Director of the OEDIPUS REX performance by Sophocles, that opened the First International Alexandrinsky Theatre Festival. He directed Endspiel by Samuel Beckett (2014, New Stage, Alexandrinsky Theatre). He has recently directed Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht at Vain stage of Alexandrinksy Theatre (2017).
Theodoros Terzopoulos is one of the Europe’s leading theater directors: since 1993, he is President of the International Committee of the Theater Olympiad. In 1985, he established the Attis Theater in Athens and organized the Delphi Meeting of Ancient Drama. In 1990, he founded and later became the head of the International Institute of Mediterranean Theaters. Terzopoulos was honored with many prestigious theater awards for his directions: “The Bacchae” were recognized the best performance at the Madrid and Malaga Festival (1987), “Persians” in Karakas, Montpelier and Barcelona (1992) and Lisbon (1993). Russian public knows Terzopoulos thanks to his performances directed for Alla Demidova: Muller’s “The Quartet,” Euripides’ “Medea,” and “Hamlet, a Lesson.”
“What is a human being? What do we know about a human being? The entire antique tradition tries to shed some light onto this darkened area. The extreme human revelations illuminate what is contained inside us, in the subconscious mind area, enriching our understanding of a human being. Today, when human beings look more and more like puppets, the meaning of a tragedy is particularly important. The question is how to find this measure of what is actually allowed? We are in the permanent quest of this godly measure. And it is not only that the high and the mighties, but each of us bears the responsibility. We, the artists, should show the true and real greatness of a human being. This connection between the God and a man is lost in the modern world. Tragedy is our great school, which we have to study at again and again in order to understand something important about the modern status of the society and the humanity".
Theodoros Terzopoulos
“For me, Theodoros Terzopoulos is a director, a votary of art, who in the first place is interesting and important for his professing aesthetic theater -- a Theater, which is not hiding behind words, and which could not be called a literature narrative theater. Terzopoulos is dealing with a theater on the basis of the inner material of each actor: his status and emotionality. And it is not just the emotional excitement of an actor that is implied, but a special way of existing on the stage. Theodoros Terzopoulos always works with classic texts, the ancient Greeks in the first place; he is the best European specialist on the ancient Greek tragedy. It is extremely important for me that relying on the tragic essence; he never follows the narrative meaning, but always explores the tragic basis in the actor’s nature”.
Valery Fokin
Theodoros Terzopoulos was born in the village of Makrygialos, in the Pieria area of Northern Greece. He attended K. Michailidis’ Drama School during 1965-1967 in Athens studying under George Sevastikoglou, Leonidas Trivisas and Kostis Michailidis. During 1972-1976 he studied at the Berliner Ensemble instructed by Heiner Müller, Manfred Wekwerth, Ruth Berghaus and Ekkehart Schall.
From 1981 to 1983 Director of the Drama School of the State Theatre of Northern Greece.
From 1985 to 1988 artistic director of the International Meeting of Ancient Drama in Delphi. There he invited renowned personalities of the international theatre scene, among them Heiner Müller, Tadashi Suzuki, Robert Wilson, Andrei Serban, Wole Soyinka, Min Tanaka, Andrzej Wajda.
He created the ATTIS theatre group in 1985.
Since 1990 he is a founding member of the International Institute of the Mediterranean Theatre comprising 22 Mediterranean countries.
From 1991 he is the President of the International Institute of the Mediterranean Theatre in Greece holding a series of events, such as the International Festival titled “Violence and Peace in the Mediterranean Theatre” in Patra (1991), seminars on theatrical education, symposia and other events related to the theatre.
Since 1993 he is the Chairman of the International Committee of the Theatre Olympics. In 1995 he was the artistic director of the 1st Theatre Olympics at Delphi, with the title “Crossing Millennia” featuring performances by significant artists, such as Yuri Liubimov, Anatoli Vassiliev, Ala Demidova, Robert Wilson, Tadashi Suzuki, Nuria Espert and others.
In 1999 he was the Chairman of the 2nd Theatre Olympics held in Shizuoka, Japan, with the title “Creating Hope”. He retains the position of Chairman of the 3rd Theatre Olympics to be held in Moscow in 2001, with the title “Theater for the people”, as also of the 4th Theatre Olympics that was held in Istanbul in 2006, with the title “Beyond the Borders” and also of the 5th Theatre Olympics that will be held in Seoul, Korea in 2010, with the title “A Scene for the Heart”.
In 2005 he founds a new International Meeting of Ancient Drama in Municipality of Sykion, in Korinthos, with the title “Skotos emon faos”. In 2006 is held the 2nd International Meeting of Ancient Drama in Municioality of Sikion, with the title “Descent”.
Performances: The Bakery by Bertolt Brecht, with the Thessaloniki Theatre Lab (1977), Mahagony by Brecht, with the Thessaloniki Theatre (1977), A happy event by Slavomir Mrozek, with the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1978), Behind Closed Doors by Jean Paul Sartre, with the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1980), Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca, with the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1981), Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht, with the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1983), Freedom in Bremen by Reiner Werner Fassbinder, at the L.T.T. Theatre in Tübingen, Germany (1988).
