During the early 1930s conditions had matured for the creation of a “National Theatre”. It opened in 1932 and caused a chain reaction. In order to successfully confront another theatre ensemble presenting a serious repertoire, Kyveli and Kotopouli joined forces under the direction of Spyros Melas.
Their common troupe presented a number of plays in the spring and autumn of 1932 including Friedrich Schiller’s Maria Stuart, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession, The Return from Eugene O’Neill’s trilogy Mourning becomes Electra, Rain by Somerset Maugham and Nöel Coward’s Weekend as well as many plays by Greek playwrights.
The pair also worked together offstage in 1933 when filming the movie Kakos Dromos (The Road Astray), a screen adaptation by Gregory Xenopoulos that took place at the “Ipek” studios in Istanbul.
They worked together again in 1934, this time with Greek plays (by Synadinos, Horn, Axiotis, Lidorikis).
