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Angelique Rockas
Angelique Rockas in the role of Medea
Education	University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town
Occupation(s)	Actress: stage and film, theatre practitioiner and founder of Internationalist Theatre
Years active	1978–present

Angelique Rockas is a South African-Greek, London-based actress known for founding Internationalist Theatre (initially called New Internationalist Theatre) in 1980 "to assert a multi-racial drama policy" starting with their performance of The Balcony by Jean Genet, 9the April Theatre News The Stage Her work with the company has been described as a "bold theatre pioneer" and "strong , bold and unafraid".

Rockas` acting work first came to public attention in The Camp in which she "encarna magistralmente el dificil papel de Emma", BBC Mundo(previously BBCLatin American Service , and which Spare Rib describes as "stunning" and "electrifying".. Rosemary Say of The Sunday Telegraph finds her Medea in Medea "fiercely agile" and Ned Chaillet writing for The Times sees the wrath of Medea erupting in "the dangerous passions of Angelique Rockas". Jo Stanley of the Morning Star reviewing Miss Julie finds "Ms Rockas' performance adds "profundity and power.. with huge dimensions of the character" suggested, but also a ". most original performance".

Film work includes the Maintenance Woman in Outland, Henrietta in The Witches and Nereida in Oh Babylon! .

On TV she she has played Ms Ortiki in Thodoros Maragos's television series Emmones Idees for Greek television; Dimitris Gonis Eleftherotipia

 with Vangelis Mourikis as Socratis.

Early life

Rockas was educated at St Dominic's Catholic School for Girls, Boksburg. She appeared on the front page of the Star as one of a group of debutantes raising funds for SAHETI, one of the internationally acknowledged Greek schools outside Greece.

Rockas participated in a 25 March Greek War of Independence Poetry Celebration with George Bizos. Bizos would serve as a role model in Angelique's founding of Internationalist Theatre.

After graduating from Wits with a BA honours degree in English literature and a major in philosophy, Rockas went on to do an acting course at the Drama School of the University of Cape Town, under the direction of Robert Mohr. After obtaining her Equity card she decided to leave South Africa for the United Kingdom. "At the end of my course I realised there was no place for me in South Africa because I found it difficult to function in a society that considered 75% of population inferior , that my community fraowned on me as an actress, and my beliefs for a non-racial society now incorporated a fight for the equality for women an anathema to my conservative Greek community. I did not want to spend my life apologising for who I was". (Direct quote from Rockas in Hellenism.net Interview. </ref> and also on WikiQuote

Career

In London Rockas began her acting career under the direction of George Eugeniou at Theatro Technis where she participated in Greek classical productions including Medea and played Io in a politically charged production of Prometheus Bound. She also performed under the name of Angeliki in dual language productions (Greek/English) based on improvisations about issues that touched the Greek Cypriot community, and the tragedy of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Attilas '74. The plays included Dowry with Two White Doves, Afrodite Unbound, A Revolutionary Nicknamed Roosevelt, Ethnikos Aravonas. Rockas' first UK press interview about her work with George Eugeniou and Theatro Technis was with Parikiaki Haravgi(now Parikiaki) in August 1980.

Rockas performed Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

New Theatre

Rockas in November 1980 set up performance of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford, and in which she played the lead part of Annabella. She financed the production herself and enlisted the then unknown Declan Donnellan to direct the play to be performed at London's Half Moon Theatre and Theatre Space. The production was designed by Nick Ormerod.

Internationalist Theatre

In April 1981, Rockas founded Internationalist Theatre to create a multi-racial and multi-national theatre company for actors living in London of any racial or national background, of any accent, performing drama classics as well as contemporary works not especially written for multi-racial and multi-national casts. Athol Fugard accepts to be a member of the company's advisory board. Michelene Wandor observed in Time Out that the company is "adopting a vigorous internationalist approach to casting ". Vogue Mexico & Latin America describes a transnational theatre company

Internationalist Theatre staged dramatists including Pirandello, Genet, Tennessee Williams who belong to "the continental, non-realistic, symbolically orientated drama of this century (20th) and..proved most uncongenial to the tunnel visioned repertoire builders" of British theatre of that period.

Rockas' acting work with her company included Carmen (in Genet's The Balcony); Miriam (Tennessee Williams's In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel); Tatiana in Maxim Gorky's Enemies.and Yvette (in Brecht's Mother Courage) reviewed by Julia Pascal for City Limits (magazine).

Activism

Rockas campaigned for Greece to be treated with respect by the European Union; for women's educational and financial rights; and is a polemicist against war.

