National Theatre of Greece
Greece's national drama company in Ernst Ziller's 1901 Ziller Building near Omonia.
The National Theatre of Greece traces its origin to the Royal Theatre founded in 1900 under King George I, which gave its first performance in the newly completed Ziller Building in November 1901. After a period of closure it was refounded as the National Theatre in 1932 and has since been the country's principal producing company, with its own drama school established in 1930. Among the actors associated with it are Katina Paxinou, Alexis Minotis and Nikos Kourkoulos.
The main house on Agiou Konstantinou Street was designed by the Saxon-born architect Ernst Ziller in a neoclassical style, its facade modelled on Hadrian's Library and faced with an arcade of Corinthian columns. The company performs on the Main Stage and the New Stage Nikos Kourkoulos inside that building, at the Rex Theatre on Panepistimiou Street, and at smaller experimental venues. In summer it stages ancient drama at Epidaurus and other ancient theatres.
Highlights
- Ziller Building of 1901 with its Corinthian colonnade
- Main Stage and New Stage Nikos Kourkoulos
- Rex Theatre stages on Panepistimiou Street
- Summer productions of ancient drama at Epidaurus
