For decades, Melbourne has been known as the Greek hub of Australia, but it's about to face a little competition as a Sydney council renames a precinct between the inner west suburbs of Marrickville and Dulwich Hill.
For the past 20 years, the Hellenic Art Theatre has been using surtitles so everyone can enjoy the productions. Tsavalas said when they perform the Greek classics - from tragedies to comedies and contemporary classics - they see the biggest attendance from non-Greek speakers.
Along with Economidis, she also runs regular theatre workshops for children which they say not only build confidence among young people but help keep the Greek language and culture alive. The Hellenic Art Theatre's artistic director Stavros Economidis says the theatre has helped Greek culture thrive in Sydney over the decades.His films are often based in its suburban streets, with plots that have strong Greek undertones. One of his most popular has been the 2015 film Alex & Eve, which started out as a play performing to sold-out audiences in the area.Alex Lykos in the play Alex and Eve, which became a feature film."We started playing to an audience the size of 50, then it went to 150, and then audiences started reaching 400 a night, which for independent theatre is good," he said. "They saw themselves on the stage and that's what got them to bring their families, their relatives. People who normally wouldn't go to the theatre were coming to watch this show because they could connect to it. "This has been happening for 60 years or so, people grinding away, telling stories that come from the area we've grown up in." The latest census showed up to 400,000 Australians have Greek ancestry and almost half live in Melbourne. Historian Nick Doumanis from the University of New South Wales said what many people didn't realise is that Sydney had the largest Greek community at the beginning of the century."Most Greek-Australians came here after the second world war with very little, hardly anything in their suitcases, and decided they would make a living here to try and find security and build a life. And they made the most with what Australia offered them," Professor Doumanis said. "Gradually, some things from Greek culture would then spread out into the community. So, for example, that interest Australians have in olives I think is primarily our influence - though Italians might have something to say about that." At the Hellenic Art Theatre, the team can't wait to get back to business and keep their culture alive. "The theatre has been built by us, by our own volunteers, with a lot of sweat, and we're not going to let that go. It's very important to us," Tsavalas said.Would you like to share your story with SBS News? Email
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