Croatology, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2010.
Review article
Two Faces of Home-based Theatre in 18th Century Dubrovnik
Lada Muraj
orcid.org/0000-0003-0857-6066
; Ministarstvo vanjskih poslova i europskih integracija, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
During the 18th century, due to the rising frequency of visits of Italian
professional touring acting companies to Dubrovnik, the activities of local amateur troupes in the premises of the city theatre of Orsan were declining. Therefore, the only opportunity left for local amateur troupes to perform was in home-based theatres, a tradition that, in the form of wedding performances,dates back to the times of Marin Držić. In the 18th century, following the French
fashion of the time, which also reached the Eastern Adriatic coast, this activity became an integral part of social pursuits of the salons. Evidence of this practice is the home-based performance of a play called Pokrinokat, an adaptation of the French medieval Farce du maître Pathelin, produced in Dubrovnik before the end of the century. In contrast to this fancy practice of home-based theatre,
it is assumed that there were also performances associated with an intimate,family circle, or performances in the sphere of Dubrovnik’s convents. These were Christmas pastoral plays, written by female authors such as Marija Bettera, Benedikta Gradić, Lukrecija Bogašinović and Anica Bošković. Whereas we do not possess direct evidence of the home-based performances of these plays (they were primarily conceived as readings for Dubrovnik young girls), we can discuss the convent performances with more certainty. Thus we discuss two kinds of theatre as specific forms of social activity. The intention of this paper is to show these two practices of home-based theatre and to try to explore their social and performance features. Furthermore, it is interesting to notice that the production of Pokrinokat introduces actresses on the Croatian stage, although in home-based theatres, and that the authors, and most probably
the producers of the Christmas pastoral plays, were also women. Therefore, our intention is also to comment these first appearances of women as active participants in the Croatian theatre.
Keywords
home-based theatre; theatre as a social activity; Dubrovnik; Christmas pastoral plays; actresses
Hrčak ID:
60211
URI
Publication date:
27.10.2010.
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