Now, more than ever, it is abundantly clear that a young generation of playwrights and dramatists, directors and choreographers, actors, dancers and performers, theoreticians and critics is gradually bringing about a silent revolution in Croatian Theatre. They are slowly sliding from the edges towards the centre; from the Alternative they are becoming transformed into mainstreams. Ridding itself of the old institutions, this generation is working towards establishing its own, new institutions. The task is an arduous one, since to extricate oneself from the well established is neither simple nor straightforward. Such a transition does not necessarily result in a deterioration of inventiveness. Sliding, and in some cases slipping, is an inevitable process. And although those who are bent on continuing to walk around the edge, as well as those who have merely ventured to the edge, often regard another's slide towards the centre as a betrayal, a defeat, of the Alternative, the situation with regard to Croatian Theatre is such that the only way out is the abolition of the Alternative in the centre. That, however, should not be accomplished through the submission of the Alternative to the centre, and its subsequent decline within the stifling embrace of the centre. Quite the contrary, the Alternative should conquer and become a centre itself - but a new one rather than a restored one!
This process of conquest is currently under way.
Although the old centre is a nesting place for the politically correct and the selected - as is common in states possessing a heritage such as ours - which means, of course, that it attracts the lion's share of monetary input - it is impossible to harness the new generation, or rather that segment of it that we would like to label the Alternative. It has finally been realised that taking centre stage does not necessarily involve jumping on the bandwagon of its institutions (most of the members of the young generation who decided to pursue that course ultimately submitted to those institutions) but winning over its public, the young public.
Gradually but inexorably, the still powerful centre will wane. And yet members of that same generation of the young that will grow old in their new nests will, at the end of their road, debilitated by the onslaughts of ever new and upcoming generations, find recorded in their historical credits at least three of the much abused (but not abolished) sanctities of the generations that they themselves had observed: dramatic text and classic dramaturgy, conventions of stage speech, and the omnipotent power of the director.
At this point in time the new generation has not become fully aware of itself. Its participants have been identified and listed in one point only. They are not united in a movement; they do not present manifestos or make public their intentions to eat away at the foundations of old bastions, or to attack and to succeed a depleted generation. This new generation acts through inertia. Its emergence has been (relatively) pacific, and although not a movement it will inevitably lead to revolutionary change.
There are a number of reasons for this absence of integration, and for a certain degree of indolence on the part of the new generation. First, we are talking about a form of extended supra-generation that encompasses at least three age groups which achieved maturity during the last fifteen years - with its oldest participants now approaching 35 years of age, while the youngest are barely 20. Second, because of the above stated facts, this supra-generation comprises those who have demolished the walls and who have experienced war, as well as those who no longer know of any such walls but who have heard of the war more than they remember it. The war took this new generation by surprise and brought its participants to a temporary halt - some of them just as they had leapt over the ruins of those walls - but it also created a deep-seated emotional and spiritual bond and vigour, accelerating its process of maturing which thus overtook the ageing process. The third reason is also closely connected with the first, although it is less traumatic: most of the leading figures in the vanguard of the new generation have passed through the Academy of Drama Art (ADA) which, however unsatisfactorily organised it may be, remains the only recognised system of education that opens the door to theatre institutions and that guarantees professional status. Throughout its schooling, and even after it had endured the process, the vanguard had to withstand the cloning generator of the "olds", which the Academy unarguably is. But the youngest among the new generation are already taking advantage of the ways and means that simply present themselves to bypass the ADA, even where they do pass through it formally. All the above listed reasons have one vitally relevant element in common: the vanguard, the first offensive of the young, perhaps better to say, the bud of the new generation, has prepared the field. And it has still not erected any fences, thus enabling the appearance of an increasing number of "new kids on the block".
There is, however, one further reason that is dissociated from the three stated above and which falls within a wider culturological context, and as such transcends the circumstances in which theatre in Croatia is evolving. The era of avante-guard ambitions, of actions centred on aesthetic and ideological innovations, is behind us, a fact which makes it difficult to regard this new generation - and, to an extent, still an Alternative - as a movement, a group of artists, who think alike, who publish their subversive and revolutionary programme and who are forcing their way in like a storm. The New that is being born in Croatian Theatre is new first and foremost in its context and in the context within which it is emerging, in the adjustment of its production activities to new market conditions, and in its artistic concepts and creations which will not be bounded by common poetic guidelines.
This paper will present names and projects, explaining them only sufficiently enough so as to join them to the procession of the new generation. Analysis and critique will be left to the intrigued onlooker.
