Iacovos Kambanellis

A short biography

Kambanellis with Theodorakis 29.4.99 (Photo: Guy Wagner)

Playwright, father of the post-war neo-hellenic theatre, he was born on the isle of Naxos in 1922.

During the Second World War, he was held by the Germans at the concentration camp Mauthausen (1943-5).

His first play to be produced was Dance On The Ears of Grain (1950).

This was followed by The Seventh Day of Creation, The Court of Miracles, The Age Of The Night, The Nameless Fairytale, Long Live Aspasia, Odysseus Come Home, The Colony of the Punished, Our Big Circus, The Enemy, The People, Faces For Violin and Orchestra and The Four Legs of the Table.

As a screenwriter, his contribution to the cinema was significant. He linked his name with the young avant-garde Greek directors in such works as Cacoyiannis' Stella and Koundouros The Dragon and The River. He, himself, directed his own The Cannon and the Nightingale.

In 1963 he wrote his only prose work, Mauthausen, a "real", as he tells ist, "story as I relived it during the hours I looked again at old notes and tried to remember".

His collaboration as a lyricist with many composers, including Hadjidakis, Theodorakis and Xarchakos, contributed significantly to the elevation of the poetic quality of the Greek song.

Recently, Iakovos Kampanellis has become member of the Academy of Athens and occupies the chair of theatre dramaturgy.

Kambanellis on "Mauthausen" | Theodorakis on "Mauthausen" | Startpage