Central and Southeastern European Drama

Overview

Historically, Central and Southeastern European nations have had more experience with foreign occupation than with independence. Whether benign or brutal, whether oppressive or relatively liberal, such dominance has stunted the region’s progress of societies while making the celebration of past glories and future hopes a central theme of artistic expression. In Central and Southeastern Europe, culture and nationalism have been inextricably intertwined. As a result, the history of drama in these countries is intimately connected to the general pattern of their social development.

There are, nonetheless, significant differences among the national theatrical traditions. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary have been consistently open to Western European cultural influences. In contrast, Romania, Bulgaria, and the states briefly united as Yugoslavia have been more involved with the Russian and Turkish empires. Poland and Czechoslovakia have produced playwrights whose work appeals to world audiences, while their Bulgarian counterparts are neglected even at home. The countries achieving independence following Yugoslavia’s disintegration in the 1990s continue to display distinct theatrical cultures, with Croatia’s dominance even more pronounced at the beginning of the twenty-first century than in the past. Whatever their differences and similarities, it is clear that the nations of Central and Southeastern Europe have much to offer the world’s stage and are poised to make further contributions.

Poland

Poland has a particularly rich theater tradition. During the Middle Ages, mystery and morality plays were produced under religious auspices; the only surviving example of the genre, Mikołaj z Wilkowiecka Historia o chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Pańskim (pr. c. 1580; The History of the Lord’s Glorious Resurrection), is still performed. Jan Kochanowski’s Odprawa posłów greckich (pr. 1578; The Dismissal of the Grecian Envoys, 1994) was the first secular drama written in Polish and inaugurated a tradition of court patronage of the theater that lasted until the country lost its independence in 1795.

The National Theater, the first public dramatic company in Poland, was founded in 1765 and was initially directed by foreign managers who concentrated on adaptations or imitations of plays by Molière, Voltaire, and Carlo Goldoni. From 1783 to 1814, the administration of the Polish actor, writer, and director Wojciech Bogusławskisy systematically encouraged native plays and playwrights, established the first school to train actors, and developed a network of provincial theaters. This policy began to pay literary dividends with such accomplished works as Alojzy Feliński’s Barbara Radziwiłłówna (pr. 1817; Barbara Radziwiłł), a tragedy based on the life of a sixteenth-century Polish queen that has been compared with Jean Racine’s Bérénice (pr. 1670; English translation, 1676).

In Poland, the first third of the nineteenth century saw the Romantic movement capture the imaginations of many young writers, of whom Adam Mickiewicz would go on to achieve international and domestic success. Mickiewicz is best known as a poet, but his Dziady (pb. parts 2,4, 1823; pb. part 3, 1832; Forefathers’ Eve, 1968) is a four-part dramatic epic that combines folkloric elements with impassioned patriotic pleas. Never performed in Mickiewicz’s lifetime, it was nonetheless a widely read and very influential work that helped to set a nationalistic agenda for Polish drama.

Like Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński were forced to seek refuge in France after the failure of the 1830-1831 revolts against Poland’s foreign rulers. Each of these dramatists made important contributions to the theater: Słowacki’s Kordian (pb. 1834) is a stirring examination of political conspiracy, and Fantazy (wr. 1841; English translation, 1977) goes against the period’s grain with its anti-Romantic comedy. Krasiński’s Nie-Boska komedia (pb. 1835; The Undivine Comedy, 1846) is a politically engaged attempt to bring about the transformation of his homeland into a truly just society.

The failure of another uprising against foreign rule in 1863 was reflected in the acerbic comedies of Jósef Narzymski, who, in Pozytywni (pr. 1872; the positivists), mocks young intellectuals who think they have the key to social reform, and Jósef Bliziński, whose Rozbitki (pr. 1877; wreckage) mercilessly satirizes a nouveau riche who tries to buy his way into the aristocracy. By the turn of the century, the impetus toward realism made plays such as Gabriela Zapolskarsquo’s Moralność Pani Dulskiej (pr. 1907; The Morality of Mrs. Dulska, 1923), a controversial story of the protagonist’s use of sex for social advancement, popular with those who supported societal change.

