Croatian-Serbian theatre exchange and Strahinja Petrović – the versatile principal actor of the golden age of the National Theatre in Zagreb (1920 — 1940)

Tijekom prvoga stoljeća njegova postojanja, na sceni zagrebačkoga kazališta nastupao je veliki broj srpskih glumica i glumaca, a među njima je bio i danas zaboravljeni Strahinja Petrović. U razdoblju između dva svjetska rata jedan od najomiljenijih i najprominentnijih karakternih glumaca Drame HNK, ostvario je kao prvak brojne glumačke uspjehe potvrđujući se i kod publike i kod kritike svojim iznimnim glumačkim talentom tijekom dva desetljeća neprekidna boravka u Zagrebu. Njegova je gluma redovito opisivana majstorskom jer mu je kao rijetko kome uspijevalo ostvariti kontakt srca s gledalištem – publika je stoga hrlila na blagajnu čim bi podjela s njegovim imenom bila objavljena. Uspoređivali su ga s najvećim francuskim glumcem toga vremena Louisom Jouvetom, a odigrao je gotovo tristo uloga od kojih su neke ušle u povijest hrvatskoga kazališta kao neponovljive. Godine 1940., sluteći što se sprema, vraća se u rodni Beograd gdje do smrti 1964. godine djeluje u obje Drame – u Narodnom i u Jugoslavenskom dramskom pozorištu.During the first century of its existence, Zagreb\u27s stages featured many Serbian actors, including Strahinja Petrović, today forgotten. In the interwar period, he was among the most beloved and prominent character actors within the Drama Ensemble of the Croatian National Theatre. As the Ensemble\u27s principal actor, he registered numerous successes, his exceptional acting talent establishing him with both the audiences and the critics over the two decades during which he resided in Zagreb. His acting was regularly described as masterly, as he had a rare ability to achieve a contact of the heart with the auditorium – the audiences would thus swamp the box office the moment a new production was announced featuring his name among the cast. He was compared to the greatest French actor of the day, Louis Jouvet, and played almost three hundred roles, some of which entered the history of the Croatian theatre as matchless. Sensing what was about to happen, in 1940 he returned to Belgrade, the city of his birth, where he remained active in both the Belgrade Dramas Ensemble – the National and the new Yugoslav Drama Theatre – until his death in 1964