CULTURE

Sir Peter Hall becomes honorary member of the Athens Academy

The Athens Academy has bestowed the title of honorary member on acclaimed British director Sir Peter Hall, who, after 50 consecutive years of successful productions in the UK and elsewhere around the world, is broadly considered a pioneer of directorial theory and practice on a global scale. Hall has taught over 300 performances in his long career, among which 29 were Shakespearean tragedies and comedies as well as several classical Greek plays. Born in 1930 in Suffolk, England, Hall studied at St Catharine’s College at Cambridge, where he produced and acted in over 20 plays. After working in repertory for the Arts Council, he became artistic director of the Elizabethan Theater Company (1953), director of the London Arts Theater (1955-6), and formed his own company, the International Playwrights’ Theater in 1957. At the age of 29, he founded the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was also director of the Covent Garden Opera (1969-71), and became successor to Laurence Olivier as director of the Royal National Theater (1973-88). He served the company for 15 years, and played a pivotal role in moving the theater’s premises in 1976 to its current location on the South Bank, where he staged «Oresteia» and «The Bacchae,» among others. He is also the founder of the Peter Hall Company, with which he has produced many West End and Broadway successes. He has directed at many international opera houses, including Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and Bayreuth. He was knighted in 1977. In Greece Hall has staged numerous plays at Greece’s Ancient Theater of Epidaurus: «Oresteia,» «Oedipus Rex,» «Oedipus at Colonus,» «Lysistrata» and, most recently «The Bacchae.» He also staged a huge 10-hour production based on ancient Greek myths titled «Tantalus» in the USA and the UK.

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