Marijnen was born in
Mechelen on 4 April 1943. He studied directing at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound (RITCS) in Brussels. Marijnen 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
Towards a Poor Theatre. Marijnen tried to apply Grotowski's method upon his return to Belgium, in 1969. He taught workshops at multiple Flemish and Dutch theatre companies, including the
Nederlandse Komedie 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 theatre 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 in 1977 to become the first director of the Ro Theatre in Rotterdam. As a freelance director at other theatres, 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 KVS in Brussels where he produced classical pieces such as
King Lear (1987) and
Oedipus / In Kolonos (1994). He brought audiences from French-speaking Brussels and endeavoured 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 Theatre in
The Hague to direct productions such as
Glenn Gould (2008) and
Pier Paolo Pasolini – PPP (2010). Since 2012, he was 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. == Selected works ==