The well-known Karagiozis puppeteer Thanasis Spyropoulos, who was born in 1931 in Kopanaki, Messinia, has passed away.
He had also taught his craft to his son, Kostas, with whom he ran the Karagiozis Shadow Puppet Theater—Thanasis and Kostas Spyropoulos.
Who Was Thanasis Spyropoulos, the «National Karagiozis Puppeteer»?
Thanasis Spyropoulos (October 1, 1931 – June 7, 2023) was a Greek Karagiozis puppeteer, born in Kopanaki, Messinia.
He first saw Karagiozis at his father’s coffeehouse. “The screen, the figures behind it, the voices, the lighting”—these were the things that initially inspired him, at around the age of 15, to become an apprentice to the local Karagiozis puppeteer, Vasilis Filtsakos.
While apprenticing under him, he learned the performances and the secrets of the art. He served as president of the Panhellenic Shadow Theater Association for 16 consecutive years. He is a collector of shadow theater artifacts, with a large collection of figures and sets from all the shadow puppeteers (Frixos Gazepidis, Vasilis Andrikopoulos (Vasilaros), Avraam Antonakos, and others).
He has performed abroad, and for 10 consecutive years he performed the Karagiozis stories on what was then ERT2, as part of his show “Years of Companionship with Karagiozis.”
The greatness of his soul and his talent earned him the title of “National Karagiozis Puppeteer.”.
