A Comedy (2002)

Μια Κωμωδία – “Ανοιχτό Θέατρο” Γιώργου Μιχαηλίδη – Ηρώδειο

Directed by: Giorgos Michailidis
Set Design: Katerina Kambanelli
Set and Costume Design: Agni Ntoutsi
Music: Thodoros Antoniou

A multi-character comedy in eight tableaux. Kambanellis presents a luminous vision of death and, with a satirical spirit, exorcises the post-mortem gloom, humanising it and portraying it as a continuation of earthly lightness. The archetypal motif of the Underworld, treated in various ways by Homer, Lucian, and Aristophanes, is brought into the present by the author and linked to the mania for its “exploitation” that seizes the inhabitants of Hades. The frenzy of construction, uncontrolled touristification, consumerism, demagoguery, licentiousness, and profiteering all depict, in magnified form, the systemic pathology of capitalism, together with the fraying of a utopia that turns into dystopia.

The fresh Kambanellis, who here playfully competes with Aristophanes’ Frogs, turning the Underworld upside down, creates a multifaceted universe that voices small and larger, increasingly playful gems. This human universe has been clothed in chromatic humor, precise variety, and, overall, exceptionally refined taste by Agni Doutsis. The same must be said of the functionality of the design solutions of Katerina Kambanelli: she has “nailed” an Hades into the awkward cavities of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, rendering them finally functional; she did not indulge in spatial verbosity in order to “make herself seen.”

Γ. Βαρβέρης – Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ

The Difficult Nights of Mr. Thomas (2005)

Οι δύσκολες Νύχτες του Κυρίου Θωμά – Θέατρο των Εξαρχείων

Directed by: Takis Vouteris
Set and Costume Design: Angelos Angeli
Music: Platon Andritsakis

The final monologue of Iakovos Kambanellis. An elderly man is confronted with the pain of losing his companion, the frailty of old age, the despair of loneliness, and the unspoken terror of the approaching end.

« … Οι Δύσκολες νύχτες του κ. Θωμά είναι ένα αριστουργηματικό πρόσφατο έργο του Ιάκωβου Καμπανέλλη, ο οποίος, σε πλήρη νεανική συγγραφική ευρωστία κι ευφορία, κατέγραψε με φιλάνθρωπη συγκίνηση και σύγχρονο χιούμορ τη στυφή ιδίως νυχτιά, καθημερινότητα ενός χήρου ηλικιωμένου άντρα, όπως αυτή εκδιπλώνεται μέσα από ποικίλες λεπτομέρειες, αυτοπαθή μικροεπεισόδια, μνήμες, μονολόγους, μονολόγους ως οιονεί διαλόγου, αναμνηστικές χαρές, αιφνίδιες θλίψεις και απέραντη, απέραντη μοναξιά. Ο Καμπανέλλης έχει τόσο ταλέντο κι είναι τέτοιος μεγάλος τεχνίτης, που δεν χρειάζεται αναγκαστικά τον άνθρωπο και τον κόσμο για να δημιουργήσει. Έχει έναν άνθρωπο και μέσω αυτού φτιάχνει τον κόσμο.»

Γιάννης Βαρβέρης – Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (Νοέμβριος 2005)

The Dialogue (2014)

Ο Διάλογος – Θέατρο “Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλλης” – Νάξος 2014

Directed by: Katerina Polychronopoulou
Visual Design: Katerina Kambanellis
Music Supervision: Katerina Polychronopoulou

One-act play, written in 1991, with the subtitle “A conversation and non-conversation between two characters.” A couple, Anna and Dimitris, are strangers within the same house, with nothing to say to one another. They speak only about the commonplace matters of everyday life. Everything they think and feel remains in silence…

“…In the one-act play The Dialogue, the author presents us with the image of a couple haunted by the unfulfilled…” “…A pioneering approach, as the dialogues are spoken in the presence of both characters on stage—the living room—yet their ability to communicate is nullified not by circumstance but by the unbridgeable chasm between them. Once again, the element of humor and sarcasm is strong, as their despair is defined not only by what each failed to do alone, but also by what they have failed—and continue to fail—to do together.”

Μαρία Κυριάκη – ΕΠΙ ΣΚΗΝΗΣ (Οκτώβριος 2014)

Who Was the Gentleman…? (2014)

Ποιός ήταν ο Κύριος…; – Θέατρο “Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλλης”, Νάξος 2014

Directed by: Katerina Polychronopoulou
Visual Design: Katerina Kambanellis
Music Supervision: Katerina Polychronopoulou

One-act play written in 1991. After a funeral, a stranger appears before the bereaved family, claiming to have been a close friend of the deceased. He reveals unknown moments from the deceased’s life and discloses aspects of his character that no one else knew. When the man leaves, they are left wondering: “Who was the gentleman,” who knew their loved one better than they did themselves?

“…A family mourns the sudden death of their father, husband, and brother. An unknown visitor enters their space and begins speaking of the deceased, presenting him as a close friend and, more than that, as a man of rare talents, singular character, and unmatched heroism.” “…The author observes them, reveals them in depth, teases them, satirizes them, loves and accepts them, transforms them into theatrical heroes, and grants them a sweet, discreet, low-voiced posthumous honor—thus weaving a tribute to the seemingly insignificant individual while holding up a mirror for the audience to see their own reflection and accept it before either living or natural death deprives them of their final chance at happiness.”

Μαρία Κυριάκη – ΕΠΙ ΣΚΗΝΗΣ (Οκτώβριος 2014)

The Hidden Sun / Siloam (2016)

Κρυφός Ήλιος / Σιλωάμ – Θέατρο Τζένη Καρέζη

Both texts were written in the early 1950s (1951–1952). Their subject matter draws directly from Kambanellis’s still-vivid memories of his two-and-a-half years imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen. The plays explore morality, guilt, the survival instinct, and the limits of what it means to remain “human” under the most extreme conditions of fear and despair.

This particular production became a landmark, as both audiences and critics encountered for the first time the raw “first material” of the creator, before he had been fully established. The cast included outstanding actors—such as Errikos Litsis, Dimitris Kanellos, Giorgos Giannoutsos, Kostas Falelakis, among others—conveying the claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere of the concentration camps.