Poland’s return to independence after World War I sparked a new explosion of national cultural pride, and in the theater, remarkable advances were made in actors’ training and stagecraft. Experimental theater appeared in the work of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz whose assimilation of contemporary European avant-garde theories and practices would prove extremely influential for post-World War II writers. Many of his plays, including Kurka wodna (pr. 1922; The Water Hen, 1968) and Wariat i zakonnica: Czyli, Nie ma złego, co by na jeszcze gorsze nie wyszło (pb. 1925, pr. 1926; The Madman and the Nun: Or, There Is Nothing Bad Which Could Not Turn into Something Worse, 1966), feature characters whose return from the dead haunts the absurd efforts made by the living; a late masterpiece, Szewcy (pr. 1934; The Shoemakers, 1968) portrays a post-revolutionary world in which it is clear that further momentous changes lie ahead.

Following World War II, strict government censorship permitted only conventional Social Realistic dramas that glorified patriotic workers and attacked subversive foreign influences. The death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the widespread antigovernment demonstrations of 1956, however, produced a unique cultural compromise: As long as they did not directly question state policies, creative artists were largely left alone—although the periodic return of more hardline regimes, as in 1968 and 1981, would retard this process—to pursue their individual visions. What followed was an explosion of literary activity in general, and of drama in particular, that resulted in the formation of a world-class theatrical culture.

In the 1960s, the Polish Laboratory Theatre and its director, Jerzy Grotowski, earned international respect for their fresh approach to dramatic performance. In Towards a Poor Theatre (1968), Grotowski argued that technical refinements in stagecraft and the resulting emphasis on visual spectacle had broken the desired connection between actor and audience. The actor’s creativity needed to be liberated by thoughtful exercises in basic movement. Theater professionals came from far and wide to study Grotowski’s productions and also became acquainted with the work of the two most prominent playwrights in contemporary Poland, Tadeusz Różewicz and Sławomir Mrożek, whose plays receive frequent international productions.

Różewicz is a practitioner of what he calls “open dramaturgy,” in which all theatrical conventions are discarded to ensure a fresh collaboration among writers, actors, and directors. Kartoteka (pr. 1960; The Card Index, 1969), a satirical depiction of Polish postwar intellectual life, and Białe małżeństwo (pr. 1975; White Marriage, 1977), a complex treatment of adolescent sexuality, are two widely admired examples of his unusual and yet very accessible approach to playwriting.

Mrożek, who continued to write for the Polish stage after leaving the country in 1968, takes a more playful approach to dramatic construction by borrowing materials from melodrama, circus acts, sketch comedy, and experimental theater. This has produced a string of remarkable entertainments that also have substantial intellectual content, including Policja (pr. 1958; The Police, 1959), in which a political prisoner terrifies his guards by threatening to reform and make them obsolete; Tango (pr. 1965; English translation, 1966), a masterful reenactment of the history of the twentieth century in Europe through the medium of a feuding family; Milosc na Krymie: Komedia tragiczna w trzech aktach (pr. 1993; love in the Crimea), in which the 1917 fall of the Russian Empire is treated with a combination of screwball comedy and more reflective social satire.

Poland’s alternative theaters provided many highlights of the country’s late twentieth-century drama. The Teatr Ósmego Dnia (Theatre of the Eighth Day), the Travel Bureau, and the Association of the Otwock Commune were three of the most active companies; the latter’s collective production Trzeba zabić pierwszego Boga (pr. 1998; the first god must be killed) featured mythological components that constructed new rituals for contemporary drama, which sparked several similar efforts. Influential contemporary Polish playwrights and dramatists include Dorota Masłowska, Wojciech Kuczok, and Jacek Sieradzki.

