Contemporary Croatian drama

Martina Petranović

At present, three Croatian playwrights are working in the management of the central Croatian national theatre, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb: Dino Pešut and Mirna Rustemović as theatre dramaturgs and Tena Štivičić as Director of Drama. This can be interpreted as a positive trend in engaging Croatian playwrights in prominent theatre positions and a welcome contribution to the overall image of contemporary drama in Croatian theatre.

In the past ten to fifteen years, a variety of contemporary Croatian plays have been staged in Croatian theatres, regardless of whether we are talking about national, city or private theatres or institutional or independent theatre scenes. The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb stages a new Croatian play almost every year and presents different models of playwriting, featuring well-established names such as Mate Matišić, Tomislav Zajec and Tena Štivičić, but also less familiar authors. Several years ago, for example, the CNT issued a call for plays that launched the new poetic theatre of Monika Herceg. Such calls are not common in Croatian theatre, so a similar initiative from the private theatre Moruzgva, which focused primarily on comedy and ran successfully for several years, stands out as an example of a possible synergy between Croatian theatres and plays.

At the Croatian National Theatres in Osijek, Rijeka, Split and Varaždin, the staging of contemporary Croatian plays is often but not necessarily related to the introduction of local authors, topics and idioms, as is also the case in the city theatres of Dubrovnik, Pula and Virovitica. Certain genre-oriented theatres, such as Kerempuh Satirical Theatre, Histrion Acting Company and Kerekeš Theatre, tend to associate themselves with particular contemporary authors, while Gavran Theatre remains devoted to productions of Miro Gavran’s dramas and comedies. Experimental stages like &TD Theatre in Zagreb or independent theatres and theatre groups like KUFER, RUPER, Rebel, Empiria Theatre and KunstTeatar in Zagreb and PlayDrama in Split, aim at younger generations of playwrights, including students and playwrights prone to dramaturgical experiments and tackling topical issues. Finally, the impact of Zagreb Youth Theatre cannot be overstated with regard to both its regular repertory productions of contemporary plays and its various side programs, such as staged readings of plays by young writers (Future is Here), recipients of the national playwriting award (Držić in ZYT) and participation in regional playwriting projects, etc.

A developmental program called Zajc Lab occasionally runs in the National Theatre in Rijeka and also opens up space for contemporary Croatian plays, while PlayDrama in Split stands out as a propagator of contemporary Croatian plays tailored to the needs of its collective. The newly launched Fort Forno Theatre in Bale commissioned Boris Senker to write several plays on local topics to cater to the cultural needs of tourists visiting Istria. Devising-oriented theatre groups devoted to the presentation of various underprivileged communities and socially sensitive or engaged subjects, such as Arterarij, often develop their projects in collaboration with contemporary Croatian playwrights, such as Mila Pavičević, Jasna Jasna Žmak, Dorotea Šušak and Olja Lozica.

Contemporary Croatian drama includes a broad range of playwrights belonging to different generations and distinguished by diverse dramaturgical and poetic preferences, concerns and attitudes towards dramatic writing. The prominent representatives of the older generation of playwrights, active since the last quarter of the twentieth century, include Boris Senker (1947) and Nino Škrabe (1947), Luko Paljetak (1943–2024) and Matko Sršen (1947), some of whom are closely connected to specific regional or genre-oriented theatres. Playwrights who established their careers in the eighties, such as Miro Gavran (1961), as well as playwrights who rose to prominence in the nineties, such as Mate Matišić (1965), Davor Špišić (1961) and Ivan Vidić (1966), continue to write new plays and confirm their relevance for contemporary Croatian theatre life. Equally prominent and repeatedly staged playwrights are those whose careers began at the turn of the century, such as Tomislav Zajec (1972), Dubravko Mihanović (1975), Filip Šovagović (1966) and Elvis Bošnjak (1971), as well as women writers who have since achieved reputable international careers: Tena Štivičić (1977), Ivana Sajko (1975) and Nina Mitrović (1978). Ivana Sajko and Goran Ferčec (1978) also stand out as key representatives of formally innovative and experimental playwriting.

