Rina Katselli was born in 1938 in Kyrenia, Cyprus, and lived there until the Turkish invasion -July 1974- during which she was forced to take the road of exile, along with almost all other Greek Cypriots into the occupied, by Turkish troops, part of the island.

In 1958, she amateurishly directed Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme in Kyrenia, participating as an actress too. The following year, 1959, she published her first play and was again involved as an actress in its amateur performance, in Kyrenia. In 1962, her play O anaxios (The Unworthy) was staged by the Cyprus Organization for Theatrical Development (OTHAC).

Over the same period, she wrote plays in the style of ethographia and short radio and TV dramas. In 1970, she published in seven mimeographed volumes, titled Ten Years of Theatre 1959-1969, all of her plays written till then.

In 1979, uprooted in Nicosia, she turned again to playwriting and wrote Blue Whale, which was staged in 1980 by the Cyprus Theatre Organization (THOC). The same organization also staged her plays I treli giagia (The Crazy Grandmother) and Xeniteia (Estrangement). In 1994, Theatro Ena (Theatre One) staged her theatrical satire Pamen kala! (We’re Doing Well) ...

In 2001, the SίΙνίο D’ Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art of Rome staged her play Arkastos (La Gramigna), in Italian, giving performances both in Rome and in Cyprus, and, in 2005, Theatro Ena staged her play Pano geitonia (The Upper Neighbourhood). Her plays are presented on TV and radio.

Rina Katselli

(photos by Yiangos Studios)

Translated by Vicky Gkekina

PLAYS

The Goblins of the third Millenium, 2010

Arkastos (La Graminia), 2001

From Sunday to Sunday, 1999

The Upper Neighborhood, 1998

Going Strong…, 1994

Foreing Land, 1988

Crazy Grandma, 1986

Dsas, 1982

Unslaved Olive Tree, 1981

The Reason why Valou Left, 1981

Blue Whale, 1979

What the Robot has put together, 1968

Ten days in Cyprus (An old  Cypriot wedding), 1968

Great problems and a personal incident, 1968

And so a new era begins, 1968

A Hideout in Cyprus, 1968

I am whatever you wish, my Lord, 1968

Old Lady Agathe, 1968

The Roof, 1968

Suicide Documents, 1968

A priestess, 1968

The Slaves, 1968

Moribund, 1967

Ppevlianis, 1966

Dr. Ahmet Alibey, 1964

35 Aeschylus Str, 1963

Sunday Doxology, 1963

The Unworthy, 1962

The Three Wizards and Rehoboam, 1962

Pitsillos, 1962

And the Unworthy, 1961

The Iron Spoon, 1960

The Cousin, 1959