Panel discussion with Theodoros Terzopoulos and Frank Raddatz about Heiner Müller to mark the 20th anniversary of the author’s death. Hosted by Jarosław Fret

Sat 5 December 2015, 17:00

Cinema Room

For example, when I hear the words “As Müller used to say”, the phrase “As Goethe used to say” rings in my ears. Even before he died, Heiner became a point of reference, a space of memories. Everyone wanted a quotation from him, but from the time of his life, though he was still alive. His texts were approached with a great deal of narcissism. Quotations give the impression that his texts have been internalised, that he has become myself. This is how the simple mechanism of identification operates. But this is not enough. One must enter into a dialogue.

Theodoros Terzopoulos: W labiryncie. Theodoros Terzopoulos spotyka Heinera Müllera (In the Labyrinth: Theodoros Terzopoulos meets Heiner Müller), edited by Frank Raddatz, translated by Mateusz Borowski and Małgorzata Sugiera

Theodoros Terzopoulos was born in the village of Makrygialos. He attended K. Michailidis’ Drama School (1965–1967) in Athens and trained at the Berliner Ensemble, where worked as an assistant director (1972–1976). He was Director of the Drama School of the State Theatre of Northern Greece (1981–1983) and Artistic Director of the International Meeting on Ancient Greek Drama in Delphi (1985–1988), to which he invited many leading figures in international theatre including Heiner Müller, Tadashi Suzuki, Min Tanaka, Anatoly Vassiliev, Robert Wilson, Andrzej Wajda. In 1985 he founded Attis Theatre.
Since 1990 Theodoros Terzopoulos has been a founding member of the International Institute of Mediterranean Theatre, comprising twenty two countries, and since 1991 he has been President of the International Institute of Mediterranean Theatre in Greece. Since 1993 he has been Chairman of the International Committee of Theatre Olympics.
Theodoros Terzopoulos has directed tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, as well as contemporary plays by leading European playwrights such as Brecht, Lorca, Müller and Beckett, and by Greek authors. He has directed at many international theatres including Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and Moscow’s Taganka Theatre. He has participated in numerous international festivals and worked with prominent actors from all over the world. Terzopoulos and Attis Theatre have toured extensively in Greece and abroad. Theodoros Terzopoulos’ work method is taught at drama schools and classical studies departments of thirty international universities. The director has won many Greek and international theatre awards. Many books about his work method and theatre approach have been published or translated in countries such as Germany, England, Greece, Turkey, Russia and China.

More information about Theodoros Terzopoulos

Frank Raddatz born 1956 in Hannover, wrote his dissertation on Heiner Müller, dramaturg at numerous theatres, amongst others art director of the “Antikenprojekt” MANIA THEBAIA (stage design: Jannis Kounellis) with Theodoros Terzopoulos, Valery Fokin and Tadashi Suzuki. Invited to Epidaurus/Greece in the context of the Theatre Olympics 2002. For many years working as a publicist, edited two publications with Heiner Müller (Zur Lage der Nation, Jenseits der Nation). Member of the advisory committee of Theater der Zeit, lives in Düsseldorf.