June the 29th, 2025 – Did you know that glorious Dubrovnik is home to the only English language theatre festival in Croatia?
As Mladen Miletic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, 11 years ago, three enthusiasts launched the Midsummer Scene Festival, an international theatre festival that takes place in late June and early July and lasts for 15 days. This year, the festival is scheduled to run until July the 5th. Every evening, The School of Scandal is performed at Dubrovnik’s imposing Lovrijenac Fortress.
Its importance for the Croatian cultural scene lies in the fact that it is a Croatian production in English. In fact, it’s currently the only English language theatre festival in Croatia. A Croatian team of authors participates in the creation of the festival, while the actors are mostly from England and elsewhere. Regardless of where they’re from – they speak beautiful and excellent English. The performances are performed in one of the most widely spoken languages, the lingua franca if you will, which enriches the cultural and tourist offer of Dubrovnik and the whole of Croatia. It is the only festival of its kind in all of Southeastern Europe.
Thw festival’s co-founder and producer, Darija Mikulandra Žanetić, revealed more.
The festival was born out of a great love for theatre shared by Jelena Maržić and myself, in collaboration with Filip Krenus, a Croatian actor and translator who lives and works in London. Jelena and I are amateur actresses who absolutely adore theatre, so much so that we watch performances wherever we happen to be, be it somewhere in Croatia or anywhere around the world. In addition to our love of theatre, the festival was also inspired by the fact that Dubrovnik has a large number of tourists at this time of year, yet a very modest cultural programme. Apart from occasional concerts by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, there’s almost no evening cultural offer for foreign visitors. Our aim was to revive the theatre scene in a language that most tourists understand, and at the same time to bring the English language closer to the local population. When you go to London or New York, going to the theatre on the West End or Broadway is definitely part of every trip. We wanted to create a similar experience in here Dubrovnik for both tourists and the local community.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced this year?
Every year we have to cope with numerous challenges. The location where the festival is held – Lovrijenac Fortress – is very demanding. It’s located on a 37-metre-high cliff, reached by narrow, steep steps. All equipment and technology must be brought in by hand, as there’s no elevator and no vehicle access. Additional challenges are the weather conditions – from summer storms that can cause a lot of damage in a single hour, to increasingly frequent heat waves. Financial challenges are also constantly present. Securing sponsors is absolutely crucial, and the biggest stress always comes in the form of ticket sales. Will we sell enough to cover the costs? The festival is never fully funded by sponsorship, so every single viewer is very important to us.
How did you manage to attract international actors and productions?
A major role is played by our producer Filip Krenus, who lives and works in London. He acts, translates and has strong connections to the British theatre scene. All the actors who have thus far participated in our productions want to come back and perform here again. This is a great honour for us and a sign that we were good hosts and inspired them with the beauty of Dubrovnik and its cultural heritage. Performing at Lovrijenac, where Daniel Day-Lewis also performed as part of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival back in 1989, is exceptional. This particular location has very strong international significance, especially for the English theatre scene.
What is the festival’s contribution to the local community and economy?
As the only English language theatre festival in Croatia, this event brings an incredible cultural offer that quickly becomes one of the most beautiful experiences of the summer for man visitors to Dubrovnik. Midsummer Scene is also an export cultural product – our performances have been performed in Vienna, Romania, Poland, Hungary and three times in distant Bermuda, where we always perform under the name Midsummer Scene Dubrovnik. In doing that, we continue representing Croatia as a cultural ambassador.
How crucial is both public and private partnership?
Without it, the festival couldn’t survive. In addition to the support of the City of Dubrovnik and the Tourist Board, we’re also helped by hotel companies such as Valamar, Adriatic Luxury Hotels, Hotel Lapad, Ero and Maestral. We also owe a great debt of gratitude to the Society of Friends of Dubrovnik Antiquities, which manages Lovrijenac, as well as sponsors including Janaf and Podravka. We’ve also collaborated with the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Marin Držić Theatre, the Dubrovnik Museums, the State Archives and the House of Marin Držić for a long time now.
As the only English language theatre festival in Croatia, how does this event contribute to the promotion of the English language and international cultural exchange?
It primarily does so through the performance of the plays themselves in English. We present Croatian culture in a way that is translated and thus understandable to the world. We perform Croatian classics and works by Marin Držić, and thanks to the English translations by Filip Krenus, they can be shown to foreign audiences. So far, Dundo Maroje, Novela od Stanca and Skup have all been translated – they’re the first complete translations in Croatia. Wendy Bracewell also translated Venera i Adona. This year, as part of the festival, we’re organising Držić Day where we will present new translations, in order to bring the Dubrovnik-born Marin Držić closer to a global audience.
What are the audience’s reactions to this year’s programme so far?
This year’s title is Richard B. Sheridan’s The School of Scandal – a comedy of manners written way back in 1777. It is a text similar to Dangerous Liaisons, but it ends with a positive outcome. The play takes place among the aristocracy, and the intrigues and gossip are very interesting to the audience. Another special feature is that we’ve remained faithful to the time frame – the 18th century – through the amazing costumes of Robert Surac and the wigs of Ivana Pleš. We believe that the audience will enjoy it.
How does the only English language theatre festival in Croatia position itself among other cultural events?
After ten seasons, the festival has positioned itself very strongly. Here in Croatia, Midsummer Scene is known as an event that marks the beginning of summer. The name itself says it all: the scenes of early summer – it starts around June the 21st and lasts until the first week of July.
What are your goals for the festival for the next five years?
We want to continue to stage world classics, especially Shakespeare’s works, as well as develop musicals – our team loves that genre. We’d really love to further develop our cooperation with the House of Marin Držić, translate more of his works and present them in new readings. It’s also important for us to be able to educate young audiences. Previews are always free for pupils and students because theatre should be experienced live – emotion and contact with the actors are irreplaceable.
What role does this festival play in promoting Dubrovnik to the world?
It plays a very big one. Dubrovnik is well known for its cultural events, and we’re proud to be part of that calendar, every year at the beginning of summer. We represent this beautiful city and the entire country on all international tours – we’re cultural ambassadors of Croatia.
