Beginnings of a systematic Theoretical Consideration of Theatrical Direction – Problems and Achievements

This paper deals with the first systematic theoretical approaches to theatre directing in Croatia, corresponding, both historically and problematically, with the European trends in affirming stage directors’ contribution to theatrical phenomenon. This primarily concerns authors from the period of modernism such as Ivo Raić, Branko Gavella, Tito Strozzi, Josip Kulundžić and Kalman Mesarić. Gavella and Kulundžić are the first Croatian directors–theoreticians describing stage directing as theatrical inter-discipline and, thus, applying the ostulates of directing to the teaching process. Both Gavella and Kulundžić approached theatrical theory with the practical knowledge of theatre production. By exploring links between the theme of the play, the idea of the play and the idea of the staged performance, Kulundžić contributed to one of the most intriguing interdisciplinary debates on theatre directing, pondering on the question of how director’s »actualization« and »localization« changes the idea of the play and how this very idea could be changed by actors’ concept of dramatis personae. This paper also points to the necessity of revaluati Kalman Mesarić’s theoretical insight into theatre directing and dramaturgy. In the section of the text dealing with the »heritage« of Croatian contemporary directing for theatre, the author reflects upon Kosta Spaić’s analysis of the relationship between the scene and the auditorium on the example of some open space (»ambiental«) productions in the urban centre of Dubrovnik. On the other hand, Božidar Violić, quite like Gavella, gives primacy to the treatment of the theatrical space of the closed, »chamber« stage. However, Spaić and Violić, both of them autstanding theatre practitioners, are aware of the stimulating performing potential of directors’ underlying and recreating the internal space dynamism