Personal life

Rockas is an Orthodox Christian, in her Hellenism.net interview she refers to "the laic side of my great Orthodox religion". To commemorate the death of her mother Stavroula Kotsaki Rockas, she commissioned an Orthodox mural of the Theotokos and the Christ Child, located above the Iconostasis in the village church of Kalamara, in the province of Messinia, in Greece, the birthplace of her mother.

References

1. "British Newspaper Archive Screenshot The Stage Second show by Genet multi-racial". British Newspaper Archive. The Stage. 9 April 1981 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
2. "Angelique Rockas Brave Theatre Pioneer". The South African. 10 August 2011 – via thesouthafrican.com.
3. Kerry Kolasa-Sikiaridi (21 May 2012). "Angelique Rockas: Strong, Bold and Unafraid". greekreporter.com – via greekreporter.com. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
4. Ann Morey (26 October 1981). "Angelique as Emma in The Camp". BBC Latin American Service page2 – via Internet Archive.
5. Jenny Vaughan (February 1982). "El Campo (The Camp)". Spare Rib. pp. 46–47 – via Internet Archive.
6. Jenny Vaughan (February 1982). "Review of The Camp (El Campo)". Spare Rib (115): 46–47 – via British Library.
7. Ned Chaillet; Rosemary Say (January 1982). "Reviews Angelique Rockas Medea". The Times and The Sunday Telegraph – via Internet Archive.
8. Ned Chaillet (January 1982). "Times Archives Screenshot of review of Medea". The Times – via flickr.co.uk.
9. Rosemary Say RS (January 1982). "Telegraph Archives Screenshot of review of Medea in Women's Worlds". The Daily Telegraph – via flickr.co.uk.
10. "Live performance of Angelique Rockas as Medea". Medea. 1982 – via Internet Archive.
11. Jo Stanley (2 February 1984). "scan of the individual Morning Star review of Miss Julie, 'Profound Conflict'". The Morning Star – via Internet Archive.
12. Jo Stanley (2 February 1984). "Screenshot of full page of Morning Star archive with review review of Miss Julie, 'Profound Conflict'". The Morning Star – via Internet Archive.
13. https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Angelique+Rockas&qt=lang_switch&lang=en
14. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oi--DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT600&lpg=PT600&dq=angelique+rockas&source=bl&ots=GEuEGVKUfO&sig=0qjB-Sg_0_hxNoBmJS-FglmsP0U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN1dvTqKXZAhVIVhQKHXxbC904HhDoAQhXMAk#v=onepage&q=angelique%20rockas&f=false
15. "Angelique Rockas film roles". BFI – via bfi.org.uk.
16. Dimitris Gionis (August 1992). "Interview ' Eleutherotipia' Greece Angelique Rockas" – via Internet Archive.
17. "Greek TV debut for Angelique". Greek Review. September 1989 – via Internet Archive.
18. "Greek TV Emmones Idees". Emmones Idees. October 1989 – via youtube.com.
19. Heather Walker, ed. (10 August 2011). "Angelique Rockas: bold theatre pioneer". The South African.
20. "Debutantes for SAHETI". The Star. 5 June 1970 – via Internet Archive.
21. "BBC World Service Interview Archive:George Bizos". 29 July 2003 – via BBC World Service.
22. Evangelos Kordakis. "Angelique Rockas". hellenism.net. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
23. University of Stellenbosch. "Robert Mohr" – via esat.sun.ac.za.
24. Little Theatre, Univ of Cape Town (1976). "Programme of Die Effek van Gamma Strale directed by Robert Mohr, Reza De Wet in cast". Die Effek van Gamma Strale – via Internet Archive.
25. Evangelos Kordakis (2011). "Angelique Rockas Interview". Hellenism.net – via hellenism.net.
26. Petsalas,Anastassios (2008). "Angelique Rockas a Theatreo Technis Prometheus". Etudes Helleniques Vol 16 Issue 2-page 107.
27. Tom Vaughan (28 January 1982). "Scan of the Morning Star original newspaper review Medea's Revenge". The Morning Star – via Internet Archive.
28. Tom Vaughan (28 January 1982). "Screenshot of full page Morning Star archive with review Medea's Revenge". The Morning Star – via Internet Archive.
29. "Theatro, Technis, London, Prometheus, Bound, Aeschyllus, Time Out" – via Internet Archive.
30. "Angelique Rockas/Angeliki Rockas a Theatro Technis". APGRD CLassics Centre Univ of Oxford.
31. Michael Caccoyiannis. "Michael Caccoyiannis documentary Attilas '74: The Rape of Cyprus". Documentary about the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus and subsequent illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus – via Vimeo.
32. "Brochure Celebrating 25th Anniversary of Theatro Technis". Theatro Technis. 1982 – via Internet Archive.
33. "Songs sung at Ethnikos Aravonas, Theatro, Technis" – via YouTube.
34. Christina Aresti (21 August 1980). "Angeliki Rockas: Anagnorisi tou Polipleurou Talentou tis". Parakiaki Haravgi – via Internet Archive.
35. "Macbeth". Lady Macbeth – via Internet Archive.
36. "Screenshot British Newspaper Archives THE STAGE full page no 1". The Stage. September 1980 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
37. "Evening Standard reference to 'Tis Pity". March 2012 – via flickr.com.
38. "Reviews of 'Tis Pity". New Theatre 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. November 1980 – via Internet Archive.
39. Ann Morey (1981). "BBC Latin American The Camp Multi Racial And Multi National". Griselda Gambaro The Camp – via Internet Archive.
40. Ann Morey (26 October 1981). "BBC Latin American The Camp Multi Racial And Multi National". BBC Latin American Service page 2 – via Internet Archive.
41. Internationalist Theatre (April 1982). "Mother Courage press release" – via Internet Archive.
42. Micheline Wandor (19 October 1981). "internationalist casting". Time Out – via Internet Archive.
43. Luis Carlos Emmerich (July 1992). "Vogue Mexico Interview Angelique Rockas Multi Faceted Actress Spanish and English". Vogue Mexico – via Internet Archive.
44. Luis Carlos Emmerich (July 1992). "Vogue Mexico Interview Angelique Rockas Una Actirz Multiplicada 1–5". Vogue Mexico – via Internet Archive.
45. Nicolas de Jongh (28 July 1982). "LIOLA". The Guardian – via Internet Archive.
46. Nicolas de Jongh (28 July 1982). "Screenshot of Guardian review on ProQuest Archives of Guardian". The Guardian – via flickr.com.
47. London Theatre Directory (1993). "London Theatre Directory 1993". London Theatre Directory – via Internet Archive. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
48. John Leech (July 1981). "The Balcony". Where to Go – via Internet Archive.
49. Dirk de Villiers (May 1983). "Review of In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel". The Star – via Internet Archive.
50. Dirk De Villiers (17 May 1983). "Review In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel: Dynamic Rockas Hailed'". Pretoria News – via Internet Archive.
51. South African Digest (1983). "SA Actress praised page 66". South African Digest – via books.google.co.uk.
52. What's On (March 1985). "Review Enemies" – via Internet Archive.
53. Julia Pascal (May 1982). "Review Mother Courage". City Limits – via Internet Archive.
54. Handlesblatt team (7 July 2017). "Germany Profits From Greek Debt Crisis". Handelsblatt.
55. Glen Greenwald (February 2017). "The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook" – via intercept.com.
56. Stephen Cohen (February 2017). "The Russia-connected allegations have created an atmosphere of hysteria amounting to McCarthyism" – via The Nation.
57. Kalamara Iconographer (2009). "Orthodox Christian Mural to commemorate Stavroula Kotsaki Roka". Theotokos and Christ Child – via Internet Archive.
58. Kalamara Iconographer (2009). "Orthodox Christian Mural to commemorate Stavroula Kotsaki Roka". Stavroula Kotsaki Rokka – via Internet Archive.