The current playwriting scene is particularly dynamic thanks to the writers who entered the theatre in the 2010s, such as Olja Lozica (1982), Ivor Martinić (1984), Vedrana Klepica (1986) and Dino Pešut (1990), most of whom are inclined to direct their own plays and/or develop collaborative theatre projects. Current theatre production is also deeply marked by the projects of several permanent director and playwright teams, such as Anica Tomić (1980) and Jelena Kovačić (1979) and Miran Kurspahić (1979) and Rona Žulj (1985). Although most contemporary playwrights study dramaturgy at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, diverse authors outside of that circle, such as Marina Vujčić (1966), Una Vizek (1976) and Monika Herceg (1990), have also asserted models of playwriting. Finally, the range of vibrant young(er) authors whose plays are regularly staged, awarded and/or published includes Dina Vukelić (1990), Ivan Penović (1992), Luka Vlašić (1990), Espi Tomičić (1995), Ivana Vuković (1992), Dorotea Šušak (1996), Nikolina Rafaj (1994), Katja Grcić (1982), Kristina Kegljen (1987), Vid Adam Hribar (1993) and others.

In the twenty-first century, the attention of both the older and younger generations of playwrights seems to have turned towards topics that are intimate and personal or of global and international relevance. Numerous plays tackle private relationships, love, friendship and family (Nina Mitrović, Susret/Encounter, Ivor Martinić, Dobro je dok umiremo po redu/It is Fine as Long as We Die in Due Order, Tomislav Zajec, Ono što nedostaje/That Which Is Missing), generational issues facing millennials (Dino Pešut, (Pret)posljednja panda ili statika/(Pen)ultimate Panda or Static), global matters of terrorism, the decline of personal freedoms and western civilisation (Ivan Vidić, Noćni život/Night Life) and the everyday struggles of migrants or war refugees in a multicultural and globalised society (Tena Štivičić, Fragile!, Invisible). Many plays focus on stigmatised or marginalised groups and socially constructed identities that fall outside the dominant and normative matrix (ethnic, national or gender minorities, the elderly, infirm or differently abled, economically disadvantaged, etc) such as Vincent by Olja Lozica, Down, By Low by Mila Čuljak, Your Love is King by Espi Tomičić, Prolazi sve/Everything Passes Away by Dubravko Mihanović, and Radnice u gladovanju/Female Workers on Hunger Strike by Goran Ferčec. Contemporary playwrights, especially but not exclusively female authors, have turned their attention to female experience (historically and in the present day), including the social position of women, the suppression of women’s rights, sexual and gender-based violence, taboo topics such as abortion, assisted reproduction or postpartum depression and the impact of patriarchal norms and neoliberal capitalism on women in general (Tena Štivičić, 64, Vedrana Klepica, Bijeli bubrezi/White Kidneys, Ivana Vuković, Možeš biti sve što želiš/You Can Be Anything You Want).

Another striking area in ​​current playwriting is addressed to children and young people, and grapples with domestic violence, sexual abuse or even filicide (Tomislav Zajec, Nestajanje/The Vanishing; Katja Grcić, Strah tijela od poda/How Bodies Fear the Ground), as well as the wars and poverty that deny them the right to carefree childhood and adolescence (Monika Herceg, Mama, smijemo li danas umrijeti/Mom, Can We Please Die Today, Dorotea Šušak Trenutak prije – poslije (ili Djeca odlaze nepomućenih očiju/The Moment Before – After (or Children Leave with their Eyes Clear). Other works targeting this audience address the state of the planet (concerning the economy, politics, housing and climate change), such as Ivana Sajko’s Crna kutija za kraj svijeta/Black Box for the End of the World, and the overwhelming feelings of displacement and isolation that can lead to psychological disorders, escape into virtual reality or violence, as in Dina Vukelić’s Dnevna doza mazohizma/Daily Dose of Masochism.