CNT Zagreb, Croatia

Translator Zlatko Wurzberg
Director and set designer Pascal Rambert
Dramaturg Sanja Ivić
Costume designer Anaïs Romand
Lighting designer Thierry Morin
Assistant to director Alessandra Calabi
Assistants to set designer Vanja Magić, Andrea Lipej
Assistant to costume designer Mirna Mihoković
Stage manager Roko Grbin
Prompter Višnja Kiš

Cast
Alma Prica
Nina Violić
Vlasta Ramljak
Siniša Popović
Livio Badurina
Bojan Navojec
Iva Mihalić
Franjo Kuhar
Dušan Gojić
Damir Markovina
Silvio Vovk
Luca Antić
Leonardo Bajić

Actress tells a story of a great Russian theatre leading lady, adored by the audience, who suddenly dies. When her body is laid in state, personalities from her personal and professional lives are gathered. Colleagues from the theatre, friends, her children, sister, parents, lovers, her husband, they all pay respect and deliver a speech about life or art. The room in which she is laid, gets filled up with bouquets of flowers to express absolute love. While he worked in Moscow a few years ago, Pascal Rambert was moved by the Russian custom that audience members bring huge quantities of flowers to opening nights. Originally, Actress was written for the actors of the MHAT, a theatre house where The Seagull by A. P. Chekhov was first produced. In the play, celebrating repertoire theatres and their ensembles, there are many reminiscences and allusions to The Seagull and Chekhov. Actress, a melodrama with a Russian touch, exploring theatre with a multitude of tears and flowers, and speeches about theatre and life, is a testimony to the admiration of the acting profession and the cult of art. It is also Rambert’s tribute to the love of theatre art, permeated by the notion of a world approaching its end.

Slovenian and English surtitles

Followed by a post-show talk at the Drama Forecourt.