Crisis - that is the key word of our everyday life which, it seems, has the argumented weight of a statement appearing in different contexts: economic crisis, social crisis, global crisis, numerous partial crises (of agriculture, car industry, tobacco industry, fashion industry...), then the crisis of spirit, various crises of identity, cultural crises... But what happens with the theatre in all that? What is a crisis for the theatre and how does the theatre deal with each of these sort of crises? Does the theatre in the time of crisis have another, different social responsibility
or is it only the sacred place of art, is it hermetic towards today or is it the mirror of the society, is it political or apolitical, is it a coding of a political time or an escape from it? What is, finally, the theatre to us
today and where is it placed in Croatian cultural strategy? Although these numerous important questions arise and demand a serious social discussion at all levels, there is almost no intellectually founded and expert discussion or literature about recent theatre; except in specialized magazines, there is no public and media space in which theatre is competently discussed, and particularly the theatre in the general crisis of our times, which means that we are experiencing the crisis of writing and critical analysis of theatre. Finally, if it depended upon the poor treatment in the media or upon the opinion of current theatre critics, our theatre would have no audience and the present situation is exactly the opposite: the life of a theatre performance and the life of our theatre obviously do not depend upon the superficiality of their media arbiters and that is proved by the last century and a half of our theatre‘s history.

In the existing context of crisis, for us who run theatres (particularly such huge mechanisms as the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, with three artistic branches), the current economic situation is certainly decisive because it brings the impoverished production conditions and in that sense, we had to plan our repertoire with regards to the realistic financial parameters, but without reducing the number of première titles in comparison with the previous seasons. From the aspect of theatre history, the times of certain crises were mostly creative for theatre art. I believe that, despite everything, now is the time for theatre, but only for the well thought repertoire with the artistic relevance which is confirmed primarily by the viewers who obviously recognize it. In the last four seasons of the central national theatre in Croatia (which now has up to 140 000 vieweres per season) we have managed to achieve such confirmed repertoire (in Drama, Opera and Ballet alike), without renouncing the idea which is the result of the principle that the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb can re-find its place as an artistically relevant theatre house in the context of European theatre only if it tries to mediate the classics and the tradition by means of modern scenic interpretations. On thus established outlines of recognizability of the artistic and aesthetic phisiognomy of the modern national theatre which unites three artistic branches on one stage, it is possible to keep the interest of our traditional audience, but also to free it, little by little, of the conservatism of reception and all kinds of prejudices, and thus get a new audience which can calculate into its horizon of expectations different kinds of interpretative approaches, progresses and breakthrough of different, recent aesthetic trends. To be more precize: full house confirms that the great classics can live only in modern scenic interpretations, thus becoming our contemporaries. Also, in creating of the repertoire as the junction of different interactions (title, ensemble, director and his or her associates), I consider it a very important achievement of the past period that all three ensembles (drama, opera and ballet) have undeniably proved their strength and that a whole series of young actors, singers and dancers have developed and affirmed themselves in such repertoire.

The repertoire of the season 2009/2010 has been created on such, basic artistic assumptions, as a mixture of repeat performances and premières of a number of classic and modern titles which will intrigue the viewers with their innovative reinterpretations (of their directors, conductors or choreographers). The big ensembles of our Drama, Opera and Ballet will work together on the project of Molière‘s and Lully‘s The Bourgeois Gentleman directed by Krešimir Dolenčić and conducted by Saša Britvić. Continuing with the great ensemble shows of the last season, our Drama is planning three more premières: Hamlet in coproduction with Dubrovnik Summer Festival and directed by Ivica Kunčević; The Possessed by Dostoyevski and Camus, directed by Janusz Kica and Charuga by Kušan, directed by Joško Juvančić. Our Opera will continue to intrigue its curious audience with the modernized scenic interpretation of Puccini’s La Bohème directed by Arnaud Bernard; the new Bellini’s Norma directed by Phillipp Himmelmann and the Croatian première of chaikovsky’s Mazeppa, directed by Ozren Prohić. After the renewal of the hit performance The Sleeping Beauty with a new generation of dancers, our Ballet will give the premières of Fado=Destiny, choreographed by Hugo Viera, and the popular Don Quijote choreographed by Patrick Armand. I am sure that the time of crisis is the right time for theatre, and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb is today, despite everything, scenically alive theatre place with its audience and will soon celebrate the festive 150 anniversary of its continued existence.

Ana Lederer, General Manager