“A Great, an Uplifting Moment” – On the Interactions Between the German Zagreb Theatre and the Newly Founded Croatian National Theatre

Abstract

Theatrical life in Zagreb – as well as in other comparable Central and East European cities – had long been dominated by performances of German-speaking theatre companies. The earliest performances in German, staged exclusively for domestic aristocrats, date back to 1749. Public theatrical events were held in German between 1780 and 1860, usually performed by German-speaking troupes, which settled in the city for one or more seasons. Presenting initially some highlights of the German-speaking stage art in Zagreb, the paper then focuses on the often ambivalent relationship between the German-speaking troupes and Croatian theatre activists in the second third of the 19^th century. Seeking to establish a new national theatre during this period, the activists eventually succeeded in ‘expelling’ German actors from the Zagreb theatre and introducing an exclusively Croatian repertoire in 1860.