Hungary

Dramatic works based on religious ceremonies began to appear in Hungary in the eleventh century, and by the fifteenth century, passion plays were enacted throughout the country. In the 1500s, strife between Catholic and Protestant factions began a tradition of polemical religious theater that found Protestant ministers such as Mihály Sztáraidepicting Catholic clerics as ignorant and bigoted in Az igaz papságnak tüköre (pb. 1559; a mirror of true priesthood), a play more significant for beginning a national theater tradition than for any intrinsic merit. Catholics, who previously had conducted their anti-Protestant propaganda in Latin, now found it necessary to produce Hungarian-language responses to such attacks; many of these “school plays,” as the works on both sides came to be known, include comments on contemporary political or social issues in addition to their dominant concern with defending true religion.

Secular theater until the late eighteenth century featured adaptations of foreign works. Then, György Bessenyei's series of nationalistic historical dramas, of which Hunyadi László tragédiája (pb. 1772; the tragedy of Hunyadi László) is the first, as well as his cleverly constructed polemic for Enlightenment ideas, A filozófus (pb. 1777; the philosopher), sparked an explosion of new plays by Hungarian writers. Károly Kisfaludy earned both popular and critical success with romantic dramas such as A kérők (pr. 1819; the suitors) and Iréne (pr. 1821), and József Katona wrote what is generally considered Hungary’s first great tragedy, Bánk bán (pr. 1815; viceroy Bank). Mihály Vörösmarty, an accomplished poet as well as playwright, wrote several complex, moody dramas that often made excellent use of fantasy elements, as in the case of the fairy-tale philosophers who cavort their way through Csongor és Tünde (pb. 1831). Another aspect of his art was revealed in Vérnász (pr. 1833; blood wedding), in which sharp psychological conflict is grounded in realistic social settings.

Hungary’s tumultuous nineteenth-century history, during which the movement for national independence was first brutally repressed in 1849 and then admitted to power-sharing with Austria in 1867, resulted in some correspondingly volatile theater. Some playwrights struggled to rise above partisan politics in works such as Imre Madách's Az ember tragédiája (pb. 1861; The Tragedy of Man, 1933), a grandiose epic of humanity’s history from creation to extinction that is still popular with domestic audiences. Others sought to find the essence of Hungarian identity in idealized portraits of peasant life, although plays such as Ferenc Csepreghy’s A falu rossza (pr. 1874; bad guy of the village) and Ede Tóth’s A sárga csikó (pr. 1877; the yellow colt) often seem to be making fun of their subjects’ crudities rather than exalting their natural goodness. Gergely Csíkyopted for the realistic depiction of middle-class manners and mores. His Proletárok (pr. 1880; parasites) and Cifra nyomorúság (pr. 1881; fancy misery) are polished examples of the genre critics dubbed the well-made play.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a boom in theater construction throughout Hungary stimulated new levels of dramatic activity, as genres as disparate as cabaret, light comedy, classical tragedy, and naturalistic tales of proletarian squalor competed for the public’s attention. This creative ferment produced one author who went on to achieve remarkable international success: Ferenc Molnár rsquo’s entertaining, well-constructed, and intriguingly complex plays are exemplified by Liliom (pr. 1909; English translation, 1922), whose title character is a happy-go-lucky circus tout given one last chance to redeem himself after a lifetime of hedonistic excess. Molnár was also capable of more substantial creations such as Szinház (wr. 1921; Theater, 1937), a set of three short plays that go behind the scenes of what happens onstage, and both his slighter and more serious works continue to be revived both internationally and in his native country.

World War II and the subsequent imposition of communist rule profoundly affected Hungarian theater, with the careers of Gyula Hay and László Némethillustrating the effect of these traumatic changes. Hay’s Isten, császár, paraszł (pr. 1932; god, emperor, peasant) focuses on the fifteenth-century Czech reformer Jan Hus in warning against the evils of authoritarianism. After the communist takeover, however, Hay churned out pro-Stalinist plays before rebelling, serving a prison sentence for anti-communist activity, and then writing the clever Aristophanic comedy A ló (pr. 1964; The Horse, 1965). Németh walked a more political line in fashioning plays that blended meditations on the social responsibility of intellectuals with mild criticism of totalitarian institutions. A két Bólyai (pr. 1961; the two Bólyáis), which depicts a conflict between an authoritarian father and a restless son, is an effective example of his ability to weave wider significance out of commonplace domestic situations.

