Born in Athens, he studied Biology, Acting and Theatre. In 1983-4 he founded the “diplous Eros Theatre Company,” which was supported by the Ministry of Culture immediately following its first production. After a series of internal configurations and transformation, the group was renamed as the “Theseum Ensemble.” Today he prefers to note why he produced these plays, what interested him about them, or what they served as examples, gestures or actions of.
His work is governed by two enduring principles:
(a) Theatre is the art of the history of people;
(b) There is no moment in everyday life that is not theatre, if seen with the appropriate gaze.
In recent years, his productions clearly demonstrate his preoccupation with three issues:
Ι. Assemblies – he has always been drawn to them. This Tropism of humans towards gatherings interested him as a concept of the Chorus since he first dealt with the ancient Greek tragedy as an ancient structure that generates contemporary forms in theatre as well as in daily life. A format with unique properties, capable of producing theatre, text, chaos, historicity, politics. A structure / device of the contemporary gaze.
He has delivered lectures, seminars, workshops, exercises and papers on the Chorus as a concept and form of real life, of modern and classical drama (Athens, Delphi, Berlin, Thessaloniki, Los Angeles, Montreal, Seoul, Warsaw, Moscow, Tbilisi, Tokyo).
ΙΙ. The Subject. The ways in which the Subject – the body of a citizen in their capacity as an actor – can push themselves to the point of being trapped in reality, in Randomness, as a method of acting, thus becoming historical testimony / a “document.”
In this, Biology – as well as his encounter with Alexander Lowen and Bioenergetics since 1990 – have played a key role.
He has led workshops on Bioenergetics as a training method for actors in Greece as well as at international conferences of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (in Athens, Leipzig, Caracas, Copenhagen, Thessaloniki, Florence, Umbria).
ΙΙΙ. Finally, those manners and moments of daily life, trivial and coincidental, which can “poison” theatricality and violently push it towards poetry, happening, performance, documentary.
This kind of writing tactic, capable of producing a text, is what he terms STAGE DIRECTING AS DRAMATURGY.
ADDITIONALLY, ANY THEOREM THAT MAY UNDERLIE ALL THESE PHENOMENA.
In addition to Greece, his productions have been staged – while others have travelled to international festivals – in:
Austria, Belgium, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela.
STAGE DIRECTING AS DRAMATURGY / CREATIONS
1997: ROMANTICISM, a show by Michail Marmarinos (Athens)
2002: NATIONAL ANTHEM, A Theorem on Togetherness, a show by Michail Marmarinos (Kerkyra, Athens)
Critics’ award for best staging-best direction 2002
2003: NATIONAL ANTHEM (a production of the Teatro della Limonaia, Florence)
2004: NATIONAL ANTHEM (a production of Mikheil Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre, Tbilisi, Moscow)
ROMEO + JULIET, the Third Memory, W. Shakespeare (Florence, Athens)
2005: OLYMPIC GAMES, Instructions for Use, a show by Michail Marmarinos (Athens)
2006: NATIONAL ANTHEM (Korea National University of Arts, Seoul)
2007: WHO IS MR. KELLERMAN AND WHY IS HE SAYING THOSE TERRIBLE THINGS ABOUT ME? [a visit to Kafka’s Castle], a show by Michail Marmarinos (Athens)
2008: STALIN, a Discussion on Greek Theatre, a show by Michail Marmarinos in collaboration with Akyllas Karazisis (National Theatre, Staatstheater Köln)
First Guest Performance Prize by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education
2009: THE LIVES OF SAINTS, a show by Michail Marmarinos (Athens)
2009: AGORA – Ein Chor Stasimon (a production of VOLKSBÜHNE am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin)
2015: NOSTOI (an international production of Cooperativa Archeologia and Fabbrica Europa, Tuscany and Carthage)
2020: HAIRDRESSERS/METAPOLITEFSI, a show by Michail Marmarinos and the Theseum Ensemble (theseum, A Theatre for the Arts)
2020: KOLOKOTRONIS Contemplates the Future…, a show by Michail Marmarinos and Akyllas Karazisis (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center)
2022: ONCE TO BE REALIZED, Musical Theatre based on the unpublished works of composer Jani Christou (Deutsche Oper – Berlin, Munich Biennale – Munich, Onassis Stegi – Athens).
