Berliner Ensemble Performed in Zagreb for the First Time: Two Sold-Out Performances of “The Scattered” at HNK2Drama — 05. October 2026.
One of Europe’s most prestigious theatres made its Zagreb debut as part of HNK2EU – The European Theatre Cycle in Zagreb
Berliner Ensemble, one of the best-known and most internationally renowned German theatres, performed in Zagreb for the first time. On Friday and Saturday, 2 and 3 October, the Berlin-based ensemble performed The Scattered, a play by Croatian playwright Tena Štivičić, on the HNK2 stage, directed by Laura Linnenbaum. Both performances were sold out, and the audience sent the artists off with prolonged applause.
The guest performance took place within the new programme of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, HNK2EU – The European Theatre Cycle in Zagreb, which introduces Zagreb audiences to leading European theatres, their ensembles, playwrights and contemporary directorial approaches. Following the September guest performance by the Ivan Vazov National Theatre from Sofia, Berliner Ensemble is the second European theatre to appear in the cycle.
Complex and serious themes in the play are interwoven with humour, tenderness and recognisable family situations. Actress Constanze Becker, who plays one of the sisters, described it as a work “full of different emotions, just like life”.
For The Scattered, Tena Štivičić was awarded the Helene Weigel Prize for 2025. “Writing for the legendary Berliner Ensemble, a theatre founded by one of my favourite playwrights, Bertolt Brecht, was both a great responsibility and a great source of excitement. Bringing together different cultural codes, languages and dramaturgical traditions on stage is a demanding and risky undertaking. I am delighted that the production has found such a strong resonance in Berlin, but especially that it was received in Zagreb with such warmth, concentration and understanding,” said Tena Štivičić, the playwright.
The Berliner Ensemble’s guest performance also serves as a preview of the Croatian production of The Scattered, which will be premiered on 8 January 2027 by the CNT Drama, directed by Nina Rajić Kranjac. Over the course of just a few months, Zagreb audiences will thus have the opportunity to see two different artistic interpretations of the same contemporary play.
The production was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Zagreb and the Goethe-Institut Kroatien.
The HNK2EU – The European Theatre Cycle in Zagreb programme continues in October with a guest performance by the Mladinsko Theatre, Ljubljana, presenting Not Carmen! based on motifs from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, directed by Zana Hoxha. This will be followed in November by a guest performance by the Slovenian National Theatre Nova Gorica, whose ensemble will perform Tomi Janežič’s original project 1973 at HNK2. The production was created as part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025.
Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Zagreb and the Goethe-Institut Kroatien.
