Lefteris Vogiatzis

Lefteris Vogiatzis (also spelled Voyatzis) was born in Kallithea, on the southern edge of Athens. Several records give 12 October 1944, while other sources, and a 2025 tribute marking 80 years since his birth, point to 1945. He studied English literature at the University of Athens, then theatre at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and at Kostis Michailidis's drama school in Athens. His first stage role came in 1973: the grandmother in Georges Michel's Κυριακάτικος περίπατος (Sunday Walk), directed by Giorgos Michailidis. In the following years he acted with Spyros Evangelatos's Amfi-Theatro, including in Tartuffe in 1978, and alongside Elli Lambeti.

In 1981 he co-founded the company Η Σκηνή (The Stage) with Vasilis Papavasileiou, Anna Kokkinou, Dimitris Kataleifos, Smaragda Smyrnaiou and others. Their theatre, a former tobacco factory on Kykladon Street in Kypseli redesigned by the architect Kyriakos Krokos, opened on 20 March 1982 with Kleist's The Broken Jug. When the group split in the late 1980s, Vogiatzis founded Η νέα Σκηνή (The New Stage) in 1988 and, in 1989, an Ancient Drama Workshop.

His last production, Molière's Amphitryon for the National Theatre, played at Epidaurus in August 2012. He died of cancer in Athens on 2 May 2013, Holy Thursday. The public paid its respects at his theatre on Kykladon Street before the funeral at the First Cemetery of Athens.

Vogiatzis often directed a production and acted in it at the same time. In an interview with the newspaper Το Βήμα (To Vima) he rejected the word perfectionism and called detail the backbone of the work. His repertoire moved freely across centuries. Three plays by Giorgos Dialegmenos, Σε φιλώ στη μούρη (I Kiss You on the Mug, 1986), Η νύχτα της κουκουβάγιας (The Night of the Owl, 1998) and Bella Venezia (2005), each brought him a Karolos Koun award for direction. He staged Sophocles's Αντιγόνη (Antigone) in 1992 and revived it in 2006–2007, and in 1993 Georgios Chortatsis's Cretan Renaissance comedy Κατσούρμπος (Katsourbos).

For the National Theatre he directed Aeschylus's Πέρσες (The Persians) at Epidaurus in 1999, with music by Spyros Sakkas and movement by Dimitris Papaioannou. At Kykladon Street he took part, as director or actor, in Molière's Μισάνθρωπος (The Misanthrope, 1996–1997) and Σχολείο γυναικών (The School for Wives, 2004). He also staged Harold Pinter's Τέφρα και σκιά (Ashes to Ashes, 2000) and Θερμοκήπιο (The Hothouse), and Sarah Kane's Καθαροί πια (Cleansed, 2001). On screen he appeared almost only in films by his friend Nikos Panagiotopoulos.

The theatre on Kykladon Street now carries his name. A two-day conference held there in May 2017 led to a book of studies and testimonies edited by Anna Tabaki and Alexia Altouva of the University of Athens; in 2023 a half-day event examined his four Molière productions; and in autumn 2025 a ten-day tribute screened recordings of Antigone, Bella Venezia, Cleansed and The Hothouse beside costumes and set pieces. Try this: open the National Theatre's digital archive (nt-archive.gr), find the 1999 Πέρσες and read the Greek credits, such as Σκηνοθεσία, Σκηνικά and Φωτισμοί (direction, sets, lighting). Write one sentence for each person, for example Τη σκηνοθεσία υπογράφει ο Λευτέρης Βογιατζής (The direction is by Lefteris Vogiatzis). Then report his line: Ο Βογιατζής έλεγε ότι η λεπτομέρεια είναι η ραχοκοκαλιά.

• His first stage role, in 1973, was a grandmother.
• The Stage's theatre on Kykladon Street began life as a tobacco factory.
• He was one of the main voices of the children's radio programme Εδώ Λιλιπούπολη (Here Is Lilipoupoli) on ERT's Third Programme.
• His dressing room at the Kykladon Street theatre has been kept as it was.