The century’s concluding decades were stronger in comedy than in other theatrical forms. Vámos Miklos’s tongue-in-cheek portrayals of contemporary fads, Egszakadás-földindulás (pr. 1986; the sky is falling down) and Két egyfelvonásos (pr. 1989; Doubletakes, 1990), and György Spirorsquos zany farce about capitalist excesses, Opera mydlana (pr. 1996; Soap Opera, 1999), were among the many works that seemed to reflect a more entertainment-oriented turn in Hungarian drama.

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia existed as an independent country only from 1918 to 1993 when the Czech and Slovak Republics went their separate ways. Historically, the Czech and Slovak cultures have undergone very different development patterns. Although some Slovakian drama was produced in the nineteenth century, only after Czechoslovakia became an independent nation in 1918 did notable playwrights begin to appear. Ivan Stodola, whose comedy of nouveau-riche greed Kariéra Jozky Pucíka (pr. 1931) is still performed, and Július Barć-Ivan, whose sentimental but moving Matka (pr. 1943; mother) has also stood the test of time, are representative figures.

After World War II, Slovakian theater produced several young talents of note, although none achieved the international reputation of their Czech contemporaries: Peter Karvas̆, a skilled comic writer whose Velká parochňa (pr. 1964; a great wig) is his most admired work, and Igor Rusnák, whose Lisky, dobrú noc (pr. 1964; foxes, good night) sympathizes with the difficulties of Slovakian youth, are important. Since 1990, the Stoka Theater in Bratislava has mounted several acclaimed collective productions; Eo ipso (pr. 1994; by itself), which contrasts elitist and popular approaches to the arts, has been toured abroad as exemplifying Slovakia’s achievements in the drama.

Czech-language drama began with religious plays, and the integration of the national language into the Latin used in Catholic rituals occurred far earlier than in other Eastern European countries. By the fourteenth century, secular and religious works were being performed in a hybrid Latin-Czech idiom, with Czech gradually dominating as lay participation increased. Although none survive in their entirety, some manuscripts suggest that these plays took remarkable liberties in satirizing abuses by the clergy.

After stagnation during which the puritanical Hussite movement suppressed most theatrical activity, Czech drama revived in the sixteenth century. Comedies of contemporary life were popular: Pavel Kyrmezer’s Komedie ceská o bohatci a Lazarovi (pb. 1566; the Czech comedy about a money-bag and Lazarus) was set amid Prague’s slums, and Jiri Tesak Moslovskyrsquo’s Komedie z knihy zakona boziho, jenz slove Ruth (pb. 1604; the comedy from the book of God’s testament, which is called Ruth) placed a traditional Bible story in a contemporary peasant context.

The incorporation of the Czech state into the Holy Roman Empire in 1620 was followed by more than a century of cultural decline. Although some theatrical activity did continue during this period, it was largely situated in smaller communities where folkloric and religious elements had a comeback vis-à-vis the previously dominant secular tradition. Czech theater revived at the close of the eighteenth century with a spate of plays that dramatized the country’s history, and these were followed by much more sophisticated exercises in social comedy. Václav Klicpera's satires of rural bumpkins, Veselohra ma mostì (pr. 1828; comedy on a bridge) and Každy neco pro vlast (pr. 1829; everyone’s duty for the country) went over well with urban audiences; so too did Romantic tragedies such as Josef Tylrsquo’s Èestmir (pr. 1834), even though his protagonist opts for social conformity rather than Byronic rebellion.

