Dancing in the wheatfields (1950)

Χορός πάνω στα στάχυα – Θέατρο Διονύσια, Αδαμάντιου Λεμού

Directed by: Adamantios Lemos
Set and Costume Design: Maria Ramfou
Music: Argyris Kounadis

A drama in three acts, it was first staged in 1950 at Adamantios Lemos’s avant-garde small theatre in Kallithea. It is the dramaturgical development of the folk song (paralogé) "The Beloved Brothers and the Evil Wife," with some variations. According to the author himself, the play enters into a dialogue with Lorca's Blood Wedding, as well as with its contemporary Bridal Song (Nyfiatiko Tragoudi) by Notis Pergialis.

"Only the first and third acts of the play have been preserved."

“…But the young writer is very young, and this lends even greater value to his contribution… With spare means, with impeccable command of language, and with technical skill surpassing expectations, he succeeded in conveying—within a theatrical form—the poetic atmosphere of the folk song, thus securing an achievement which, as a beginning, promises a most auspicious development.”

Μιχάλης Περάνθης – ΕΘΝΟΣ (1950)

Η Seventh day of creation (1956)

Seventh Day of Creation – Εθνικό Θέατρο – Β’ Σκηνή

Directed by: Kostis Michailidis
Set and Costume Design: Kleovoulos Klonis
Music: Arghyris Kounadis

A play in two parts and seven scenes. Set in the early 1950s, in an old Athenian courtyard near Philopappos Hill. Alexis marries his beloved Christina. The young couple strives to build a life together, until a tragic accident brings the curtain down on their drama.

Together with The Courtyard of Miracles and The Age of Night, this play Αυλή των θαυμάτων και την Ηλικία της νύχταςis regarded by scholars as part of the “Courtyard Trilogy,” Αυλήςa title derived from the communal courtyard spaces that were a defining feature of post-war Athens.

“The fact that Kambanellis succeeded in giving authentic dramatic form to this universal human aspiration demonstrates that our theatre has outgrown the age of immaturity.”

Ειρήνη Καλκάνη – ΑΠΟΓΕΥΜΑΤΙΝΗ (1956)

He and his pants (1957)

He and his pants – Θέατρο Τέχνης – Κάρολος Κουν

Σκηνοθεσία: Βασίλης Διαμαντόπουλος
Σκηνικά – Κοστούμια: Γιάννης Τσαρούχης

Recital by Vasilis Diamantopoulos featuring four monologues and the following one-act plays: The Man with the Flower in His Mouth by Luigi Pirantello The secret life of Walter Mitty by Iakovos Kambanellis (based on the short story of the same title by James Thurber), The Harmful Effects of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov He and his pants by Iakovos Kambanellis. It was staged in the Art Theatre - Karolos Koun

“…the playwright confirms all the hopes placed in his talent, sensitivity, and theatrical knowledge. Despite the limited scope of the monologue, he succeeds in rendering a fully realized human figure. We encounter invention, skillful handling, and deeply moving dramatic shifts.”

Γεράσιμος Σταύρου – περ. ΕΠΙΘΕΩΡΗΣΗ ΤΕΧΝΗΣ (1957)

The secret life of Walter Mitty (1957)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – Πολυχώρος Vault – 2022

Monologue. A free adaptation of the short story of the same title by the American writer James Thurber (1947). In the courtyard of his home, Walter Mitty retreats into heroic daydreams, assuming a succession of imagined roles in an attempt to fill the emptiness of an insignificant and stagnant life.

The courtyard of miracles (1957)

Η Αυλή των θαυμάτων – Θέατρο Τέχνης – Κάρολος Κουν

Directed by: Karolos Koun
Set and Costume Design: Yannis Tsarouchis
Music: Manos Hadjidakis

A play in four parts. Set in a courtyard in the Vyronas district of Athens during the 1950s, it portrays individuals and families from the working class, united by their struggle for survival and their longing for a better life. Diverse and dissimilar though they are, they remain familiar and instantly recognizable within our collective memory, together forming a truthful and profoundly humane miniature of Greek society.

