ABSTRACT
The essay examines the process, limits, and peculiarities of the spread of Meyerhold’s views in Greece during the interwar period; particularly as seen in the work of Photos Politis, playwright, critic, and director whose name remains synonymous with the first years of National Theatre (1932–4). Even if Politis is considered as one of the first modern directors in Greece, he believed that theatricality ‘is born only in times of dramatic degradation’. He also saw folk and popular theatre with indifference or even contempt. Nevertheless, there exist a small bracket in Politis’ career which saw him underscoring the potential of the popular Greek shadow theatre known as Karaghiozis. It is within this temporary interest that Meyerhold became entangled, with the Russian director serving as a ‘prism’ through which Politis came to read Karaghiozis as a positive force within the broader landscape of modernism. This essay discusses this Karaghiozis – Meyerhold – Politis triangle. Through his understanding of Meyerhold Politis attempted to understand Karaghiozis as a popular but potentially modern form of performance, on the same lines that Meyerhold himself was treating commedia dell’arte as paradigm for modern theatre.