THEATRICAL AND LITERARY TEXTS
1987: STRINDBERG – STRINDBERG (the First Warning), Α. Strindberg (Athens)
1993: DIE HAMLETMASCHINE, H. Müller (Thessaloniki, National Theatre of Northern Greece)
MEDEA Fragments, Euripides (Brussels)
1994: CAMERA DEGLI SPOSI, Y. Veltsos (Athens)
1996: KALLDEWEY FARCE, B. Strauss (Athens)
1998: HAMLET – The Snake’s Bite, W. Shakespeare (Athens, BITEF-Belgrade)
ELECTRA, Sophocles (Epidaurus, Thessaloniki, Dion, Philippi)
2000: AGAMEMNON, Aeschylus – A Ghost Sonata (Athens, Caracas, Zurich, Tbilisi)
2001: MEDEA MATERIAL, H. Müller (Tbilisi, Moscow)
2005: AGAMEMNON, Aeschylus (a production of the Seoul Arts Centre, Korea)
2007-2009: DYING AS A COUNTRY, Dimitris Dimitriadis (Athens Festival, Wiener Festwochen 2008, Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels 2008, International Theatre Festival in Warsaw, WARSZAWA CENTRALNA 2008, Festival d’Αutomne Théâtre de l’Odéon, Paris 2009)
2009: ΑCROPOLIS re-construction, S. Wyspiański (Teatr Współczesny, Wrocław, Poland)
2010: ACROPOLIS re-construction, a production of the Theseum Ensemble (Athens)
2011: HERCULES FURENS, Euripides (National Theatre, Epidaurus)
2012: ROMEO + JULIET, The Third Memory, W. Shakespeare (a production of the Mikheil Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre, Tbilisi)
2012 + 2013: INSENSO, Dimitris Dimitriadis (Athens Festival)
2012-2013: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, W. Shakespeare (National Theatre, Athens)
2013 + 2014: PHÈDRE, Jean Racine (Comédie-Française, Paris)
2014: FAUST I, Goethe (Onassis Stegi, Athens)
2015: EMPIRE, I Have your Data, Yorgos Veltsos (National Theatre of Northern Greece – Thessaloniki Concert Hall)
2015: ΝΟH – NEKYIA, rhapsody λ’, Homer’s Odyssey (Greek Festival, Epidaurus, National Noh Theatre, Tokyo)
2016: LYSISTRATA, Aristophanes (Epidaurus, tour in Greece – National Theatre)
2016: DON JUAN, Molière (Onassis Stegi, Athens)
2017: ΥΟΚΙΗΙ, a Νοh Theatre production by Komparu Zenchiku (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center)
2018: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Tennessee Williams (Municipal Theatre of Piraeus)
2018: ELECTRA, Sophocles (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Shanghai International Arts Festival, China). Awards for best leading and supporting actor, award for best stage design, nomination for best show
2021: ICHNEUTAE, Sophocles (Epidaurus – Greek Festival, Mount Kyllini, Odeon of Herodes Atticus – Athens Festival)
International collaborations:
- With Albrecht Hirche (Germany) on ALTHUSSER–ROCK 1996, Athens, Germany, France, Switzerland
- With Heiner Goebbels (Germany) on SCHLIEMANN’S SCAFFOLDING 1997, Athens
- With the BIDT theatre company and Erik Pold (Denmark) on PUBLIC SPACES, Athens 2003
- With Daniel Wetzel and Helgard Haug (RIMINI PROTOKOLL-Germany) on HOT SPOTS – “I was here,” Athens, Hamburg 2004.
- With Veenfabriek and Paul Koek (Netherlands) on Euripides’ THE SUPPLIANTS, Netherlands, Epidaurus 2006.
- With the Archaeological Society of Florence and Fabbrica Europa on NOSTOI, 2013-2015
- With the NOH Theatre and NOH master Gensho Umewaka on ΝOH – ΝΕΚΥΙΑ 2015
- With the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Munich Biennale for ONCE TO BE REALIZED, on Jani Christou, 2021-2022.
