The 71st Festival drama success Marin Držić’s “Grižula” directed by Saša Božić and Petra Hrašćanec, performed by the Festival Drama Ensemble in collaboration with the Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb, will be put on once more this Festival season in the Gradac Park. Performances are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 2 3 and 4 August at 9.30pm.
“Grižula”, written by one of the Dubrovnik greats Marin Držić, is a comedy which partially belongs to pastoral tradition through its interplay between enamoured couples seeking each other out in an endless loop not unlike the one in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Eve. The moral lesson and warning that Držić imparts on the audience is that when ordinary people cross boundaries set by their human nature and come into contact with the supernatural world of the fairies, they become comical, victims to chaos and misunderstandings. Humanity’s eternal search for love in a new reading by Saša Božić and Petra Hrašćanec is intertwined with motifs of Dubrovnik folk songs and dance, a sort of a study on the local mentality.
Grižula is played by the masterful Ozren Grabarić, Omakala is Nataša Dangubić, Kristijan Petelin and Leon Dubroja are the Vlachs Radoje and Dragić, Anica Kontić and Iva Jerković Vlachs Gruba and Miona, Branimir Vidić - Flika is Staniša, Perica Martinović Vukosava. The roles of Cupid and Plakir are played by Boris Barukčić, and Lucija Alfier, Viktorija Bubalo, Danijela Evđenić, Lana Meniga and Dea Presečki portray the fairies. Set and costume design is done by Zdravka Ivandija-Kirigin, music by Nenad Sinkauz, lighting design Martin Šatović, assistant costume designer is Ana Mikulić while Maro Martinović did Dubrovnik language consulting for the actors.
The premiere of “Grižula” was held 20 August of last year, at the 71st Dubrovnik Summer Festival as part of the Future Epics project co-funded by the European Union Creative Europe Programme. Nataša Dangubić received a Best Female Actress Studio Award nomination for her portrayal of Omakala while Anica Kontić was nominated for the prestigious Golden Studio in the category of Best Newcomer and the Croatian Actor Award (also called the Croatian Theatre Oscar) in the category of Exceptional achievement by a young artist under 28 years old.
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.