This year, a total of 86 institutions joined the campaign and 145 plays were performed at 77 venues in the 46 towns and cities throughout Croatia, said the manager of the European Theatre Night event in Croatia, Nina Kruljac.
A majority of plays and events during the European Theatre Night were free of charge or tickets were sold at affordable prices.
Apart from Croatia, also institutions in six countries -- Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia -- joined this initiative.
The event is held as part of European Theatre Night which is an annual one-day event that takes place every third Saturday in November. The initiator of the event (and also the coordinator for Croatia) is a Children’s Theatre Dubrava, which operates within the Dubrava People’s University.
On that day of open doors theatres and theatre companies offer their productions free of charge or at a significantly reduced price, in order to deepen the bond already existing between them and their audience. Along with offer of repertory performances, the mission of the European Theatre Night is to provide international guest performances as well as organise the exchange of performances between local and international participants.
In addition to the performances, visitors were able to see exhibitions, go to concerts or spend time together and socialise, with tea or mulled wine.
Theatre Night project (or Multicultutral night of the European theatre) has been launched by the French theatre artists and it is conceived to become a great European project in 2009 and the following years.
The Theatre Night project emphasises the idea of theatres as places for meetings, dialogues, socialising and new ideas. Stage arts present the very core of creating the European multicultural identity by launching such a project that emphasises mobility and cooperation among contemporary performance artists.
The Theatre Night program includes: theatre plays of international co-production, reading and staging the literary works of the contemporary European authors, bilingualism, round tables, online conference meetings, concerts, playgroups, workshops for children and gourmet gastronomy offer.