Franz Marijnen

Franz Marijnen (born in Mechelen on April 4, 1943 ) is a Belgian theatre director. The beginning of his career, in the Netherlands and Belgium, was based in the work of Polish theatre director and theorist Jerzy Grotowski. He then moved to the United States and founded the experimental theatre company Camera Obscura. By the latter half of the 1970s, he was again working primarily in Europe. He served as artistic director of several large theaters in the Netherlands and Belgium, including the Ro Theater in Rotterdam and the Royal Flemish Theater in Brussels.

Marijnen studied directing at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound (RITCS) in Brussels. He began directing for the Mechels Miniatuur Teater while a student at RITCS, and in 1966 directed a production of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story that received positive reviews.

In 1966, Marijnen met Polish theatre director and theorist Jerzy Grotowski at a workshop in Brussels. In 1967, Marijnen went to Poland for an internship at Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre in Opole. He was inspired by Grotowski's method, which focused on the actor's physical presence on the stage. Marijnen wrote and published a report about Grotowski's workshop in the theatre magazine Windroos. The report was later reprinted in Grotowski's 1968 book Naar een arm theater.

Marijnen tried to apply Grotowski's method when he returned to Belgium in 1969. He taught workshops at multiple Flemish and Dutch theatre companies, including Dutch Comedy in Amsterdam, and found that classically trained actors were not open to the method.

In 1971, Marijnen moved to the United States, looking for a more receptive environment to teach and apply Grotowski's method. He had several teaching appointments while in the United States, including at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. In 1973, he founded his own theater company, Camera Obscura, which was based in Jamestown, New York. He directed multiple productions at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City during the early 1970s, including Fernando Arrabal's Fando and Lis (1971), Camera Obscura in Andy Wolk's Oracles (1973), Camera Obscura in Wolk's adaptation of Comte de Lautreamont's Maldoror (1974), and Camera Obscura in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (1974). Camera Obscura went on tour in Europe in 1973, 1974, and 1975.

He returned to Europe and, from 1977 to 1983, was the first director of the Ro Theater in Rotterdam. At the Ro Theater and as a freelance director at other theaters, he produced large-scale productions such as Wasteland (Rotterdam, 1980) and Bataille Bataille (Groningen, 1992). He continued using Grotowski's method, and was one of the few directors who successfully produced large-scale productions that were experimental.

In 1993, Marijnen became the director of the Royal Flemish Theater in Brussels. He produced of classical pieces such as King Lear (1987) and Oedipus / In Kolonos (1994). He brought audiences from French-speaking Brussels and endeavored to give Arab culture a place in the theatre. He resigned in 2000 after seven years as director, partially due to financial issues the theatre was experiencing.

He then joined the National Theater in The Hague, where he directed productions including Glenn Gould (2008) and Pier Paolo Pasolini - PPP (2010). Since 2012, he has again been directing in Mechelen at Arsenaal, the former Mechels Miniatuur Teater, where he started his career. In early 2014, he produced Scarlatti with an international cast.

1966

The Zoo Story, Edward Albee - Mechels Miniatuur Teater

1968

Saved, Edward Bond - Mechels Miniature Teater

1970

Learn about Leather / Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare - Dutch Comedy

1973

Oracles, with Andy Wolk (after Sophocles' Oedipus) - Camera Obscura

Yerma, Federico García Lorca - Nederlands Toneel Gent (NTGent)

1975

Grimm! (collaborative project about the Brothers Grimm - Schauspielhaus Hamburg

1980

Wasteland (Simon Rozendaal Ensemble) - Ro Theater in collaboration with Werkcentrum Dans

De Meiden, Jean Genet - Ro Theater

1983

Aida, Giuseppe Verdi - Royal Ballet of Flanders, Antwerp Orchestra, and Flanders Opera

1984

Jules Verne, Rob Scholten and Marijnen - Ro Theater, Stichting Noordelijk Theater de Voorziening

Exit the King, Eugène Ionesco - NTGent

1985

I Jan Cremer, Lennaert Nijgh (after Jan Cremer) - Ro Theater

1987

Doctor Faust, libretto by Ferrucio Busoni - Dutch Opera Foundation

King Lear, William Shakespeare - NTGent

1988

Woyzeck, Georg Büchner - The National Theater

1989

Orgy, Pier Paolo Pasolini - The Southern Theater

1991

Endgame, Samuel Beckett - Royal Flemish Theater

1992

Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett - The National Theater

Bataille / bataille, Georges Bataille - North Dutch Theater

1993

King Lear, William Shakespeare - Royal Flemish Theater

1994

Oedipus, Hugo Claus (to Seneca) - Royal Flemish Theater

In Kolonos, Hugo Claus (after Sophocles) - Royal Flemish Theater

1996

Oresteia, Aeschylus - Royal Flemish Theater

2000

Winter, Jon Fosse - The Arsenal

2008

Red Rubber Balls, Peter Verhelst - The National Theater

Glenn Gould, Marijnen - The National Theater

2010

Pier Paolo Pasolini - PPP, Marijnen - The National Theater

2011

The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill - The National Theater

2014

Scarlatti, Marijnen - The Arsenal