CROATIAN NATIONAL THEATRE - Backstage story of HNK

Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb opened it's door for public in October 1895., and it was one of the most glamorous events at the end of the 19th century. It was a warm night of October 14th, around seven in the evening. Kaiser Franz Joseph walked the red carpet (red carpet before the red carpet ;) from the Faculty of Law to the building of the theatre (Meštrović’s sculpture Well of Life has been located in front since 1912.). If we take into consideration that Zagreb had about 10 times less inhabitants then then now (around 100 000), and that the car had the status of, let’s say, a space ship, it’s no wonder there were only eight cars at the opening night.

But the building, one of the main symbols of the city, was not the first home of the Zagreb HNK (that is abbreviation for Hrvatsko narodno kazalište or - in English - Croatian National Theatre).

Many people don’t know that, prior to the location on Maršala Tita Square, the theatre had found its home in another famous Zagreb square – St. Mark’s Square. It was back in 1834., and the story of the building of the theatre, which was literally won on the lottery, is an anecdote of its own. Krsto Stanković, estate owner and tradesman won 30 000 gold coins at the Viennese lottery – about a million euro when adjusted to today’s monetary values. Knowing the area he lived in (oh, why has nothing changed at all), he sent three carriages from Vienna to Zagreb – two of them were robbed on the way. There was still enough money to build the theatre building in Upper Town, but the shows done there were mostly lacking in national spirit and language – that is, they were foreign guest productions.

Thanks to the efforts of the Illyrian movement, the national theatre in Croatian language was founded in 1860. Since cultural life was developing and the Great Earthquake of 1880. damaged Stanković’s theatre, the issue of a new theatre building was raised.

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Six different addresses were discussed, and the one it’s at today was among the least popular. Why? Apart from the fact that Maršala Tita Square housed a cattle fair at the end of the 19th century, it was located at the “outskirts of the town”. Hahaha, I know, Zagrebians of the time found it preposterous that a theatre would be built in a place with “energy of that kind”, and in the suburbs even, while life still happened around Gradec and Kaptol, which had not been united with the surrounding areas until 1850. But in 1895., Zagreb finally got a monumental theatre in the Neo-Baroque style, designed by Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer.

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Let’s go back to the future and visit HNK today. From its founding until today, it has changed five countries and twelve names. The stage covers about 100 square meters, and the theatre employs 515 people – (only) 38 actors, but there are 90 choir singers, 20 soloists, 80 members of the orchestra, eight tailors who sew and take care of all the costumes, cleaning staff, and many people you don’t see, but who are important wheels in such a great mechanism.

Now, how do I know all this? HNK has developed an amazing project that enables citizens to take a peek behind the curtains, to get to know the theatre from another angle. The name of the project is the Secret History of the Theatre, and once or twice a month visitors are guided by actors and told the story of the theatre as it used to be and as it is today.

The groups are different and interactive since you can “hassle” the actors and ask questions, and I had the privilege of trying on some of the wigs in the wig shop. Our team took a walk with Kristijan Potočki (thanks, Kiki!), who told us most of the things I have already mentioned in a relaxed atmosphere, but also made us walk quite a bit so we could see everything he was talking about.

Shoe storage room

Since 1895. till today - in last 123 years, many famous guests visited National theatre in Zagreb. Let me just mention couple of them... Last celebrity couple who visited in 2016. were prince Charles and his duchess Camilla, as they made a stop at the theatre to see a short program devoted to the 400th anniversary of death of William Shakespeare. When Pope Benedict XVI. visited in 2011., the solist wardrobe had to be moved so that the Pope could have his private area there, closest to the back entrance which he used. :)

Just to mention couple more names that enjoyed Zagreb's national theatre atmosphere - Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Franz Liszt, Sarah Bernhardt, Dmitrij Šostakovič, Gérard Philipe, Richard Strauss, Constantin S. Stanislavski… The list goes on and on.

What to add? The entire theatre is divided into the male and female side, which are connected with the scene – we were underneath it while it was rotating, and the feeling is – hmm – unusual. We started our tour while they were trying out for new play and were pretty impressed by the shoe storage (and we only saw the lesser part – several thousand, as far as I could estimate); the rehearsal room housed the orchestra and we ended the tour – logically –in the theatre bar.

You can find out more about the building's history on theatre's official page.

Thank you for reading!

xoxo,

Matejka

p.s. It's such a pleasure to write with a helper like this one ;)