The premiere of the Ivan Salečić play Lion House as adapted by Marijana Fumić, directed by Aida Bukvić and performed by the Festival Drama Ensemble, is on the 72nd Dubrovnik Summer Festival programme on Friday, 20 August on the playground below Minčeta Fort. On that occasion a press conference was held in the Festival palace with speakers being the author Ivan Salečić, director Aida Bukvić, dramaturge Marijana Fumić, the Festival’s Creative Director Dora Ruždjak Podolski and Josipa Vodenac, Director of the OTP Bank Business Center Dubrovnik and Southern Dalmatia – the play’s sponsor.
Lion House portrays Dubrovnik as a place where burdened history and burlesque transition clash. It is an adaptation of the eponymous Ivan Salečić debut novel, in which the author intertwines two stories about Dubrovnik’s present and past, focusing on the Gundulić family history. Salečić created a unique novel in which fiction and faction coexist and our ideas about the glorious past are broken against the harsh reality of everyday life. The present-day bitter-humorous complications surrounding the purchase and restoration of an apartment in the historic city core are complemented with an interesting and engaging history of Dubrovnik, above which looms the grim fate of the Great Earthquake.
– The decision to put up this particular novel was made by me and my Assistant Artistic Director for Theatre Saša Božić two years ago, considering the great relevancy of the work for Dubrovnik. The care with which Ivan Salečić studied historical fact and turned them into fiction, or rather, created a space of creative expression is especially impressive. The novel was in good hands, first with dramaturge Marijana Fumić who extremely successfully translated it to the theatre medium and then with the director Aida Bukvić, the captain of this outstanding crew of artists, the creative team as well as the talented actors of the Festival Drama Ensemble. – said Dubrovnik Summer Festival Creative Director Dora Ruždjak Podolski.
The creative team aside from director Aida Bukvić and dramaturge Marijana Fumić are: Ivo Knezović set design, Blaženka Kovač-Carić stage movement and Mirjana Zagorec costume design. Lighting design is done by Martin Šatović while Maro Market created the music. The director’s assistant is Antonela Tošić, Pietro Boban is assisting the set designer and making original paintworks, with Timo Škrlec doing the sculptures. The Festival Drama Ensemble includes: Amar Bukvić as Ivan, Iva Kraljević as Vanja, Jadranka Đokić as Laima and Nika Gundulić, Dražen Šivak as Šeh, Branimir Vidić – Flika as Nikša, Maro Martinović in the role of Ivan Gundulić, Doris Šarić-Kukuljica as the Professor and Luce, Romano Nikolić and Marin Klišmanić as Ivan Gundulić’s sons Šiško and Mato, with Veronika Mach as their sister Džive and Gloria Dubelj as Kata.
– It is an exceptional honor for OTP Bank to be a traditional sponsor of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival which is key for the development of Dubrovnik’s, as well as Croatia’s, culture as a whole. Under the traditional sponsor I meant to highlight the almost three decades long support we have been giving the Festival. We are happy to again lend our support to a work that speaks of contemporary Dubrovnik, as well as the historical one with an emphasis on the history of the Gundulić family. I believe that we will be a part of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in the many years to come – stated Josipa Vodenac, Director of the OTP Bank Business Center Dubrovnik and Southern Dalmatia and then presenting a donation check worth HRK 180,000.00 to Festival Creative Director Dora Ruždjak Podolski.
Lion House will premiere on Friday, August 20 at the playground below Minčeta Fort, with four more performances scheduled for 21, 22, 23, 24 August which start at 9:30 p.m., with the exceptions of 22 and 24 August when the scheduled start is at 10 p.m. The entrance is from the Buža Gate.
Tickets are available for purchase at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival website www.dubrovnik-festival.hr or via www.ulaznice.hr ticketing service, and at the box office of the Festival Palace (Od Sigurate 1) every day from 9am to 9.30pm. Tickets will also be available on location two hours before the start of the performance. Ticket prices remain significantly reduced due to the economic situation being impacted by the pandemic, up to 50% lower as was the case last year. Purchases made with Mastercard® and Maestro® cards receive a 10% discount while all purchases and orders over 500HRK offer payment in instalments.
All 72nd Dubrovnik Summer Festival programmes are certified as safe gatherings, meaning the events will be organised according to current rules and recommendations by the national and local Civil Protection Headquarters and the World Health Organization, according to which maintaining physical distance of one seat with compulsory face masks has been deemed sufficient for audiences at low-risk events and the attendees are not obligated to present their EU digital COVID pass.