From 1850 to the late 1880s, Czech theater was dominated by historical plays written in the Romantic tradition: Emanuel Bozděch’s Celebration of Napoleon, Světa pán v županu (pr. 1876; master of the world in a dressing gown), and Jaroslav Vrchlický’s more sophisticated comedy of manners set at the court of Charles IV, Noc na Karls̆tejne (pr. 1884; night at the Karlss̆tejne), are representative. The founding of the national theater in 1883 encouraged dramas less dependent on commercial success, and realistic treatments of peasant life, such as Gabriela Preissovársquo’s Její pastorkyna (pr. 1891; Jenufa) began to appear. Psychological dramas of anguished introspection influenced by Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, such as Jaroslav Hilbert’s Vina (pr. 1896; the guilt) and Jaroslav Kvapil’s Oblaka (pr. 1903; the clouds), signaled a new responsiveness to contemporary European theater.

Czechoslovakia’s achievement of independence in 1918 sparked a renaissance in all the arts, theater included. The brothers Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek, writing in collaboration, produced the most enduring work. R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots (pb. 1920; English translation, 1923) depicts a dystopia in which enslaved robots revolt against their masters and has become a classic of world theater. Ze života hmyzu (pr. 1922; The Insect Play, 1923), in which the world of “creepers and crawlers” is equated with that of humanity, is another important drama. Frantis̆ek Langeralso gained international attention with his comedy Velbloud uchem jehly (pr. 1923; The Camel Through the Needle’s Eye, 1932), an amusing tale of love among the lower-middle classes, as well as Periferie (pr. 1925; The Outskirts, 1934), a bleak tragedy about a killer’s need to be punished.

German occupation from 1938 to 1945 and postwar communist rule discouraged theatrical activity, but by the late 1950s, playwrights such as Josef Topol and Václav Havel were creating important work. Topol’s Jejich den (pr. 1959; their day) portrayed alienated youth unable to adopt the socialist dream, and Havel’s Zahradní slavnost (pr. 1963; The Garden Party, 1969) and Vyroizumìni (pr. 1965; The Memorandum, 1967) highlight the debasement of language by authoritarian bureaucrats in a manner reminiscent of ’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

A new wave of political repression in 1969 forced many writers either to flee the country or to go underground. In the ensuing two decades, most creative theatrical activity occurred abroad or in clandestine domestic venues. In 1979, Havel was arrested and imprisoned for four years, and Pavel Kohout, the author of cleverly subversive plays such as August August, August (pr. 1967; August August, the clown), was forced to emigrate to Austria.

The return to democratic government in 1989 encouraged many stagings of works by Havel and Kohout. Havel’s election as president of the Czech Republic in 1993 and 1998 indicated just how far the wheel of political fortune had turned. Female playwrights such as Daniela Fischerová, whose Náhlé neštětí (pr. 1993; sudden misfortune) and Fantomima (pr. 1996; Fantomine) use fairy-tale settings to create mythically charged drama, now became prominent as did the kind of collective production popular in neighboring countries: Theatre Image, a Prague Company, dazzled audiences with Cabinet kuriosit a zázraků profesora Pražáka (pr. 1997; professor Prazak’s curious cabinet of curiosities and miracles), whose protagonist constructs bizarre onstage machines that represent spiritual as well as mechanical miracles.

Romania

Dominated by Roman, Byzantine, and Turkish cultural influences, it was not until the nineteenth century that any significant indigenous drama appeared in Romania. Before that time, companies of foreign actors were frequent visitors, and some Romanian schools put on plays, but generally, only European classics were performed. The French Revolution awakened nationalistic aspirations, however, and by 1840, a national theater had been established, and Romanian dramas began to appear.

