Nikola Batusic
HISTORY OF CROATIAN THEATRE
As in other countries of occidental civilization, liturgical plays, originally written in Latin and performed in churches, were the beginnings of the theatrical occurrences in today's Croatia. Those dramas have come down to us as integral parts of ecclesiastical books and are mostly of international origin, without any specific national features. The preserved plays often belong to the Easter and Epiphany liturgical circle. This kind of play was performed until the beginning of the 14th century, that is, until the reformation in the liturgical service in the Zagreb Diocese.
Subsequent theatrical forms also developed in the church environment. Spreading of the dramatic motif of the "Mary's Weeping" led to the complete dramatization of Christ's Passion, which is the theatrical culmination of the treatment of the Passion topic. The best preserved work of this sort - "The Passion of Our Saviour" - is in a Glagolitic manuscript from 1556, found in the Croatian seaside region.
In the l5th century, the popular dramatic form was the miracle play dramatizations of the legends about the saints. The most famous is "The Passion of St. Margaret" (around 1500), which has been preserved in several transcripts, and this may explain its scenic diffusion.
It may be interesting to note that in 14th and 15th century Dubrovnik (which had already become the centre of the Croatian theatre) the performances bore the dual traits of a Mediterranean people's theatre based upon improvisations, and of a middle European court culture. These features were to be the basis of the Dubrovnik Renaissance theatre in the 16th century.
The Renaissance represents a fully rounded out segment of Croatian stage history. All the theatrical impulses originated from the two centres - Dubrovnik and Hvar. However, the fact is that we may learn more about this theatre from the subsequent theatrological analyses and indirect conclusions, rather than from a number of indisputable data. The preserved works witness to an abundance of genres: at the same time there were evident attempts at organizing the humanistic theatre (I. Crijevic), than works dealing with the pastorale topic (Dzore Drzic, M. Vetranovic, N. Nalješkovic), carnival farces and improvisations, the first attempts at writing comedies (Nalješkovic), and the development of a more complex secular drama with medievat stage attributes (H. Lucic). The leading place in the entire Renaissance literature is reserved for the works of Marin Drzic (1508?-1567). This universally talented author, and above all comedist, managed to convey in his work a vivid portrayal of his home town Dubrovnik, often criticizing many aspects of Dubrovnik's social life. Drzic organized and evidently directed his own plays. The
performers were the members of closely organized acting companies, mostly young men who also played female roles, which was a common practice at the time in the European theatre based upon literary work rather than improvisations. From the common structure of Drzic's comedies it can be seen that he employed all available experience of the Renaissance stage, reviving it with specific innovations, especially in merging the real world with the world of the Dubrovnik pastorale.
In the 17th century Baroque elements flowed out to all European countries from the Italian stage. Croatian stage expression fitted into European stage trends, and it soon felt the urge for music as one of the fundamental assumptions for the integral theatrical happening, which especially referred to melodrama.
The beginning of theatre life in the 17th century (between 1606 and 1616) was marked by the appearance of a young author Ivan Gundulic. His works bear clear Baroque attributes and they are fully incorporated into the mythological and arcadic topic, that is, into the standards of the genres of that time. However, the central place of Gundulic's theatrical practice is reserved for the performance of the pastorale "Dubravka" (1628, "Prid Dvorom" - "In Front of the Court"), followed by Palmotic's "Atalanta" (1629), which announced the revival of the Baroque scene and the appearance of its greatest master - Junije Palmotic - who reigned over the Dubrovnik theatre between 1629 and 1652.
The Baroque theatre in Dubrovnik favored a well organized acting company with exceptional performing skills. In the second half of the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century ten companies with similar social status or theatrical orientation as far as genres were concerned, performed in the City.
Soon the need arose for an indoor stage in Dalmatian towns. Hvar was the first to get a playhouse. The playhouse was built in 1612 on an already existing arsenal. As far as organization was concerned this theatre was communal, which means that it was completely open to all citizens. In Dubrovnik, the playhouse was founded in Orsano in 1682 (also in an arsenal).
The most vital segment of the theatrical expression in Dubrovnik at the beginning of the 18th century was based upon French translations, that is, the localizations and adaptations of Moliere's comedies. 23 out of 34, of Moliere’s works being adapted in Dubrovnik. Besides Moliere's works the works of Pierre Corneille and especially Pietro Metastasio were also translated. Under the influence of the professional Italian commedia dell'arfe companies, and subsequently, opera companies, the Croatian stage expression based upon the centuries' long amateur tradition was gradually lost, since it was too weak to oppose the skills of the stage professionals. At the same time, the Baroque theatre in the northern Croatia was marked by the strong Jesuit pedagogical and stage activity. Members of the Jesuit order established schools and school theatres. According to records, the first Jesuit performance was presented in Zagreb (which became the theatre centre of northern Croatia) in 1607, and the Jesuit theatre fully expanded in the course of the 18th century. The Jesuit theatre operated within the ecclesiastical high schools until 1772, when the order was dissolved, and the Jesuits left Croatia. Initially plays were first performed in Latin, but later on Croatian was employed more often. The stage scenery was furnished in the Baroque style, and the actors were the school students who performed during their regular classes.
After a twenty year break (caused by the departure of the Jesuits), another school theatre began its work at the Zagreb Roman Catholic seminary on Kaptol, performing translations, localizations and adaptations of German authors in the “kajkavian” dialect, mainly during carnival days. The actors who performed in this theatre were seminarists and mostly remained anonymous, as did their professors who directed the plays. This theatre movement provided no significant original authors, and the only autochthonous kajkavian comedist remained Tituš Brezovacki - his comedy "Matijaš Grabancijaš Dijak" was performed in 1804 at the Aristocratic Boarding School. Brezovacki directed the brunt of his satire towards superstition and other faults of the society of his time. His scenic traits displayed not only excellent knowledge of the comedist techniques, but also his faith that the theatrical expression was a socially relevant phenomenon whose force was indisputable.
