Mary Coustas honours Greek women’s resilience at Fronditha Care forum
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Mary Coustas was the special guest at a Fronditha Care forum on Tuesday, 4 March, in Melbourne, in honour of International Women’s Day. The event, attracted over 70 attendees from diverse cultural backgrounds, both men and women, eager to hear Coustas speak.
Coustas reflected on the resilience of Greek women, “We come from very strong women. Most of us are the children of formally uneducated migrants who arrived here with nothing.”
Coustas highlighted the economic success of Greek Australians, citing a statistic that Greeks, “percentage-wise, own more property than most other cultural groups in Australia.” She rose to fame in the 1980s with her character Effie in Wogs Out of Work, Australia’s most successful stage productions. Originally from Melbourne, her character, Effie, is a comedic and exaggerated archetype of second-generation Greek Australians from the 1970s, and is known for her malapropisms. The actor went on to attribute Greek immigrant success to the “incredible achievements of single-minded parents who migrated in the 1950s.”
“They left everything they loved and came to Australia for a future they couldn’t even see and look at what they achieved—they educated us, empowered us, and laid the foundation for future generations through their boldness and sacrifice.”
“I was raised with much love and support” said Coustas.
Coustas emphasised the resilience of Greeks, “As Effie says, ‘My mother wears the trousers—and washes and irons them too.’”
She spoke about the importance of unity among women, encouraging them to support one another rather than “throw each other under the bus.” She also cautioned against relying on politicians for change, stressing that women have the power to shape their own futures. Additionally, she warned against gendered control tactics such as “love-bombing.”
Coustas shared a deeply personal account of her great-grandmother, who survived the genocide of Greeks in Asia Minor in 1922. Her great-grandfather died fighting the Turks, while her great-grandmother endured the brutal death march out of Turkey.
“It was scorching hot. If you stopped, you were killed. She eventually made it onto one of the overloaded boats,” Coustas said.
On board, her great-grandmother’s baby died, but she kept it hidden, hoping to bury the child in Greece. However, once a fellow Greek passenger discovered the baby had passed away, and they threw it into the sea.
“This woman lost her husband, her country, and her baby,” Coustas said.
Tragedy continued in Greece. Her great-grandmother educated one of her three children, her son, who later died at 33. Then, her daughter-in-law fell in love with another man who refused to take her children, leaving them behind.
“She left in a horse and cart, and every time the youngest child saw one, he thought his mother was coming back – one day, he ran towards one and was run over and died.”
Despite these hardships, her great-grandmother lived to 107, raising her remaining grandchildren.
“That’s the kind of strength that runs through all of us, especially the women in my mother’s family,” Coustas reflected.
Coustas in recent years has reemerged as an author and has honed her stagecraft in producing successful one-person shows which veer from comedy to tragedy, and are all personal.
She said that her new one-woman show, This Is Personal, explores themes of resilience, weaving together her migrant upbringing in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of Collingwood with her recent journey into late motherhood.
“I look at all the issues in my life such as being an older mother,” Coustas said.
The show features characters from her family who shaped her life, including her younger self—the girl who built the suit of armour the world knows as ‘Effie’
In her address Coustas, touched on many subjects, the key one being that strength being from perseverance and passion. She said she had little faith in politicians to create change and said “there’s too much politics in politics”.
After her talk, Coustas took questions from the audience and at the end she was met with rousing applause and a standing ovation.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
