Only three out of the nine productions approved by the Thymeli Plan will be realized in the first semester of 2024 by the members of the Federation of Theatre Organizations.
This means that, following Theatre One, both the Satirical Theatre and ETHAL are essentially suspending their operations, deciding not to proceed with any of their (multifaceted) productions approved by the Plan.
The Dionysus Theatre will only stage one of the two approved productions, “Small Marital Crimes,” with the premiere expected in March.
Only the Anemonas Theatre has decided to proceed with two productions, featuring the works “Every Year on This Day” and “A Necklace of Pearls.”
This situation paints a bleak and uncertain picture for independent theater in Cyprus.
January has passed, and not a single premiere of the 29 approved new theatrical productions has taken place yet.
The Federation of Theatre Organizations issued a statement highlighting that “winning doesn’t always require the other side to lose,” primarily referring to efforts to find common ground with actors’ unions, which did not succeed.
Discussions between the Federation and actors regarding modernizing the contract and adherence began in the summer of 2022 but halted with the adoption of the Thymeli Plan by the Deputy Ministry so that everyone could review the new plan to sign a contract based on its terms.
“However, the actors’ unions persisted towards the Deputy Ministry, insisting on the reinstatement of the signed collective agreement as a prerequisite for funding a theatrical entity,” the statement says, noting that for eight years, the THOK had set this condition outside of sponsorship.
The Federation assures that it never refused to sign the collective agreement but only sought harmonization with current economic realities.
“However, when the Thymeli Plan 2024 was developed and announced, the Deputy Ministry, without informing us, arbitrarily added, to an already posted plan and after many applications had been submitted, the condition of adhering to the financial terms of the 2012 collective agreement, a year when most of the groups currently active and applying for sponsorship had not yet been created,” the Federation states.
It also adds that at that time, sponsorships for the oldest theaters were indeed stable, annual, and significantly higher.
As part of efforts to find some agreements to be applied only for the first semester of 2024, to realize the approved productions and not leave a large number of actors and contributors without work, the Federation sent proposals to the unions on Tuesday, January 23, and simultaneously requested meetings to find a final solution.
The Federation reports that the unions, by Friday, January 26, the deadline for acceptance or rejection of the sponsorships, did not even respond to this invitation.
“In the end, as a result of all our initiatives and efforts, out of the total of 9 approved productions of the members of the Federation of Theatre Organizations of Cyprus, 6 cannot be realized based on the terms of the Plan and the amounts allocated. With these facts, everyone can draw their own conclusions about the situation that has arisen,” the Federation concludes, which now consists of the theaters Satirical, One, ETHAL, Anemonas, and Dionysus, following the departure of the Scala Theatre.
