In General

First time held in 1973 ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ took place 19 times until 1991, after which they were cancelled mostly due to war circumstances which struck Croatia. After a 14-year break, the 20th ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ jubilee was held. It was a revitalized festival which marked a new beginning. ‘’Gavella Evenings were a national festival until its 28th edition in 2013. It gave the audience the opportunity to watch the best productions from public and municipal theatres in Croatia; theatres that cherish drama on their repertoire. The festival also enabled other theatres and theatre communities to participate. The selector of ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ would change every year and on the last night of the festival the appraisal committee, consisting of prominent people from Croatian theatre would select the best production and give it the award, named after the founder of the theatre in Frankopanska street, dr. Branko Gavella. All of the productions were held on Gavella’s stage, except for productions which were technically more demanding.

Since 2014 and their 29th edition, ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ adopted a new look and the Festival became a regional one, yet at the same time remaining an overview of the best plays in Croatian theatres in the past season. Since 2015 ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ are showing at least five and, at most, seven productions in the competition programme, as well as one production out of competition (which can be performed at the last night of the festival). Those who can participate are the plays whose opening night was no later than September 1st of the previous year to June 15th of the following year. The plays which will be on the programme are chosen by the Programme council, which consists of the general manager, dramaturge and the executive producer from ‘’Gavella Theatre’’. The awards which are given after the festival include the award for best female and male role, for best directing and best production overall.

Welcome to Gavella Evenings!

‘’Gavella Evenings’’, the theatre festival and an event, are named in memory of one of the most quoted and, in theatre circles greatly respected, Croatian directors and pedagogues – dr. Branko Gavella, the founder of the theatre in Frankopanska street, the theatre which is named after him as well (Gavella Drama Theatre).The noun ‘’evenings’’ brings to mind the secretive and pleasant time of day which lets in the art of the theatre under the spotlights. It also reminds us of socializing with people and spending time in various spaces. Both parts of the name, ‘’Gavella Evenings’’, denote a meeting of the author / dramatic persona / the actor / the director / the theatre creator and chronotope, as well as how they emerged, how they are understood and synthesized in dr. Gavella’s books ‘’The Actor and the Theatre’’ and ‘’Croatian Acting’’. In the latter, which was posthumously published in 1982, with an afterword by Nikola Batušić, Branko Gavella says: ‘’All of the characteristics of our socio-political and cultural typology will be reflected in the special style of our theatre.’’ This sentence specifically refers to the existence of ‘’Gavella Evenings’’, which were inaugurated in 1973, twenty years after the theatre, which cherishes drama repertoire and a recognizable acting style, was founded. The festival went on for nineteen years, until 1991 and the beginning of the Homeland War, and it was reopened in 2005. Now, in 2015, it is celebrating its 30th anniversary together with its loyal audience and artists. It is precisely this birthday turning point, which signifies moving from a period of youth to a period of maturity, which presents a turning point in the selecting structure of the Festival. Now the selectors are Gavella’s trio – general manager – dramaturge – executive producer. With this, they are showing a familiar, collaborative theatrical unity by selecting the best Croatian productions and are also being hosts to the most intriguing productions, dramas based on ‘’playing along’’ (what Gavella refers to as ‘’Mitspiel’’), from other countries. Thus it seems that ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ are following, with their selection and a characteristic autumnal schedule, as well as with emphasizing the healing nature of ensemble performance, in the footsteps of Gavella’s thoughts from 1952, which were written in the appropriately named ‘’Narodni list’’ (People’s Paper), a year before the theatre was founded: ‘’The actor must be aware that by creating art he enters a vast socio-moral complex of human creation in general. The value of his creation is measured by how much it contributes to the overall increase of the value of human life. The joy of creation can thus be just a mere consequence of consciousness, for it to have an overall human value.’’ At ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ we are looking for the co-existence of ‘’mute gesture’’ and verbal force of those productions which stand out, with their quality, poetics and force, in promoting the value of director’s poetics, pedagogical principles, philosophical musings and existential force of dr. Branko Gavella, the founder of the theatre and the co-founder of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb.

The emergence of ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ is the result of ‘’a turning point in recent Croatian theatre history’’, the founding of Zagreb Drama Theatre in 1953, which started staging plays in 1954, when the younger generation of actors broke away from the central theatre institution – Croatian National Theatre. Led by Branko Gavella, they wanted to prove they had their own creative abilities and not be subordinated by a single central institution. They staged the best plays of Croatian and international authors, very often the newest ones, contemporary plays. In its thirty years of existence, ‘’Gavella Evenings’’ wanted to promote the basic director and pedagogical principle put forward by Branko Gavella: the play along (mitspiel). By playing along on stage and exploring the archetypal possibilities of theatre art, the actors and creators want to achieve a relationship between the text and the audience. They want to turn the solitude of the theatre act into an intimacy which opens new possibilities of playing along and which shows a dedication to their own calling as a challenge to the very essence of theatre.

Mira Muhoberac