisus and managed to reach our modern age, safe and sound. He is the living proof of the undisrupted continuity in our long lasting Civilization.

Harry Klynn brings Dithyramb back, not as a charming recollection but in its purest essence. Would you think I’m exaggerating? But don’t you see? When Harry Klynn stands before the unsuspected spectator and thunders him away with his satire, unravelling the obsolete norms that our people are constantly bombarded with and thus disrupted, castrated and lured away of their own roots, their own tradition, their own civilization, when he mocks our world’s  conservative ways, his fake ideology, his individualism, his inertness, his superficial knowledge, his vanity, his arrogance, his self – righteousness, then he could cause a major catastrophe. He could cause an overturning of the balance in his spectator’s mind. This outcome would be inevitable if Harry Klynn pretended to be honourable.

If he stood right in front of you and passed judgement… if he had humour… if he was western like… But he is a true child of the orient. And his infallible instinct drove him to self ridicule. He shows himself as the bearer of the exact same mentality he mocks. Therefore, the man who stands in front of you is someone familiar, someone who stands by you and shares the same wounds and curses we all possess.

Through those cunning and shrewd eyes, that pepper shaped nose, comes the strong odour of comedy, a comedy that is bold and healthy and can generate simultaneously the wildest chuckles and the most sacred indignation, emotion and anger, compassion and the most uncontrollable laughter, valuable ingredients that come to us through the ages, from the old carriages of the grape harvesters, and the wine-presses and the bread threshing floors and our great ancient democracy.

That is why people leave the Harry Klynn show with a sense of relief. Because, at the end of it all, they feel cleansed, like some of our human mud has been washed away from us.

Kostas Kazakos / Greek Actor