Three playwrights stand out in the nineteenth century. Vasile Alecsandri was prominent as both a director and a dramatist, writing a sharp comedy about resistance to Western influences in Iorgu de la Sadagura (pr. 1844; Iorgu of Sadagura), as well as patriotic historical plays such as Despot Vodǎ (pr. 1879; Voda the despot) and Ovidiu (pr. 1885: Ovid). Dominita Rosada (pr. 1868; Dominita Rosada) by Bogdan Hasdeu, is the first historical tragedy of note and is still performed today; Ion Luca Caragiale, generally considered Romania’s foremost dramatist, combined comedy and incisive satire of middle-class pretensions in O noapte furtunoasă: Sau, Numarul 9, (pr. 1879; A Stormy Night: Or, Number 9, 1956), Conul Leonida faţă cu reactiunea (pr. 1880; Mr. Leonida and the Reactionaries, 1956), and O scrisoare pierdută (pr. 1884; The Lost Letter, 1956).

The twentieth century saw several new influences surface on a consistently lively theater scene. More realistic stories of peasant life appeared in plays such as Ion Slavici's Moara cu Noroc (pr. 1908; Mill of Good Fortune); subjectivist theories about the essential ambiguity of experience underlay Ion Minulescursquo’s Machinul sentimental (pr. 1926; Sentimental Puppet) and Amantul anonim (pr. 1928; Anonymous Sweetheart); ironic treatments of standard romantic situations; satirical comedy achieved a sharper edge in George Ciprian’s Omul eu mirtoago (pr. 1927; the man with the nag), whose grotesque humor was also a hit with the period’s German audiences.

World War II and subsequent communist rule temporarily interrupted this development, but by the 1960s, political censorship had relaxed, and interesting plays once again began to appear: Aurel Baranga’s Opinia publica (pb. 1967; public opinion), an amusing satire on polling procedures, and Alexander Mirodanrsquo’s Primarul lunii si tubita sa (pr. 1969; the moon’s mayor and his sweetheart), a quirky tale of a lunar socialist society, demonstrated what could be achieved by clever writers. The post-1989 transition to democratic government further freed playwrights from political strictures and was celebrated by establishing a national play contest whose winner was guaranteed publication. It was also an annual festival in Targa Mures devoted entirely to new Romanian drama.

Bulgaria

Under direct Turkish rule until 1878 and not fully independent until thirty years later, Bulgaria took some time to develop an indigenous literary culture. Dobri Voinikov wrote and directed several historical melodramas in the 1860s and 1870s, of which Krivorazbranata tsivilizatsiia, pr. 1871 (civilization wrongly understood) was an influential defense of Bulgarian nationalism. Another important play from this period is Vasil Drumevrsquos Ivanko ubiets̆šu: na Asenia I, pb. 1872 (Ivanko the Assassin of Asen I), written in a slangy contemporary idiom that appealed to a wide audience.

The founding of a national theater in Sofia in 1907 created many opportunities for new playwrights. Ivan Vazov's historical dramas received the most performances, although the realistic treatments of social problems in Anton Strashimirov’s Svekurva (pr. 1907; The Mother-in-law) and Kushta (pr. 1909; The House) are now regarded as more literarily accomplished. The interwar era saw the emergence of Stefan Kostov, whose comedies blend entertainment with social relevance; Zlatnata mäna (pr. 1926; The Gold Mine) and Golemanov (pr. 1927; Golemanov) are still staged today.

The post-1945 communist takeover of Bulgaria produced little more than several dull propagandistic plays, almost all of which were forgotten following the return to a more democratic government in 1991. The country’s puppet theater is its most vital dramatic form. A high level of government subsidy supports several professional programs and companies, such as Credo Theatre, which has been warmly received on international tours.

Southern Slav Nations

The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s returned the region to a condition that mirrors its historical past, with Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia actively pursuing the development of their separate cultures.

As in Bulgaria, Serbia’s long period of Turkish rule meant that theatrical activity was minimal until the nineteenth century. In 1834, Joakim Vujićestablished the first Serbian theater at Kragujevac, and in 1869, a national theater was established in Belgrade. Notable playwrights of the era include Jovan Sterija Popoviæ, whose comedies Tvrdica: Ili, Kir Janja, (pr. 1837; the niggard, or Kir Janja) and Rodoljćupci (pb. 1849; the patriots) are still staged today; Djura Jaks̆ić, a poet whose verse dramas on historical subjects fueled nationalist sentiment; Laza Kostić, who in plays such as Maksim Crnojević (pr. 1863; Maxim Crnojevich) and Pera Segedinac (pr. 1875; Pera Segedinac) incorporated sophisticated character development and current political allusions into his work.

