Ivor Martinic is one of Croatia’s top playwrights. In 2005,
he won the Martin Drzic Award –making him its youngest recipient - from
the Croatian ministry of culture and his plays have been performed on
Croatian, Hungarian and German radio. Now, his work can be seen at the
Blue Elephant Theatre. ‘The title of the drama about Ante is written
Here’ concerns the relationship between Ante and his father. Ante, as a
small child, lost a leg in the same bomb blast that killed his mother whilst
his father was at the front.

We caught up with Ivor to ask him some questions.

CIL: Is the play based on real people?
It's based on article that I found in the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List. It was about a boy who lost his mother and one of his legs during the Croatian War of Independence. I wanted to show what kind of consequences war has for a human life. These kinds of stories are quite common in Croatia after the war.

CIL: How did the collaboration with the Blue Elephant theatre come about?

The artistic director of the Blue Elephant Theatre, Jasmine Cullingford, read the play two years ago and she liked it. She first put it on as a stage reading a year ago and when that went well they developed it to full production. Director Rebecca Tortora did a great job putting this play on the stage.

CIL: The play is firmly based in Croatia, but has been performed internationally and now in London. Were any changes needed for that?

Not really. Of course, except of translation from Croatian which is always a long process. Even the story being set in Croatia doesn't bother the audience in different counties and after a while the audience forgets that is not set in their country because this story can happen anywhere.

CIL: How have English audiences reacted so far?
I'm very happy with the reactions of the English audiences. I had a feeling they engaged with everything that happens on the stage.

CIL: The play has a Croatian actor – Marko Cindric - in the role of Ante, how did that come about?
He just finished at The Oxford School of Drama one month ago, and his audition for this play was one of his first. I was very happy when he got it. It's both his and mine first professional production in London which is great as I worked with Marko few years ago back in Croatia and because he showed me London when I first got here two years ago. Also, he's very talented and it's nice to have him to led great ensemble of actors that this production has.

CIL: What is your next project? Do you hope for more of your work to be performed in London?

In the last 4 months I have been traveling a lot with this play and will be more so in the future. So going to different countries and festivals is my next project till the end of the year. Next year I will have the first production of my last play ‘The play about Mirjana and those around her’ in the City Theatre in Slovenia.

I like London. It was very refreshing to be a part of some other theatre community because everything was new for me. I hope this will not be my last production here as I find the London theatre scene very exciting.

CIL’s mini-review:

Despite the sombre background to the story, the play buzzes with energy. The actors perform their roles with great enthusiasm. The actors play their roles enthusiastically – especially the roles of Ante and Ljubica whose characters are children, but played by adults. The play’s central theme is Ante’s resentment at his father possibly getting involved with a woman since the death of Ante’s mother. Croatian actor Marko Cindric plays Ante very engagingly, – and even imbues the character with an English accent. The play never descends into sentimentality, and has moments of humour. Well worth seeing.

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