The Journal - A Point of Convergence
"Frakcija" (Fraction) was the most recent to appear, but it is the first and, to date, the only such publication to make mention of those now referred to as the "new generation". In its subtitle, a magazine for the performing arts, this publication introduces a new and more comprehensive term for everything that in these parts has been termed theatre - a term which encompassed all the variety and, to a degree, the incompatibility of all performance forms. Although it would be more correct (not only for the sake of chronology) to begin this presentation with the events that took place at the end of the 1980s, the project "Frakcija" is so significant that its review may serve as an introduction to any presentation motivated by the same reasons as this one. Likewise, any study of the Croatian Theatre Alternative may use it as a place for the most comprehensive, serious, critical and meta-language contemporisation of one's insight.
"Frakcija" emerged three years ago as a spin-off from the journal "Teatar & Teorija" (Theatre & Theory), which itself was left to deal with the theory of drama, theatrology and drama theatre. The new journal defined its own field in its subtitle, and after its very first number it demonstrated itself to be an organ that seeks out, supports and examines different splinter groups of the mainstream of Croatian Theatre, which extracts that which we have referred to as the edge, or the Alternative, and it does not concentrate only on, shall we say, "new names", but endeavours to establish a continuity with their predecessors. It would be quite wrong to believe that the new generation of Croatian Theatre springs from anything other than old roots. In fact some of the names (let us call them "old-new" names) maintain an active role in the struggle for conquest, and indeed they are the first to reach the centre - and that despite the fact that their most active phase seemed to have arrived to early.
In addition to extensive discourses presenting and investigating the work of outstanding and interesting authors, to studies inspired by specific problem areas touched upon by certain productions or projects (classic theatre criticism being generally avoided) a considerable number of informative presentations and really attractive visual design (with quality photographs always illustrating the context of any given paper), "Frakcija" also contains texts of various genres commissioned for specific issues, dealing with different topics. To date, the following topics have been covered: extra-institutional theatre, the Alternative, Artaud, body/technology, text and textuality (or, "what we can do with words"), the "politicalness" of the 1990s, Brecht. Although some of the well-known "old-new" names contribute to "Frakcija", theoreticians, playwrights and critics belonging to the new generation are the predominant force in the journal.
From the very outset its clearly set concept has been adhered to consistently. In other words, "Frakcija" has conscientiously avoided events in the centre of Croatian Theatre. The new journal "Glumiste", initiated by the political and theatre establishment is a welcome motivation for a more robust clash of opinions, as well a way to accelerate the ultimate conquest.
Two Festivals: Sources
The beginning of activities by the new generation is linked, first and foremost, to 1987 - the first year of Eurokaz, an international festival dedicated to presenting the creators and representatives of the new theatre. In fact, on its 10th anniversary the second issue of "Frakcija" was devoted in its entirety to Eurokaz which, to date, has played host to a wide range of groups and artists, among whom were: Rosas, La fura dels baus, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Jan Fabre, Derevo, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Needcompany, Francois-Michel Pesenti, Achym Freyer, Stanislas Nordey, Robert Wilson, Stelarc, Rona Athey, Annie Sprinkle, and others. The initiators and (despite all obstacles and negations) still tireless selectors-cum-managers of Eurokaz, Gordana Vnuk and theatre director Branko Brezovec, are the "old-new" names of the Croatian Theatre Alternative. They are the ones who link the new generation to the subdued theatre movements of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. To their own international selection they always counterpoised Slovene Theatre productions (which, incidentally, experienced the same upheavals in the 1980s that Croatian Theatre will experience at the end of the 1990s) and the dissident works of Branko Brezovec himself, and a segment of the Croatian Theatre production which can, in some way, be described as peripheral theatre.
The tenth Eurokaz rounded off its first decade and posed its selectors the following question: have the iconoclastic theatre, the multimedia performances, the new technologies, the new dramaturgy, the noble dilettantism, the physical theatre, the post-mainstream - to mention just some of the terms used to describe (to a lesser or greater degree of aptness) the phenomena, the trends and the methods of Eurokaz shows and performances - had any significant influence on Croatian Theatre? It was found that they had not. As a reaction, last year's (11th) Eurokaz went into what could be described as vengeful overdrive, opting for the followers of modern primitivism, body art and post-porn-modernism - the result of all this being a thoroughly scandalised public and placing a big question mark over its own future. Fortunately, the battle for staging the 12th Eurokaz has been won and, judging by the programme of the festival, which is to take place in a few months' time, it could herald the beginning of its own self-assassination and, hopefully, of a new self-conception.
True to herself, the art selector for Eurokaz, Gordana Vnuk, foresaw two years ago during an interview given to Frakcija that it would take "... at least ten more years following some radical shift in our theatre life for something relevant to happen." However, although it might not be possible to judge the influence of Eurokaz - not in the sense of epigonism but rather as an encouragement of authentic expression - for some time to come, at least two - until recently, inconceivable - shifts have already taken place, and not in any radical fashion but spontaneously.