Various other acting companies emerged in the other towns in northern Croatia and they performed in German. They took advantage of vacant theatre space and performed in Zagreb until 1860, and even longer in other environments.
In the 19th century, northern Croatia, or more precisely, the city of Zagreb, became the national acting centre. From that time on, the theatre ceased to be a cluster of individual undertakings or improvised attempts, but rather endeavored to strengthen its organization.
In 1834, the first playhouse with 750 seats was built in Zagreb in which the Croatian theatre life was gradually organized. During the first six years German ensembles performed in this establishment, and from 1840 the "National Theatre Society" performed the first professional play in Croatian - Kukuljevic's play "Juran and Sophia, or the Turks at Sisak". This event meant the beginning of the new era of the Croatian theatre art. In 1860, there was a series of demonstrations in the theatre which led to the subsequent break with the tradition of the German theatre. From that time the theatre became a national institution with uninterrupted subvention.
In the period of Croatian Modernism - in 1894 - Stjepan Miletic was appointed the theatre manager. During his four year tenure he introduced many artistic and organizational innovations. The new playhouse, today's Croatian National Theatre, opened during his management (1895). Miletic brought to the stage classic Croatian authors (Drzic and Palmotic), playwrights of the 19th century, and he also advocated the modernists (Ivo Vojnovic, Milutin Cihlar Nehajev, and Srdan Tucic). He achieved the Europeanisation of the scenic picture of his time by new staging of Shakespeare, Goldoni, Moliere, the Russian classical authors, Ibsen, Hauptmann and other modern playwrights. The representatives of the new generation of actors brought into their interpretations the spirit of stage realism. The Croatian Drama School, established in 1896, became the foundation of all subsequent schools of acting.
Miletic's withdrawal from his function, caused by financial difficulties and disputes with the bureaucratic administration, ended up in the dissolution of the Opera, while the Drama was revived owing to the agility of the marager Josip Bach and, later on, the innovations of the director, Ivo Raic. The plays of the modern Croatian playwrights were performed: Vojnovic, Ogrizovic, Galovic, Begovic Kosor, and almost all European authors of Modernism. 'The second half of the 19th century was characterized by endeavors to stabilize theatre circumstances outside Zagreb. Playhouses were established in the following towns: Dubrovnik (1864), Split (1859), Rijeka (1805), Varazdin (1873), and in Osijek, where the second Croatian professional theatre was founded in 1907.
Theatre modernism introduced new European impulses; proving that the stage direction and the scenography are the inescapable art categories.
Theatre life between the two world wars depended greatly upon the ruling political circumstances-the police censors either banned entire performances (e.g. Miroslav Krleza's "Gallitia", 1920) or made drastic changes or cuts in the plays.
In 1922, the opening night of "Golgotha" marked the beginning of the whole series of productions of Krleza's plays, and Branko Gavella established himself as one of the most significant directors. Miroslav Krleza (1893-1981) became the central literary, and, in part, theatre personality, and he was to maintain this central position until his death. First he wrote symbolical dramas, experimented with the poetics of expressionism, and consequently he wrote the best examples of the Ibsen-like realism in this part of Europe, in his dramatic cycle on the Glembay family ("The Glembays", "In Agony", and "Leda"). Striving to express his time in its complexity and to employ his words as a poetic expression of anxiety and search for an epoch, he frequently clashed with his milieu. Krleza's complete works were published in 1985, in 50 volumes.
Besides Krleza's contribution, the drama repertoire was enriched by the performances of plays by other contemporary authors: T. Strozzi, M. Feldman, K. Mesaric, J. Kulundzic, G. Senecic, M. Matkovic, R. Marinkovic and A. Cesarec.
In this period, many foreign acting companies and individual artists visited Zagreb, with direct contacts with the Moscow Hudozevstvni Teatr (led by Stanislavski), the "Opera-Comique" and "Comcdie-Franaise" from Paris, the Scala from Milan and the Burgentheatre from Vienna. During World War II, in the Independent State of Croatia, the theatres worked within the ideological programs of the time, while the group of left-oriented Zagreb actors joined the Partisans in 1942.
The creation of a new Yugoslavian state in May, 1945 is considered as the beginning of the contemporary period of the Croatian theatre. A series of new professional theatres was established at that time, as well as the Academy of Drama Art (1950) - the first degree granting educational institution which dealt with acting and stage directing. The Zagreb Drama Theatre, today's "Gavella" Drama Theatre, was established in 1953. This officially enabled the development of pluralism in the theatre which was going to be visible in repertoire policy, scenic pictures and organizational forms.
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival (1950) played a significant role in the development of Croatian stage culture. This Festival became the centre of the exploration of new stage forms, assessment of repertoire and first productions.
Since the war the works of the following authors have been performed: M. Bozic, I. Doncevic, M. Feldman, D. Gervais, J. Horvat, S. Kolar, D. Roksandic, P. Budak, R. Marinkovic, M. Matkovic, F. Hadzic, and M. Krleza's work has been reinterpreted, reassessed and staged.
New authors have emerged with the most heterogeneous topics and brave stylistic and dramaturgical attributes: I. Bakmaz, I. Brešan, N. Fabrio, I. Ivanac, D. Ivaniševic, J. Kaštelan, V. Kljakovic, J. Kulundzic, I. Kušan, I. Raos, I. Supek, A. Soljan, S. Šnajder ...
(1994)