It was built in “one night” for a dolphin show and stayed for four decades…

It is about the well-known “DOLPHINARIUM” and later “Menandreio” (in honor of the most important of the poets of the latest Attic comedy, Menandros), which this summer completes 53 years of life, during which it became synonymous with the revue jenre,

since the most famous Greek actors have passed through its stage. Since 2005, the theater has been rented by the Municipality of Piraeus to the well-known actorMarkos Seferlis, who every summer presents expensive productions, with a large troupe, of an inspection nature.

But, for the theater, everything started in the summer of 1971, after a decision by the then Mayor of Piraeus, Aristides Skylitsis, to host a show of “famous” dolphins. In a report in the daily Piraeus newspaper “Chronografos”

of July 14, 1971, after the show is announced, we read, that the Mayor “created a nice swimming pool in the gym area in Myrtidiotissa with bleachers for the spectators”.

Flipper the Dolphin

The “guest” was the “popular” Flipper, a dolphin, who “starred” in one of the foreign shows, which were shown on the first “steps” of Greek television. This show was the occasion to create “Delfinario” or “Menandreio”, as it was later called. On July 17, 1971, the daily newspapers of Piraeus circulated with a front page reference to imminent arrival of “Flipper” while valuable information is drawn from the publications about the history of the theater, which seems to have been created for this performance with the prospect to “organize other artistic events, after the pool is covered”, as it mentioned, characteristically, in its extensive report the “Chronograph”. Thus, the theater that was created, within about 10 days, with a removable platform with a capacity of 1,000 people, began to operate on July 22, 1971 and in the first 4 days more than 12,000 spectators watched the dolphin show.

The following year, we read in the Chronicle that on July 16, 1972, the “American Water Show” began performances, which included ballerinas in the water, swimming and diving demonstrations, “daring athletes doing high jumps and aqua maniac clowns.”.

In 1973 there doesn’t seem to have been any performance and in the summer of 1974 after some short performances of the music dance group “Zíto o Kósmos”, The Anousaki-Strategou troupe started performances on July 5, with the play “The Beloved of the Shepherdess”. Years passed and that theater was demolished to build the Stadium of Peace and Friendship and the present theater was created. But, whether in its first form or in its current form, the “Dolphinarium” remained “alive” and always identified with the Revue.

Markos Seferlis – A new history of the Theater

Since 2005, when Markos Seferlis rented the theater, he completely changed the structure of the up until then revue and essentially laid the “foundations” for a new form, in which he plays all the numbers. It should be noted that the texts, the songs, the direction and in general the entire production (expensive sets and costumes, actors, technicians, employees of the theater), he himself shoulders it, with the result every summer, 80,000 to 100,000 spectators enjoy his impressive inspections and laugh to their heart’s content!