External links

• Angelique Rockas at IMDb
• Angelique Rockas on the British Film Institute website
• Angelique Rockas Vogue Mexico & Latin AmericaInterview: Una Actirz Multiplicada
• Angelique Rockas The South African Interview: Bold Theatre Pioneer, Editor Heather Walker
• Angelique Rockas South African Actress.

Archives

• The records of the work of Angelique Rockas as an actress and founder/artistic director of Internationalist Theatre and correspondence with Joan Littlewood, Athol Fugard, Michael Meyer, George Bizos are held at the British Library under Western Manuscripts
• The digital records of the work of Angelique Rockas as an actress and theatre practitioner are held by the Scottish Theatre Archive supplemented by Angelique Rockas File: Visual Archive of theatre work, film work, and projects Flickr
• The Angelique Rockas Archive of Correspondence with great film directors including: Elia Kazan, Derek Jarman, Lindsay Anderson, Costas Gavras, and with actress Julie Christie about Yugoslavia/Kosovo film project is now held at the British Film Institute BFI and at The National Archives (United Kingdom).
• Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv Akademie der Künste Informationen zu Angelique Rockas Gründerin der Theatercompagnie Internationalist Theatre

• Biography
• Theatre
• Film
• South Africa

• Living people
• University of the Witwatersrand alumni
• University of Cape Town alumni
• Opposition to apartheid in South Africa
• British Christians
• British film actresses
• Greek film actresses
• South African actresses
• Women in theatre
• Theatre practitioners
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• Actor-managers
• Actresses from London
• South African people of Greek descent