Modern Greek theatre refers to the theatrical production and theatrical plays written in theModern Greek language, from the post-Byzantine times until today.
The renaissance which led to the modern Greek theatre took place in theVenetian Crete. Significal dramatists includeGeorgios 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 verseromance written around 1600 byVitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). The other major representative of the Cretan literature and theatre wasGeorgios Chortatzis and his most notable work wasErofili, which was characterized byKostis Palamas as the first work of modern Greek theatre. Other notable plays includeThe Sacrifice of Abraham byKornaros,Panoria andKatsourbos byChortatzis,Fortounatos byMarkos Antonios Foskolos,King Rodolinos byAndreas Troilos,Stathis (comedy) andVoskopoula by unknown artists. During this period, there was production of different theatrical genres, such astragedies,comedies,pastoral and religious plays.
After the occupation ofCrete by theOttoman Empire, in late 17th century, the intellectual center of the Greeks, such as the theatrical, was transferred in theIonian islands. The Heptanesean theatre was heavily influenced by theItalian Renaissance.
After independence, the theatrical scene of the newGreek Kingdom was dominated by writers who were closer to theFirst Athenian School (or Phanariotic), such asAlexandros Rizos Rangavis,Alexandros Soutsos andPanagiotis Soutsos. These writers mainly used a conservative and archaic form of the Greek language,katharevousa. A notable exception is the comedyBabylonia (1836), byDimitris 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 theMaria Doxapatri (1853) andFausta (1893) byDimitrios Vernardakis.
TheRoyal Theatre was founded in 1880 inAthens. New genres became popular in the 1880s.Revues,operettas andkomidylio (κωμειδύλλιο) (musical comedy), with works likeI tychi tis Maroulas (1889),O agapitikos tis voskopoulas (1891) byDimitrios Koromilas andGolfo (1893) bySpyros Peresiadis (later transferred in cinema).
With the appearance of theNew Athenian School (or Palamian), in the late 19th century, and the central figure ofKostis Palamas, the use ofDemotic Greek became more acceptable. However, in 1903, a translation by the Royal Theatre ofAeschylus'Oresteia into the spoken Greek language (not Katharevousa) provoked protests by conservative students.
After the war, new playwrights appeared, likeDimitris Psathas,Nikos Tsiforos. Their work in many cases was transferred in the cinema. For example, most of the plays ofSakellarios/Giannakopoulos (around 140), were transferred also in the cinema.
Iakovos Kambanellis was probably the most significant post-war Greek playwright, whileKarolos Koun was also a notable director, widely known for his lively staging of ancient Greek plays.
Γραμματάς Θ. 1987, «Η παρουσία της commedia dell’arte στο επτανησιακό θέατρο του ΙΗ’ αιώνα» στοΝεοελληνικό θέατρο Ιστορία-Δραματουργία, Κουλτούρα, Αθήνα.
R. Beaton,An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature, Oxford University Press, 1999.
D. Holton,Μελέτες για τον Ερωτόκριτο και άλλα νεοελληνικά κείμενα -Studies on Erotokritos and other Modern Greek texts, ed. Kastaniotis, Athens 2000.(in Greek)
M. Vitti,Ιστορία της Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας [History of Modern Greek Literature], ed. Οδυσσέας, Athens, 2003.