He supervised the following productions: Acquaintance with Brecht (1976), Maria Farandouri sings Brecht (1979), Ekkehart Schall and Maria Farandouri sing Brecht (Dimitria Thessaloniki & Berliner Ensample, 1980), Alabama Song with the Drama School of the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1980), Recital by Ekkehart Schall (1980), Recital by Gisela May (Dimitria Thessaloniki 1981), The Passions of the Moon, a homage to Lorca with Maria Farandouri (Music Megaron, Athens, 1996), as well as radio and television productions in Greece and abroad.
Performances with ATTIS theatre: BACCHAE by Euripides (1986), MEDEAMATERIAL by Heiner Müller (1988), QUARTET by Heiner Müller (1989), PERSIANS by Aeschyles (1990), THE LIBERATION OF PROMETHEUS by Heiner Müller, with Heiner Müller and Sofia Michopoulou at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (1991), PHAIDRA by Marina Tsvetayeva, with Alla Demitova at the Medieval Castle of Patras (1991), QUARTET by Heiner Müller, with Alla Demidova and Dimitri Pevtsov at Taganka Theatre in Moscow (1993), CANON by Vassilis Vassikehayoglou (1993), ANTIGONE by Sophocles, with Greek and Italian actors at Teatro Olympico in Vicenza (1994), PROMETHEUS BOUND by Aeschyles (1995), MEDEAMATERIAL by Heiner Müller at Marinou Factory, Argos Festival (1995), MEDEAMATERIAL by Heiner Müller with Alla Demidova (1996), IO = moon at Vavouli Factory, Argos Festival (1996), HERACLES by Heiner Müller (1997), HERACLES (performance based on Heiner Müller’s Heracles) at the National Stadium of Argos, Argos Festival (1997), DIONYSUS (a scenic composition based on Euripides’ Bacchae and the Pre-Colombian myth of the deity Yurupari) with Colombian actors at the International Festival of Bogota (1998), MONEY by Bertolt Brecht (1998), DESCENT (a scenic composition based on Euripides’ Heracles Enraged and Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, 1999), HERACLES ENRAGED by Euripides, with Turkish actors at the International Festival of Istanbul (1999), HERACLES’ DESCENT (a scenic composition based on Euripides’ Heracles Enraged and Sophocles’ Women of Trachis), with Greek and Turkish actors, a co-production of ATTIS Theatre with the International Festival of Istanbul (1999), PASCA DEVADIS by Michelangelo Pira, a co-production of ATTIS Theatre with the Cagliari Theatre (1999), THE CROWN by Yannis Kontrafouris (2000), HERACLES ENRAGED by Euripides (2000), TRISTIA (a scenic composition based on Medea’s, Electra’s and Phaidra’s monologues) with Alla Demidova, Delphi (2000), HAMLET, A LESSON by Boris Pasternak with Alla Demidova (2001), BACCHAE by Euripides, a production of Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus with stage design by Jannis Kounellis (2001), LETHE by Dimitris Dimitriadis (2002), MEDEAMATERIAL by Heiner Müller, within the frameworks of the artistic exhibition “Poisons”, at Technopolis in Athens (2002), PHILOKTETES by Sophokles, at Theatre Academy of Berlin (2003), ROCKABYE by Samuel Beckett (2003), TRIPTYCH by Samuel Beckett (2003), EPIGONI (a scenic composition of fragments from lost tragedies by Aeschyles, 2003), PERSIANS by Aeschyles, with young directors from countries of the ex-Soviet Union, a production of Meyerhold Center of Moscow (2003), AJAX the madness, by Sophocles (2004), THE LAST MASK – fallimento by Kostas Logaras (2006), JENIN by Etel Adnan (2006), PERSIANS by Aeschyles, with Greek and Turkish actors, a co-production between Attis Theatre, International Festival of Istanbul, Festival of Athens – Epidaurus and Theatre Olympics, at the Byzantine Church of St. Irene in Istanbul and at Epidaurus (2006), OEDIPUS REX by Sophocles, with Russian actors at Alexandrinksy Theatre in St. Petersburg (2006), KASSANDRA by Marios Pontikas (2007), EREMOS by Carlo Michelstaedter (world premiere, 2007), MADEMOISELLE JULIE by August Strindberg (2008), PROMETHEUS BOUND by Aeschylus, in the Central Drama Academy of Beijing (2008), DANCER by Erich Arendt (2009), MAUSER by Heiner Müller (2009), IOCASTA by Giannis Kontrafouris .
Terzopoulos and the ATTIS group have been on numerous tours in Greece and abroad. Within 23 years, ATTIS group produced 1650 performances in countries other than Greece.
The work method of ATTIS group in performing Greek tragedy is taught at the Departments of Classical Studies of 30 Universities around the world. Also, ATTIS Theatre is performing many workshops all over the world, teaching its work method.
Theodoros Terzopoulos has been awarded with many Theatre Prizes in Greece and abroad and there are many books published and translated in countries as Germany, England, Greece, Turkey, Russian and others, about his work method and his theatre approach.
