35th MARULIĆ DAYS (April 22nd to 30th 2025)
For the 35th edition of Marulić Days, a total of 64 plays have been submitted from Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Italy, Germany, and Portugal. Specifically, this includes 53 plays from Croatia, 2 from Serbia, 1 from Slovenia, 1 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1 from North Macedonia, 3 from Montenegro, 1 from Italy, 1 from Germany, and 1 Croatian-Portuguese co-production. Compared to last year, this marks an increase of 10 plays, reaffirming—perhaps even more strongly—the vitality and relevance of Croatian playwrights and dramaturges. Through their engagement with contemporary issues, they offer compelling and thought-provoking theatrical choices, both in institutional and independent theater scenes.
Aside from a few productions of Croatian dramatic canon classics such as Držić, Krleža, and Marinković, the festival mainly features contemporary playwrights or original projects in which the text emerges from collective work or a research-based creative process, always addressing current themes—issues we encounter in everyday life.
Given the increased number of applications and the higher artistic and production quality of many plays, this year’s festival selection includes more performances than last year—13 in total. These plays stood out primarily for their quality, the fundamental and most obvious criterion, but also for their courage in addressing topics that are at once deeply personal and socially relevant. This year’s audience will have the opportunity to see a total of 6 dramatic texts, including 3 world premieres, as well as 2 adaptations and 5 original projects, most of which are also based on solid dramatic structures but developed through collective or research-based writing.
The thematic preoccupations of these works are deeply embedded in contemporary life—whether dealing with war and post-war traumas whose far-reaching consequences remain trapped in a transgenerational sense of sorrow, guilt, and helplessness, or exploring and dissecting family, romantic, friendship, and even professional relationships, all of which are significantly shaped by various social and ideological imperatives, pressures, and prejudices.