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Modern Greek theatre refers to the theatrical production and theatrical plays written in the Modern Greek language, from the post-Byzantine times until today.
The renaissance which led to the modern Greek theatre took place in the Venetian Crete. Significal dramatists include Georgios Chortatzis, Vitsentzos Kornaros, and other Cretan writers. Erotokritos is undoubtedly the masterpiece of this early period of modern Greek literature, and represents one of its supreme achievements. It is a verse romance written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). The other major representative of the Cretan literature and theatre was Georgios Chortatzis and his most notable work was Erofili , which was characterized by Kostis Palamas as the first work of modern Greek theatre. Other notable plays include The Sacrifice of Abraham by Kornaros, Panoria and Katsourbos by Chortatzis, Fortounatos by Markos Antonios Foskolos, King Rodolinos by Andreas Troilos, Stathis (comedy) and Voskopoula by unknown artists. During this period, there was production of different theatrical genres, such as tragedies, comedies, pastoral and religious plays.
After the occupation of Crete by the Ottoman empire, in late 17th century, the intellectual center of the Greeks, such as the theatrical, was transferred in the Ionian islands. The Heptanesean theatre was heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance.
Notable playwrights include Petros Katsaitis, Savoyas Rousmelis and Dimitrios Gouzelis. One of the most notable works was Vasilikos (1830) by Antonios Matesis.
During the pre-revolution years, notable theatrical works include the Achilleus or Death of Patroclus (1805) by Athanasios Christopoulos, Timoleon (1818) by Ioannis Zambelios, while Korakistika (1812) by Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos was a lampoon against the Greek intellectual Adamantios Korais and his linguistic views (Katharevousa).
After independence, the theatrical scene of the new Greek Kingdom was dominated by writers who were closer to the First Athenian School (or Phanariotic), such as Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Alexandros Soutsos and Panagiotis Soutsos. These writers mainly used a conservative and archaic form of the Greek language, katharevousa. A notable exception is the comedy Babylonia (1836), by Dimitris Vyzantios, a satire of the different Greek dialects in simple language. Until the end of the 19th century, the romantic tragedy dominated dominate, such as the Maria Doxapatri (1853) and Fausta (1893) by Dimitrios Vernardakis.
The Royal Theatre was founded in 1880 in Athens. New genres became popular in the 1880s. Revues, operettas and komidylio (κωμειδύλλιο) (musical comedy), with works like I tychi tis Maroulas (1889), O agapitikos tis voskopoulas (1891) by Dimitrios Koromilas and Golfo (1893) by Spyros Peresiadis (later transferred in cinema).
With the appearance of the New Athenian School (or Palamian), in the late 19th century, and the central figure of Kostis Palamas, the use of Demotic Greek became more acceptable. However, in 1903, a translation by the Royal Theatre of Aeschylus' Oresteia into the spoken Greek language (not Katharevousa) provoked protests by conservative students.
Playwrights and dramatists of the new era included Gregorios Xenopoulos (probably the most important figure), Angelos Sikelianos, Nikos Kazantzakis, Pantelis Horn, Yórgos Theotokás, Giannis Skarimpas, Vasilis Rotas, Angelos Terzakis and others. Notable actors Aimilios Veakis, Marika Kotopouli and Cybele Andrianou.
The Royal Theatre was re-founded in 1932 as National Theatre. The first plays staged were the Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Gregorios Xenopoulos' comedy O theios Oneiros. The first actor team included Katina Paxinou, Aimilios Veakis, Eleni Papadaki and Alexis Minotis. First theatrical director was placed Fotos Politis and from 1934 Dimitris Rontiris.
After the war, new playwrights appeared, like Dimitris Psathas, Nikos Tsiforos. Their work in many cases was transferred in the cinema. For example, most of the plays of Sakellarios/Giannakopoulos (around 140), were transferred also in the cinema.
Significant theatrical actors appeared also in the movies of the Greek cinema (which had its "Golden Age"), like Dimitris Horn, Manos Katrakis, Orestis Makris, Melina Mercouri and more.
Iakovos Kambanellis was probably the most significant post-war Greek playwright, while Karolos Koun was also a notable director, widely known for his lively staging of ancient Greek plays.
The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and states such as the Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic and Bavarian and Danish monarchies have also left their influence on modern Greek culture, but historians credit the Greek War of Independence and democracy. Modern democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, trial by jury, and equality under the law. The ancient Greeks pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic thought, including biology, geometry, history, philosophy, and physics. They introduced such important literary forms as epic and lyric poetry, history, tragedy, and comedy. In their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty that strongly influenced Western art.
Athanasios Christopoulos was a celebrated Greek poet, playwright, a distinguished scholar and jurist. He has been proclaimed a champion of the modern Greek demotic and the forerunner of the national poet Dionysios Solomos. More importantly he is the first modern Greek poet to have his works - the Lyrika - published and read across a broad section of the European continent.