“At last, a work that withstands scrutiny and comparison with its international counterparts.”

Λέων Κουκούλας – ΑΘΗΝΑΪΚΗ

“…first and foremost—no small gift—there is an instinct and a discernment for what is truly of quality… beauty is never confused with ostentation… the sense of Theatre prevails. And beyond this, one clearly discerns intelligence, inventiveness, imagination, and keen observation… he knows how to highlight and to animate.”

Άγγελος Τερζάκης -ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ

“Mr. Karolos Koun did very well—indeed, even altering the sequence of his theatre’s repertoire—to present The Courtyard of Wonders. We do not often encounter works by new Greek playwrights of such quality, staged with such care.”

Kleon Paraschos (Kathimerini)

The Age of Night (1959)

Η Ηλικία της Νύχτας – Θέατρο Τέχνης – Κάρολος Κουν

Directed by: Karolos Koun
Set and Costume Design: Yannis Stefanellis

A play in two parts. It belongs to the trilogy of the "Courtyard trilogy". ΑυλήςA two-storey Athenian townhouse on Koumoundourou Square, 1954. On the upper floor lives a prosperous family, while the ground floor is occupied by a group of refugees. This unusual coexistence forms the core of the play. The characters live beneath the same roof, yet their destinies never intersect, just as the social classes to which they belong remain worlds apart.

“Kambanellis attempts to construct a richer dramatic structure than in his previous works. This alone suffices to recognize that the playwright’s concerns are expanding in every respect.”

Γεράσιμος Σταύρου -ΑΥΓΗ

Fairytale with no name (1959)

Fairy Tale with No Name – Θίασος Βασίλη Διαμαντόπουλου, Μαρίας Αλκαίου – Νέο Θέατρο

Directed by: Vasilis Diamantopoulos
Set and Costume Design: Giorgos Vakalo
Music: Manos Hadjidakis

A play in three acts and nine scenes. A free adaptation of the novel of the same title by Penelope Delta (1910). Kambanellis constructs a theatrical work of political and social substance. The play bears the influence of Brecht’s epic theatre, incorporating narrative passages, ensemble movement and action, and a strong satirical element.

“The author of The Courtyard of Wonders now offers, with remarkable flashes of wit, a panorama of Greek life, veiled in the haze of a fairy tale. With keen observation, genuine feeling, and humor… In A Tale Without a Name—as in The Age of Night—there are splendid passages, rare within modern Greek dramaturgy.”

Γεράσιμος Σταύρου – ΑΥΓΗ

The gorilla and the Hydrangea (1959)

Ο Γορίλλας και η Ορτανσία – Θέατρο Έαρ-Βικτώρια (2017)

Directed by: Katerina Polychronopoulou

Σκηνικά-Κοστουμια: Κατερίνα Καμπανέλλη

Μουσική: Σταύρος Τσουμάνης

A madcap comedy, or farce, or fairy tale, or parable, or game for four actors and as many spectators as wish to play with them, in three scenes and three alternative endings. 

The play centers on a university professor, married to the wealthy and compliant Mary. He purchases a completely naked gorilla from the zoo, whom he names “Adam,” intending to use him as an assistant in his experiments. The comic and subversive dimension of the work arises from the fact that the professor treats the gorilla as though he were an ordinary human being who understands everything.

Here, sarcasm and the grotesque prevail. Originally written as a one-act play in 1952, it was first staged in 1959 by Elsa Vergi’s theatre company.

“This play, originally written as a one-act work and later reworked by the playwright during his mature period, when he gave it its final form, is an outstanding satire of an Ionesco-like texture, exploring human nature and the perverse distortion of human relationships. In this mature work, Kambanellis experiments—flirting with surrealism, the Theatre of the Absurd, and symbolism—and, in my view, does so with remarkable success.”

Μαρία Κυριάκη – ΕΠΙ ΣΚΗΝΗΣ (2017)