Review article
The People's Theater in Zadar from 1945 to 1955
Teodora Vigato
Abstract
The People's Theatre in Zadar was founded after the end of World War Two on the one hand with the aim of reviving the forgotten Croatian language and culture following two decades of the Italian occupation, and on the other, to serve as the promoter of the spirit of new ideas that arrived to communist Croatia and Yugoslavia mainly from the Soviet Union. The first couple of years of the theatrical life in Zadar were marked by the enthusiasm of the creative ensemble, the audience and the reviewers; however, a major crisis followed. While on the one hand, the Zadar theatre suffered from personnel shortage, on the other, it required a great deal of skill to ensure stage design for a new production in such a pauperised country. In 1954, director Miro Marotti arrived from Zagreb to Zadar, and at that approximate time, stage designer Zdenko Venturini started working at the Zadar theatre. Artistically recovered toward the end of the first decade, the theatre began to ban dilettantism, stereotype acting and outmoded artificiality from the stage. The author analyses in particular the new audience and tackles the issue of theatrical reviewing that followed special criteria in evaluating the performances.
Keywords
The People's Theatre in Zadar; repertoire; audience; theatrical reviewing; communist Yugoslavia; 1945 – 1955
Hrčak ID:
94496
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2012.
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