Obsessed with faith in the novelty of the "new" rebellions and impudent (on occasions even avante-gard, courageously radical and shocking; frequently unbending and restrictive, contradictory in itself, overestimated and underestimated - as the present times should be) Eurokaz has finally reached the gates of the fortresses of the Croatian Theatre centre - that which gathers every year for the summer festival in Dubrovnik. And no sooner had Branko Brezovac received his invitation to attend the summer festival with his Welsh production of Electra (the organisers no longer being able to ignore his work) than Bobo Jelcic, a director typical of the new generation and first introduced at the most recent Eurokaz, was selected to be a part of the programme of the most orthodox state-sponsored festival - the one known as the festival of Croatian drama text, the Days of Marul, in Split.
The doors have been opened. All that remains is to enter.
For the past fifteen years and at times unjustifiably in the shadow of Eurokaz, Zagreb has been the stage for the Dance Week Festival. Since the first Week up to this year's 15th anniversary (which "Frakcija" will mark with a special issue) this manifestation has attracted many prominent names, among whom have been: Trisha Brown, Susanne Linke, Pauline Daniels, Josef Nadj, the Lakoon Dance Group, Kilina Cremona (who has lived and worked in Zagreb for the last few years), Truus Bronkhorst, and Nigel Charnoc. Of late, the Week has also been preoccupied with forms falling between theatre and dance and, on those lines, has added the words "Performing Arts Festival" to its initial title.
Mirna Zagar, the Week's artistic selector, has established the Hrvatski institut za pokret i ples (HIPP - Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance), and soon afterwards she participated in the setting up of the MAPAZ project (Moving Academy for Performing Arts, Zagreb). The two groups closely linked to the activities of HIPP-MAPAZ are Studio Mare and Stereo, both of which have considerable experience in monitoring of and participation in the Week. Their productions have achieved no small recognition abroad: Studio Mare, with Below the Rainbow (choreographer, Mara Sesardić), and Stereo, with Darkness, by Emil Matesić. Last year, the 14th Dance Week Festival for the first time introduced an off-programme (executive producer was Edvin Liverić, actor and performer, participant of many extra-institutional, and even Alternative, projects in Croatia, and also of a number of international co-productions). Four young choreographers and dancers were presented last year: Sanela Janković, Iva Nerina Gattin, Ivana Müller and Tomislav Jelicić.
Two Theatres: Two (possible) Sources
The only public theatre which, since its inception in the mid-1960s up to the present day, has endeavoured to maintain a hybrid status balancing somewhere between a classic theatre institution with a repertoire, and leanings towards an off-position (or at least an off-impression) is Teatar &TD. One fact is indisputable: over the last five years, i.e., ever since the post of director has been occupied by Mani Gotovac, Teatar &TD can be regarded primarily as a training ground for a new generation. The management of Teatar &TD has realised the inevitability of changing generations and has accelerated the process by producing texts by young Croatian playwrights such as Ivan Vidić, Mislav Brumec, Asja Srnec, and Darko Lukić; engaging young directors such as Lukas Nola, Milan ivković, Mislav Brecić, Ivica Buljan, Sanda Hrzić, Bobo Jelcić; and discovering young actors, among them two "stars" of the new generation: Nina Violic and Dražen Sivak. The greatest international success has been achieved by the Fedra project, with Ivica Buljan (member of the "Frakcija" board of editors) as director and dramaturge.
Teatar &TD has recently decided to invest the experience it has gained over the past five years in an ambitious project, a festival entitled "The Zone of the Nineties - MMTM" (Mediterranean and Central-European Theatre of the Young). The current season will, however, alongside Pasolini's Pilad, by Ivica Buljan, be marked by Usporavanja (Slowdown), a work-in-progress by director Bobo Jelcić (interview published in "Frakcija" No 8) and dramaturg Nataša Rajković. With Usporavanja they are continuing their research of the theme of the "everyday" as well as their revealing of the inexhaustibility of an actor encouraged to discover the content of a performance through improvisation, to create characters and to arrive at the text.
Mention of the above named tandem is an introductory reference to yet another theatre institution that is now prepared to co-operate with the new generation of theatre artists, and where Jelcić and Rajković have produced Promatranja (Observations). That institution is the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin, where for some period of time the person holding the dual post of art director and director has been Borna Baletić. He is one of the few members of the new generation who has never attempted to resist the illusory charms of theatre institutions. In an interview he gave for the first issue of "Frakcija" No 1 to the dramatist Goran Sergej Pristaš (editor in chief) and his associate in the productions of Kraljevo and Dvije legende, by Miroslav Krleža, Baletić's conclusion demonstrated a high degree of maturity: "It would be really nice to be independent, but running from the institution of theatre is like trying to escape from a state institution. If you get out of one you simply have to join another. One simply has to be registered somewhere."