The late nineteenth century was marked by the plays of Branislav Nus̆ić, still Serbia’s most respected dramatist, including Narodni posianik (pr. 1883; the representative of the people), an attack on corrupt officials; Put oko Sveta (pr. 1910; a trip around the world), which mocks Serbians who unquestioningly adopt foreign lifestyles; Pokojnik (pr. 1937; the deceased), a lament for those denounced for personal reasons by their political enemies). From the beginning of the century to World War II, historical drama, comedies, and musicals based on folklore proliferated on the country’s stages, although few individual playwrights of note appeared.

Serbia’s bitter experience under German occupation was reflected in many postwar plays lauding heroic guerrilla fighters. In the 1960s, Western avant-garde drama became influential, with Velimir Lukić’s Dugiživot kralja Osvalda (pr. 1963; King Oswald’s Long Life), which uses the language of Aesopian fable to satirize contemporary society, and Aleksandr Popović’s Razvojni put Bore Šnajdera (pr. 1967: The Development of Bora the Tailor), a demonstration of how debased popular speech contributes to moral decline, both important works by notable playwrights. More recently, Dušan Kovačevičrsquos raucous comedies of human greed leading to inexorable misfortune, of which Urnebesna tragedija (pr. 1991; A Roaring Tragedy, 1997) and Doktor Šuster (pr. 2000; Doctor Suster) have been particularly successful, indicate the vitality of Serbian theater.

Macedonia also experienced a long Turkish occupation that effectively repressed most cultural expression until the 1850s, when the nationalist dramas of Jordan Hadži Konstantinov-Džinov articulated the growing support for independence. The more literarily sophisticated plays of Vojdan Černodrimski, notably the stark peasant drama Makedonska krvava svadha (pr. 1901; a Macedonian Bloody Wedding), followed, but until the end of World War II, little else of consequence was produced.

After 1945, Macedonian was officially recognized as one of the founding languages of Yugoslavia, and many new writers tried their hand at the theater. Vasilj Iljoski’s satire on soccer mania, Dva sprema eden (pr. 1952; Two Goals to One) and Čest (pr. 1953; Honor), a slice-of-life love story, were important contributions, as was Tome Arsovskirsquo's Čekor do esenta (pr. 1969; A Step Toward the Autumn), in which the characters who populated his earlier plays reappear and try once again to solve their problems. Generous state support for the arts in Macedonia is reflected in the country’s annual competition for the best new play.

Croatia and Slovenia experienced less oppressive occupations by foreign powers than Serbia and Macedonia, and thus, both have longer and richer theatrical histories. In Croatia, religious dramas appeared in the fifteenth century, and in the 1500s, the city of Dubrovnik had an active theatrical culture; Marin Držić’s comedy Dundo Maroje (pr. 1550; Uncle Maroje, 1967) still receives contemporary stagings. Plays written in the dialect of Croatia’s Zagreb region were a prominent feature of eighteenth-century dramatic activity and helped to pave the way for the Illyrian movement that began in 1835. This plan for the federation of the Southern Slavs was warmly greeted in Croatia; Dimitrije Demeter’s Teuta (pr. 1844; Teuta), a mythical account of an Illyrian queen’s murder of Roman envoys, exemplified the nationalist agitation that resulted.

