MEET MAYRA STERGIOU

Mayra is an award winning Theatre Director, Choreographer and Physical Theatre Performer.

She has directed and choreographed works in the genres of Physical Theatre, Dance, Puppetry and Opera.

Her directorial approach is strongly movement-based, scenography led and experimental. Her work with actors often integrates aspects of dramatherapy and ensemble building. 

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Her conceptual framework derives from the Visual Arts, Existentialism, Political Philosophy and Feminism and is fascinated by the interaction between the body, space and materials. Her practice is inspired and has elements of the Theatre of the Absurd, Antonin Artaud (Theatre of Cruelty), the Movement Laboratory of J. Lecoq (LEM) and Embodied Dramaturgy of Thomas Prattki. Her artistic work is often described both by audience and reviewers as 'Visceral', 'Haunting', 'Emotive' and 'Poetic'. ​ She trained in Lecoq Devised Theatre and Performance at London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) and she holds an MA in Dramatherapy (2012) from the University of Derby and an MPhil in Performance Practice (2025) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She also trained in Bunraku Puppetry and collaborated with prominent artists such as David Glass, Robin Guiver (War Horse), Janni Jounge (Handspring (Handspring Puppet Company), Mem Morrison (Arts Admin), and with the Institute Internationale de la Marionnette as a resident researcher. In 2012 she co founded Visual and Physical Theatre Company, Vertebra Theatre, where she is the Artistic Director since. She has been an Associate Director of Metapraxis Ensemble from 2017 - 2024 where she directed works on Experimental Music Theatre. 

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Over the years she has trained in a variety of Physical and Ritualistic Theatre Practices such as Theodoros Terzopoulos Method, Voice Coordination with Grzegorz Bral (Song of the Goat), Directing with Sergei Ostrenko, Choreographic Theatre with Enrique Pardo, Tholpavakoothoo Puppetry, in Martial Arts (Taekwon-Do, Wing Chun) and Contact Improvisation. 

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She is teaching workshops on Devised and Physical Theatre, Embodied Imagination, Embodied approaches to design and Puppetry in the UK and internationally. As a Visiting Lecturer, she has taught at the University of Roehampton, at MFA Scenography at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at MSc Creative Computing at the University of the Arts. Her film work 'The Walz of Lost Dreams' has presented at Onassis Cultural Centre (2014) and her scenography work 'An Ice Thing to Say' has been presented at Prague Quadrennial and Athens and Epidavrus Festival in 2023 as part of the Rare Gathering Greek exhibition and the World Stage Design (2022).