
Elias Adam (b.1991, Greece) is a theatre director, dramaturg and writer. He is currently pursuing his master’s studies at DAS Theater in Amsterdam.
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He makes theatre to give shape to the vague, chase ghosts, argue with himself, flirt with angels and demons, cry in public and perhaps figure out what is going on. His work unfolds when personal drama meets political collapse. Leaking fragments of his personal life into his performances, he tries to talk about larger messes: disenchantment, unhappy loves, broken selves, fragmented memory, post-truth confusion, the glitch between reality and illusion, the exile of meaning and the mess of being alive right now.
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Over the years his practice has taken many forms: re-imaginings of classics (GAMLET and EYOLFMACHINE), adaptations of literature (THE END OF EDDY), stream-of-consciousness breakdowns (ONLY GOD CAN CANCEL ME and TITANIC SONG BUT IT WAS COMPLETELY EDITED BY ME), a dance solo (SADBOI), a eulogy for his father (FATHER HELP US), a social media vaudeville (WE ARE IN THE ARMY NOW), desktop performances (HAMLET, A DESKTOP PERFORMANCE and IT’S OPHELIA, BITCH!) and a fake TV channel (KIVOTOS CHANNEL).
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He collaborated with the National Theatre of Greece, Onassis Stegi, while also creating works in Germany and Cyprus. In 2019, he was a fellow at the International Forum of the Theatertreffen in Berlin. WE ARE IN THE ARMY NOW, produced by Onassis Stegi, premiered live at Teatros Del Canal in Madrid and was later invited to the Radikal Jung Festival 2022 at Müncher Volkstheater. His work SADBOI has been performed in more than ten countries.
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Elias sees his work as a space of continuous becoming, always in motion, never fully finished. He likes to play with complexity, to hold back meaning and resolution, to build toward climaxes that never arrive. He’s inspired by literature, sociology, his friends, music videos, meme culture, cursed internet energy and the long journeys he takes with his mother to far off places; chasing something beautiful, weird or broken.
What happened so far
​​​​​​2022-2026
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2025
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2025​
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2022
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2022
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2022
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2021
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2021
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2021
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2021
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2020
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2020
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2020
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2020
showed Sadboi in Cyprus (Nicosia International Festival and Dance House Lemesos), Grece (M54), Finland (FIN Fringe Festival), Iceland (Reykjavik Fringe Festival), Turkey (Istanbul Fringe Festival), Belgium (HOMOGRAPHY Festival), New Zeland F.O.L.A. Festival), Romania (Teszt Festival), Spain (Teatro Victoria), France (Trente Trente Festival), Belgium (Bozar)
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wrote and directed Titanic song but it was completely edited by me, at Tzamia Krystalla, Athens
wrote and directed Only God Can Cancel me at Theater Oberhausen in Oberhausen, Germany
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showed We are in the army now at the Radikal Jung Festival at the Müncher Volkstheater in Munich, Germany
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showed The End of Eddy at Venuše ve Švehlovce in Prague, Czech Republic
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showed We are in the army now at Onassis Stegi in Athens, Greece
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showed We are in the army now at Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Müllheim an der Ruhr, Germany
showed We are in the army now at Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Spain
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directed Sadboi
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directed Kivotos Channel for Stegi - Onassis Foundation
wrote and directed We Are in The Army Now for Stegi - Onassis Foundation
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created It's Ophelia, bitch!
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directed Leonce and Lena, Children of Rage + Love, produced by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus
created Hamlet, a desktop performance for Stegi - Onassis Foundation
2020
was a collaborator director at Erotic Postcards from Greece, at Stegi - Onassis Foundation
2019
wrote and directed Father Help Us with the support of the Theatrical Organisation of Cyprus, presented at different venues in Cyprus and Greece
2019
directed The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis, at the National Theatre of Greece
2019
was invited and participated at the International Forum of Theatertreffen at the Berliner Festspiele, in Berlin
2019
directed The End of Eddy vol. Athens, at the National Theatre of Greece's festival for young theatre makers
2019 won the START - Scaling award for his project Smallville
2018
developed and ran the project Smallville, in Greece's
countryside
2018
wrote and directed Eyolf Machine, a play based
on Ibsen's Little Eyolf, presented at various venues
and festivals in Cyprus and Greece
2017
developed and staged the project Masculinity in crisis,
at the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Germany
2017
worked as a dramaturgy and direction intern for Falk
Richter's show Verräter, at Maxim Gorki Theatre in
Berlin
2016
2015
wrote and directed Gamlet, at Apo Michanis Theatre
in Athens
directed Oscar et la Dame Rose, presented in various
venues in Greece and Cyprus