The establishment of the Croatian National Theater at Zagreb in 1861 further stimulated Croatian drama. Many historical dramas of minimal literary interest were staged. It was not until the beginning of the next century that interest in integrating past and present produced significant new playwrights such as Ivo Vojnović, Josip Kosor, and Miroslav Krleža Vojnović treated historical subjects in a way that emphasized continuities with contemporary events, and his Dubrovačka trilogija (pr. 1900; A Trilogy of Dubrovnik, 1921) is considered his masterpiece in this style. Kosor’s Nepobjediva ladja (pr. 1921; The Invincible Ship) and Pomirenje (pr. 1926; Reconciliation) dealt with the difficult moral choices posed by modern society. The prolific Krieža created three dramatic cycles that began with the revolutionary fervor of the six-part Legenda (pr. 1914; legends), continued with the pessimistic realism of the trilogy Golgota (pr. 1922; Golgotha), and concluded in the acute socio-psychological analysis of another trilogy, Gospoda Glembajevi (pr. 1928-1932; the Glembays).

After World War II, Croatian dramatists were prominent in the Yugoslav theater. Vašar Snova (pr. 1958; Vasar Snova) and Ranjena Ptica (pr. 1965; Ranjena Ptica), Marjan Matković’s plays of human alienation and existential despair, spoke to contemporary anxieties, as did Ranko Marinković’s Gloria (pr. 1955; English translation, 1977), in which a helpless simpleton is manipulated by self-serving bureaucrats. The nationalist agitation leading up to national independence in 1990 was reflected in many plays on political themes; Miro Gavranrsquos Noč bogova (pr. 1986; Night of the Gods), which imagines Molière, Louis XIV, and a court jester wrangling over plays and politics, is both highly relevant and extremely accomplished.

Slovenian drama also has its roots in performances of religious works that gradually incorporate the national language; the anonymous Igra o paradižu (the play about paradise) is referred to in seventeenth-century records. In the eighteenth century, Antun Tomaž Linhart adapted popular French and German plays into Slovene, but indigenous dramas appeared only in the following century. Although works such as Josip Jurèiè’s Tugomer (pr. 1876; Tugomer), a romantic tragedy recounting the betrayal of his country’s hopes by a misguided leader, did reflect the typical historical obsessions of the era’s Southern-Slav drama, Slovenian theater soon shifted its focus to modernist social and psychological concerns. Jože Vošnjak’s Doktor Dragan (pr. 1890; doctor Dragan) recounted a physician’s ethical dilemma in a piece heavily influenced by Ibsen’s En folkefiende (pr. 1883; An Enemy of the People, 1890); Ivan Cankar achieved international as well as domestic renown for the tragicomedies Za narodov blagor (pb.1901; for the well-being of the people), an attack on those who manipulate patriotism for political gain, and Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorjanski (pr. 1908; the scandal in Saint Florian’s valley), which satirizes the foibles of contemporary intellectuals.

Slovenian drama, perhaps the least developed Southern-Slav theatrical traditions, produced little note after Cankar. Lojz Remec penned a sympathetic portrait of the rural poor in Magda (pr. 1924; Magda). Primož Kozak produced an existential treatment of guerrilla warfare in Afera (pr. 1962; An Affair, 1977). Andrej Hieng pioneered the writing of radio and television plays with Burleska o Grku (pr. 1969; burlesque about the Greek). In the 1990s, the Mladinsko Theatre created some notable collective productions, including Svinènik piše s screm (pr. 1997; the pencil writes with its heart), an imaginative exploration of the nature of children’s creativity.

In the early twenty-first century, the theater landscape in southern Slav nations continued to grow. Macedonai's Dejan Dukovski is among the most influential playwrights of this time. His play Prazni Grad (2018; Empty City) debuted in Split, Croatia, and was translated by Anica Plazonic at the Croatian National Theatre Split. Eva Kamchevska, another Macedonian playwright, screenwriter, and director is known for Lol: the Sweet Irony of Life (2015) and Stela (2020). Croatia's Novi Život (New Life) theater, also called the Blind Theatre Company, was established in 1948 and is the world's oldest theater for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Additionally, Zagreb, Croatia, hosts the annual Blind in Theatre (BIT) Festival. Other important dramatists from the region include Bulgaria’s Gergana Dimitrova, Romania’s Gianina Cărbunariu, and Romanian-American playwright and poet Saviana Stănescu.

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