Professor George Rodosthenous

Profile

I am Professor of Theatre Directing at the School of Performance and Cultural Industries of the University of Leeds. I have been Deputy Head of School (2020-2024) and Director of Enterprise and Knowledge Transfer for the School (2009-2012). I am the Artistic Director of the theatre company Altitude North and also have worked as a freelance director/composer for the theatre. My research interests are Theatre Directing, Greek Tragedy, Musical Theatre, Creative Robotics Theatre, The Body in performance, Verbatim Theatre, Immersive Theatre, Refining improvisational techniques and compositional practices for performance, and Devising pieces with live musical soundscapes as interdisciplinary process.

My research establishes a significant and sustained enquiry into Directing and the Composition of Contemporary Performance, with a specific focus on Musicality, Adaptation, and Directorial vision. This is evidenced through my editorial leadership on major publications, including authored books on Greek tragedy in the digital age, the twenty-first-century musical, and the works of Disney. My scholarship is characterised by a deep engagement with practice, frequently utilising interviews with leading theatre-makers to investigate the intricacies of musical direction, movement, and sound design. This methodological approach underpins a critical exploration of how performance is constructed, examining everything from the jukebox musical and radical reinterpretations of classic texts to the dynamics of theatre as voyeurism and the actor-director relationship. Ultimately, my publications represent a key voice in understanding the fusion of musical and theatrical languages in modern staging and contemporary directing.

I have directed 13 new adaptations of Greek tragedies and other theatre pieces of verbatim and musical theatre in Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, UK: Ion (2023, Rehearsed reading Athens, Theocharakis Foundation in association with Michael Cacoyannis Foundation), For better, For Worse (2023, University of Leeds), Quinneys (2021, Filmed Performance York and V&A Musuem, London), Oedipus and Jocasta (2019, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Ion (2018, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), The Truth About Venus (2017, Paphos Cultural Capital 2017), Women of Troy (2016, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Electra (2015, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Narziss (2014, Berlin, Germany), co-supervised The Bacchae (2014, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Antigone (2013, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds and Michael Cacoyannis Foundation Athens), Di-mentia – a new musical (2012, UNESCO building, Paris, France), The Gift of Pygmalion (2012, Munich, Germany), Orestes (2011, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Othello’s Revenge (2011, Berlin, Munich, Leeds), The Wife of Heracles (2010, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Body Faded Blue (2010, State National Theatre of Cyprus, Best Director Award), The Fall of Icarus (2009, Koln, Germany), Triathlon (2009, No-body festival Nicosia Cyprus), Hippolytus (2009, Odeon, Paphos Cyprus), Hippolytus (2008, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Helen of Troy (2007, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), Ajax (2007/2007, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds, International Festival of Ancient Drama, Odeon Paphos, Kourion, Limassol, Amphitheatre Makarios III, Nicosia, Cyprus), Alcestis (2004, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds), A Season in Hell (2003, Brock University, Canada), and Agamemnon (2001, Raven Theatre Leeds).

I have been External Examiner for BA Acting, Actor-Musician and Musical Theatre at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, MA in Acting at Athens Metropolitan (validated by UEL), MA in Contemporary Directing Practice at Rose Bruford College, MA Theatre Making at University of York,BA Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths and University of Wolverhampton and at UG Performing Arts coursesat Queen Margaret (Edinburgh), Sheffield Hallam University and New Bucks University.

External Appointments

• Peer Reviewer for Routledge, Palgrave, Intellect, Bloomsbury and Oxford University Press on new Musical Theatre books and volumes

• Editor of Musical Theatre Routledge Digital Performance Archive (2019-2023)

• Reviewer for AHRC Small and Large Grant Applications and Networks.

Awards

• Best Director for BODY FADED BLUE (a new musical) at Theatrical Organization of Cyprus Theatrical Awards for 2009-2011.

• Best Theatre Music for IRON - Theatrical Organization of Cyprus Theatrical Awards for 2003-2005.

PhD Supervision to Completion

• Christina Wong (Ethnomusicology)
• Demetris Zavros (Music Theatre)
• Kathinka Walter (Choreography and Improvisation)
• Mark Edward (Mesearch and the Performing Body)
• Dionysia Bouzioti (Phenomenology and Greek Tragedy)

Current PhD Supervision

• Xiaohan Peng (Diversity in Musical Theatre)
• Iro Valsamaki at the University of Peloponnese (Acting Methodologies)

Responsibilities

• Member of the Digital Research Group
• PRISE Mentor and Reviewer for HEA Fellowships
• EU Expert on Creative Europe Programme (CREA-CULT-2024-COO)

Research interests

My main area of focus is Theare Directing with applications to Greek Tragedy, Musical Theatre, Creative Theatre Robotics, Verbatim material, and Immersive work. It crosses over with pedagogical research in the areas of Directing, Teaching Musical Theatre and international invitations to disseminate my research (most recently at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation on Directing Greek Tragedy [September 2013], at THOC – Theatrical Organisation of Cyprus [April 2019], National Theatre Drama School on Acting in Musical Theatre [July 2023] and Greek National Opera – Alternative Stage on Directing Musical Theatre [June 2025]).

The AHRC-funded Practice as Research work Quinneys with Professor Mark Westgarth can be found here Quinneys (2021 film).

My digital work ranges from working with Cyprus University of Technology (Dr Doros Polydorou) on Virtual Reality on the project Sticklebacks: A VR Experience | stage@leeds and working with a robot dog in collaboration again with the Cyprus University of Technology and University of Arts London (Dr Hooman Samani) Argos – Hooman Samani .

I have received International Strategy Fund twice and the activities are captured here PCI Impact and Engagement Report 2023-2024 and PCI Impact and Engagement Report, 2024-2025.

The LAHRI funded Practice as Research verbatim piece MEMOIRS OF A POW in collaboration with Professor Christiana Gregoriou was performed on a Yorkshire Tour of War Museums and at the Theatro Technis in London (May-July 2025) Memoirs of POW experience | Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute.

Currnently, I am on the Editorial Board for Studies in Musical Theatre.

I am co-editing a Special Issue On Musicality (Performance Research) with Dr Demetris Zavros and also a Special Issue on Creative Robotics Theatre and Performance Arts (International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media) and a Special Issue on Pivotal Pedagogies for Performer Training (Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Directing
• Contemporary Approaches to Greek Tragedy
• Musical Theatre
• Creative Theatre Robotics
• Theatre as voyeurism
• The Body in Performance
• Devised pieces with live musical soundscape(s) as interdisciplinary process: the interfaces between Music, Movement and Text
• Refining improvisational techniques and compositional practices for Performance
• Contemporary British Drama since the 1990s

Qualifications

• PHD In Music Theatre (University of Leeds)
• Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy
• MA in Composition of Music for Film, TV and Theatre (University of Bristol)
• BMus in Composition (Cardiff University)

Professional memberships

• Adjunct Professor: Bachelor of Performing Arts Programme, Taylor's University (Malaysia)

Student education

I teach on a range of modules in the areas of Theatre Directing, Musical Theatre, Performance Project, Contemporary Theatre Makers, Adaptation and Verbatim Theatre.

Research groups and institutes

• Theatre at Leeds