As an actor:
Marmarinos has participated in many of the productions of the diplous Eros theatre company and has played major roles for other directors such as Roula Pateraki, Yannis Houvardas, Antonis Antypas, Ploutarchos Kaitatzis and Spyros Evangelatos in plays by Koltès, Dagerman, Euripides, Sophocles, etc. He has also played in feature films by L. Papastathis, G. Korras, Τ. Spetsiotis, N. Triantafyllidis, S. Theodoraki, K. Aristopoulos.
In Epidaurus he has appeared in:
- Euripides’ HELEN with the Notos Theatre directed by Yannis Houvardas (as THEOCLYMENUS)
- Euripides’ MEDEA with the Amphi-Theatre, directed by Spyros Evangelatos (as JASON)
- Sophocles’ OEDIPUS REX – OEDIPUS AT COLONUS, National Theatre, directed by Roula Pateraki (as OEDIPUS)
- Sophocles’ PHILOCTETES, directed by Kostas Filippoglou, Epidaurus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus (as PHILOCTETES).
He has been invited to conduct workshops and/or participate with papers and seminars – in Alexandria, Amman, Athens, Berlin, Caracas, Copenhagen, Crete, Florence, Los Angeles, Maastricht, Manila, Montreal, Moscow, Prague, Seoul, Sydney, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Umbria, Wroclaw, and Zurich – on the subjects of:
(a) Directing as Dramaturgy
ELEVATOR: narrative in the first and third person singular – a methodology.
(b) Chorus of the ancient Greek drama – the contemporary transformations of an ancient structure: principles, methodology.
(c) Physical inhibitions and Bioenergetic cry: a physical approach to actors’ training, based on Bioenergetic Analysis.
Member of the International HEINER MÜLLER GESELLSCHAFT.
Member of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis
From 2005 to 2009 he chaired the Greek section of UNESCO’s International Theatre Institute (ITI).
He has taught at the universities of Patra, Nafplio and Thessaloniki.
Assistant professor at the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Since 1997, under his directorship the “Theseum Ensemble” has found a new home in the historical centre of Athens: “theseum – A THEATRE FOR THE ARTS” is an old warehouse converted into an International Centre for Performing Arts, available for collaborations and presentations of groups or individual artists from Europe and beyond. Among those invited to work there are director and composer Heiner Goebbels, Denmark’s Bidt Theatre, the German theatre company Rimini Protokoll, the Scottish director Andrew MacKinnon, the Veenfabriek Theatre of the Dutch director Paul Koek, and others.
In 2020 he was appointed General Artistic Director of the European Capital of Culture for 2023, which is Elefsina:
2023 ΕΛΕVΣΙΣ European Capital of Culture.
AWARDS – DISTINCTIONS
- Koun Award for best Directing and Show for the play National Anthem.
- Production of Jean Genet’s CLIMAX selected to represent Greece in the III Biennial of Young Artists from Mediterranean Europe in Barcelona, Spain in 1987.
- Best actor award in Stig Dagerman’s Marty’s Shadow, Aplo Theatre, directed by Antonis Antypas.
- Acting award at the Ithaca Festival for Lady Almighty by Ploutarchos Kaitartzis with the Amore troupe. (Not received).
- Honorary distinction by the Fundateneo Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas for the show Agamemnon – The Ghost Sonata, Caracas, Venezuela.
- Guest Performer Prize by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education for the show Stalin, a Discussion on (Modern-)Greek Theatre in the context of the ECHT! 7 Festival. POLITIK IM FREIEN THEATER, Staatstheater Köln, Cologne, Germany, 2008.
- Honorary distinction for best show and award for staging and acting for the show Romeo + Juliet, Mikheil Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre, Tbilisi, Georgia, June 2014.
- Mikheil Tumanishvili Grand Prize for stage directing for the plays Medea Material, National Anthem and Romeo + Juliet. Mikheil Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre, Tbilisi, Georgia, autumn 2014.
- Award for best Performance of Ancient Drama for ΝΟH – ΝΕΚΥΑ, Japan, Epidaurus 2015.
- Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture, 2016.
- Award of Excellence, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2020.
