The theatre excited and entertained Greek citizens throughout the whole of the Occupation. In the occupied cities and especially in Athens the difficulties imposed by strict censorship, the economic crisis and the restriction of movement did not subdue the spirits of the artists. Often well-known theatrical companies such as that of 'Katerina', Veakis-Manolidou-Papa-Dendrami or the 'Art Theatre' devised various ruses such as changing the names of dramatists and the titles of plays forbidden by the censor, or staging performances from the dramatic repertoire of the Allies. These efforts, if discovered, led to the imposition of money penalties or the closing down of theatres.
The actors of the National Theatre were often the target of the Germans, culminating in the famous blockades of the National Theatre (1943), during which famous theatre performers were arrested on the pretext of holding an illegal assembly.
However, theatrical activity took a different form in free Greece. Resistance theatre, inseparably associated with the demands of the struggle, revived the heroes of the revolution of 1821 or re-enacted the lives of guerillas in the mountains and of common people from the countryside. Using improvised plays that were sometimes written on a collaborative basis, the theatre of the mountains would be set up in squares and schools, giving simple people and amateur actors the chance to communicate through artistic creation. Significant personalities who wrote and organized theatre performances included Vassilis Rotas, who had a hand in puppet theatre as well, Giorgos Kotzioulas and Gerassimos Stavrou, while frequent performances of puppet theatre were given by Nikos Akiloglou.