Vitsentzos or Vikentios Kornaros or Vincenzo Cornaro was a Cretan poet, who wrote the romantic epic poem Erotokritos. He wrote in vernacular Cretan dialect, and was a leading figure of the Cretan Renaissance.
Angelos Sikelianos was a Greek lyric poet and playwright. His themes include Greek history, religious symbolism as well as universal harmony in poems such as The Moonstruck, Prologue to Life, Mother of God, and Delphic Utterance. His plays include Sibylla, Daedalus in Crete, Christ in Rome, The Death of Digenis, The Dithyramb of the Rose and Asklepius. Although occasionally his grandiloquence blunts the poetic effect of his work, some of Sikelianos finer lyrics are among the best in Western literature. Every year from 1946 to 1951, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Erotokritos is a romance composed by Vikentios Kornaros in early 17th century Crete. It consists of 10,012 fifteen-syllable rhymed verses, the last twelve of which refer to the poet himself. It is written in the Cretan dialect of the Greek language. Its central theme is love between Erotokritos and Aretousa. Around this theme, revolve other themes such as honour, friendship, bravery and courage. Erotokritos and Erophile by Georgios Hortatzis constitute classic examples of Greek Renaissance literature and are considered to be the most important works of Cretan literature. It remains a popular work to this day, largely due to the music that accompanies it when it is publicly recited. A particular type of rhyming used in the traditional mantinades was also the one used in Erotokritos.
The National Theatre of Greece is based in Athens, Greece.
Cretan Greek, or the Cretan dialect, is a variety of Modern Greek spoken in Crete and by the Cretan diaspora.
The First Cemetery of Athens is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a prestigious cemetery for Greeks and foreigners. The cemetery is located behind the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Panathinaiko Stadium in central Athens. It can be found at the top end of Anapafseos Street. It is a large green space with pines and cypresses.
Dimitris Rontiris was a Greek actor and director.
The Greek language question was a dispute about whether the language of the Greek people or a cultivated imitation of Ancient Greek (Katharevousa) should be the official language of the Greek nation. It was a highly controversial topic in the 19th and 20th centuries, and was finally resolved in 1976 when Demotic was made the official language. The language phenomenon in question, which also occurs elsewhere in the world, is called diglossia.
German educated Greek stage director Fotos Politis, 1890–1934, was one of the most prominent figures in the revival of the ancient Greek tragedies in the 20th century. A literary and theater reviewer and playwright, who was responsible for the creation of what came to be called "the theatrical tradition of the National Theater of Greece", he developed original teaching methods for aspiring young actors in Athenian drama schools while the rehearsals for the plays that he staged were known for their long duration and exhaustive intensity. Politis felt an obligation to educate not only the actors, corrupted by the French "Théâtre de boulevard" of the time, but also the general public by bringing it in contact with the masterpieces of ancient Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, classical European theater and avant-garde theater.
Aimilios Veakis was a Greek actor. An active member of the National Liberation Front during the Axis occupation of Greece, he was persecuted for his leftist beliefs during the White Terror.
Marika Kotopouli was a Greek stage actress during the first half of the 20th century.
Kostas Hatzichristos or Costas Hajihristos was a Greek actor.
Gregorios Xenopoulos was a novelist, journalist and playwright from Zakynthos. He was lead editor in the magazine The Education of Children during the period from 1896 to 1948, during which time he was also the magazine's main author. His was the trademark signature "Σας ασπάζομαι, Φαίδων" ", which he used in letters ostensibly addressed to the magazine. He was also the founder and editor of the Nea Estia magazine, which is still published. He became a member of the Academy of Athens in 1931, and founded the Society of Greek Writers together with Kostis Palamas, Angelos Sikelianos and Nikos Kazantzakis.
Modern Greek literature is literature written in Modern Greek, starting in the late Byzantine era in the 11th century AD. It includes work not only from within the borders of the modern Greek state, but also from other areas where Greek was widely spoken, including Istanbul, Asia Minor, and Alexandria.
Medieval works suggest that Modern Greek started shaping as early as the 10th century, with one of the first works being the epic poem of Digenis Acritas. However, the first literary activity which was important enough to be identified as "modern Greek literature" was done in the Cretan dialect during the 16th century in the Venetian Crete.
The term First Athenian School denotes the literary production in Athens between 1830 and 1880. After Greek Independence, the basic intellectual centres of the Greek world were the Ionian Islands and Athens, the capital of the new Greek Kingdom. Many of the leading members of the First Athenian School were of Phanariote origin, whence it is sometimes referred to as the Phanariotic School.
The term New Athenian School, also known as the 1880s Generation or the Palamian School after its leading member Kostis Palamas, denotes the literary production in Athens after 1880. It was a reaction against the First Athenian School and its main aim was the use of Demotic Greek instead of Katharevousa.