Extra-Institution - Sanctuaries
The tradition of independent theatre groups and productions in Croatian Theatre dates from the early 1970s, but the real boom arrived with the 1990s, when a small number of private theatres were founded. The most successful of them are those initiated by the new generation.
The Croatian Theatre export product most in demand is the Montastroj Performing Unit. Founded back in 1989 as an artistic group it entered the orbit of the Croatian Theatre Alternative in 1991 with the hit production of its generation, Rap opera 101, the winning project in the co-production competition organised by Eurokaz. Through a form of physical theatre, Montastroj investigates the sphere of "high-risk dance", the erotic and cruel mutual inter-performance relations between aerobatics, bio-mechanics, and a combination of disco and street dance. Montastroj has toured almost the whole of Europe, as well as a part of the USA, and has currently been developing its work-in-progress project, Everybody Goes 2 Disco From Moscow 2 San Francisco in three phases: Mix (1994), Remix (1995) and Euro-Body (1996). Their subsequent four-year performance strategy (covering the period 1997 to 2000) foresees, among other things, a work-in-progress project, Fragile. At the time of writing they are working on the first phase (Phase 1: "Mobile-dance sections"; phase 2: "Convertible-acting sections"). Authors are choreographer Borut Separović (interview in "Frakcija", No 1), Tamara Huilmand and dramaturg Goran Sergej Pristaš. The production, based on the Biblical story of the conversion of Saul, investigates the problems of (i.e., fragility) identity and involves performers from a number of countries.
Teatar Exit has outgrown the character and the communicational limitations of the most popular local off-theatre that had won its reputation and recognition with such hit productions as Berkoff's Decadence and Godberg's The Bouncers by the mime production Imago, based on motifs from Knots by Lang; and, in part, with the production Zudnja (Yearning), created by Nataša Lusetić (extensive interview in "Frakcija" No 3) who has now opted for other projects not involving Teatar Exit. At this point in time Teatar Exit is working on its own theatre premises presented to them by the city authorities, which is a precedent among independent theatres, as well as being a privilege which allows them to work on their own institutionalisation. In short, Exit has entered the centre. Its aesthetic quality has seduced a new generation of the public but in the process its revolutionary energy has been lost (at least for now). It has turned its back on the Alternative and has become a "theatre of risk" in the commercial sense only.
Mig oka (A blink of an eye), a theatre group founded by the actor Rene Medvešek (interview in "Frakcija" No 1), operates on the basis of much more modest ambitions. Since its imaginative production for children, Mrvek i crvek (A crumb and a worm) Medvešek has produced no new shows for his theatre, but he has accepted an invitation from actors of the Zagreb Youth Theatre (the ZeKaeM which, despite its name, is not lending nearly enough support to the new generation) and together with them has created Hamper (The Bucket), a poetic play without words in which tramps on a rubbish tip conceive and give a theatre performance. Medvešek's productions for children and adults are not merely some naive and banal theorem about the good, but are the reaction of an element of the new generation to a quite concrete evil which it found itself faced with. Medvešek himself is quoted as saying: "I believe that man's inherent nature is good. Evil is a boil on one's soul, and if art feeds on it instead of endeavouring to lance it, it will itself become a boil upon an boil."
At the Edge of the Edge: Start Points
The names and projects apostrophised represent only the most penetrating and therefore the most visible activities of the new generation.
There are, however, other festivals that are being organised. One such is the Pula International Festival (PUF) which, for the past three years, has been organised by four legendary groups originating from the alternative stream of theatre amateurism: Lero, Daska, Pinklec and Inat, and which invites independent groups from all over Europe to an exchange of experience.
New groups are also being initiated. Among them, particularly interesting are the non-professionals. Schmrtz Teatar both organises happenings whose structure is almost completely open towards interaction with the audience, ironising the fundamental theatre conventions, and performs socially and politically provocative and critical actions and productions. The group Not Your Bitch focuses on the problems of identity (of women and girls) through a form of dance theatre. The Rubicon theatre from Rijeka, the most alive group of the new generation outside Zagreb, researches the phenomenon of chaos (their production Zero), communications (InterNetWork), emotions (dE-Motion-s), through the language of mime and the bio-mechanics method.
New possibilities and new forms of education are being investigated and initiated - mostly through workshops - in the field of performing arts. These include MAPAZ seminars, the Professional Actors Studio in Zagreb, the Imaginary Academy in Groznjan and the International Theatre Festival of the Young (MKFM) in Pula. Year by year the number of young people learning how to express themselves through theatre at the ZeKaeM School grows ever larger. Among them are the youngest of the new generation.
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Presentation of the coming of the new generation should not be concluded. The conquest of the centre continues.