Michalis Tamboukas

Widely regarded as one of the best Greek stage and screen actors of his generation, Michalis Tamboukas is a renowned "chameleon" of remarkable versatility in transformations both outside and inside, expressed through his unique interpretations in a wide range of demanding roles. His excellent work as a multifarious theatre artist from a young age includes brilliant performances in productions of plays such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Faust - Part I" (1993), Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" and Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" (1994), William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1996), and Timberlake Wertenbaker's "The Love of the Nightingale" (1998) along with exquisite film and TV roles.

The great Greek director Minos Volanakis considered his performance as Nils Krogstad to be the best one of the role he had ever seen, in the production of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" directed by Michalis Papamichalis at the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Veroia (or 'Veria'), Greece in 1994, when Michalis Tamboukas was 22.

In 2009 he directed the short film "Giant Footsteps", which includes a portrait of Eirini Mavromataki, a great artist of dance-theatre who has a physiology similar to one of dwarfism due to Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease). The film was first screened in 2009 at the 3rd International Festival Documentary and Disability-Emotion Pictures in Athens, Greece. Michalis Tamboukas dedicated the film to Tom Shakespeare.

Member of THEAMA (Theater for Disabled People), the first and internationally acclaimed Greek theatre consisted of disabled actors in its main composition (such as the renowned actor and director Vassilis Oikonomou who founded THEAMA in 2010, Panos Zournatzidis, Marina Besiri, Christina Toumba, Giorgos Iliakis and Maria Mourelatou) as well as by non-disabled ones (such as Aimiliani Avraam, Efi Toumba and himself). In 2014, THE.AM.A. staged in Athens, Greece, Edward Albee's first one-act play "The Zoo Story", where Tamboukas played Jerry. The park bench -where Peter meets Jerry- was theatrically 'transcribed' in the wheelchair used by Panos Zournatzidis, the excellent actor who played Peter, and the production was noted as an acclaimed performance, brilliantly directed by Vassilis Oikonomou. After the performances in Athens, the production continued on tour in other cities of Greece with a fine cast which also included Vassilis Oikonomou, Christina Toumba, Giorgos Iliakis, Maria Mourelatou, Efi Toumba, Aimiliani Avraam and Marina Besiri in roles of persons that come from Jerry's narration, and in their way of existing in his state of being, they get life on stage, some of them in animal figures. The documentary THE.AM.A. (2014), directed by Eliana Perifanou and Maria Sidiropoulou, was filmed mainly during the rehearsals and the performance of "The Zoo Story", depicting the work of this exquisite theatre group. On the occasion of World Theatre Day (WTD) March 27, the documentary was broadcast that day in 2015 by the Greek TV network of Public Television.

Made cameo appearances, such as in Akalyptos (2013) and I limouzina: Komodia parexigiseon (2013) due to his appreciation for their directors, Christos Dimas and Nikos Panayotopoulos, respectively.

In 2015 he played the role of Father Robert in Eugène Ionesco's "Jack or Submission" (Jacques ou la Soumission), which was staged by THEAMA in Athens and on tour in other cities of Greece, directed by Vassilis Oikonomou. The fine cast of this acclaimed production also included Aimiliani Avraam as Jack, Panos Zournatzidis as Roberta, Efi Toumba as Mother Jack, Michalis Grammatas as Jacqueline, Manos Triantafillakis as Father Jack, Giorgos Iliakis as Grandfather Jack, Mary Stamatoula as Grandmother Jack and Maria Mourelatou together with Katerina Kontomarkou as Mother Robert. Panos Zournatzidis was also the Assistant Director of the production and Marina Besiri participated in alternate cast for the role of Grandmother Jack.

In 2016 he played remarkably the role of the Messenger in Aeschylus' "The Persians", translated and directed by Vassilis Oikonomou in the acclaimed production of THEAMA, which was first presented at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival in the New Stage Nikos Kourkoulos of the National Theatre of Greece. Next it was also presented on tour in other Festivals and cities of Greece and it was welcomed as a significant artistic event of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, praised by critics and audiences who considered it even as the best production of "The Persians" they had ever seen. The role of Darius's widow and Xerxes's mother Atossa was played by two thespians together on stage: Christina Toumba, from her wheelchair, delivered the Queen's words and the deaf actress Christina Tsavli incarnated her physical presence. Darius was portrayed by Panos Zournatzidis, Xerxes by Vassilis Oikonomou and Yiota Vei was the Chorus Leader. Chorus was consisted by Aimiliani Avraam (Leader II), Marina Besiri, Michalis Grammatas, Giorgos Iliakis, Marina Stamati, Mary Stamatoula and Efi Toumba. "The Persians" (472 BC) is Aeschylus' first saved play and thus more ancient one, and a fundamental stone for the art of theatre. The play is also the only one of the ancient Greek dramaturgy with a plot inspired not by myths which were also serving on stage as a reference to contemporary social and political events and issues like the other plays that eventually remained to the later generations, but it is immediately related with the historical events of the aftermaths that followed the Battle of Salamis, where Aeschylus fought in 480 BC. A significant factor of Aeschylus' legacy in the "The Persians" is the fact that he wrote about the victory of his fellow-citizens Athenians through the tragedy of their opponents, the Persians, caused by the loss of innumerable men due to the defeat of their army, which was led by Xerxes for the conquest of Greece. Here Aeschylus pointed out the only value of life, which is based on the humility and love that people share the one with the other in opposition to the hubris of the arrogance of power (such as the one of Xerxes) which can lead to a megalomania that devastates lands and ruins lives. Through this narration of the story, Aeschylus spoke about everything concerning human relations and life as it was also later developed by other playwrights and above all Shakespeare in many ways, setting thus the very substance of theatre that has much to do with the realization and sense of one's place through the understanding of the position of others.

In 2018 (January - April) he played Inspector Goblet in Jean-Paul Sartre's play "Nekrassov", presented for the first time in Greece at the "Apo Michanis Theatro" (i.e. Ex Machina Theatre) in Athens, in a critically praised production by THEAMA, brilliantly directed by Vassilis Oikonomou, where he received kudos on his marvelous performance together with Vassilis Oikonomou in the leading role of Georges De Valera, Panos Zournatzidis as Jules Palotin and Katerina Kontomarkou as Demidoff. The fine cast also included Manos Triantafillakis (Beggar Robert, Sibilot), Aimiliani Avraam (Beggar Irma, Peruvian Mayor's Interpreter, Nerciat), Konstantinos Loukas and Hannah El Haj Omar as Police Officers, Angeliki Nomikou (Palotin's Secretary), Christina Toumba (Tavernier), Efi Toumba (Périgord), Maria Mourelatou (Peruvian Mayor), Andreas Zikoulis (Mouton), Elie Driva (Veronique), Evangelia Schina (Mrs. Bounoumi), Stavros Zafiris (Baudouin and Chapuis) and Marina Besiri (Party Guest) in excellent performances. This acclaimed stage production was also the first Greek one accessible to persons with sensory disabilities with surtitles both in Greek and English, Greek Sign Language interpretation and audio description. The sublime music of the show was composed by Elias Kourtparasidis. The process of the production was also depicted in the documentary film project One Other Sartre (2018).