Flags (Zastave)
a production by the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
Adapted for the stage and directed by: Ivan Planinić
A production by the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia), performed in Croatian with Hungarian and English surtitles.
Running time: approximately 2 hours, without an interval.
Miroslav Krleža’s final novel, Flags, is one of the most complex and extensive works in Croatian literature. Originally published in five volumes and spanning nearly two thousand pages, it covers the intense and pivotal period between 1913 and 1922, encompassing the era of the First World War.
The old world is dying, while the contours of the future emerge in the thoughts and emotions of a young man. These nine years are marked by violence, war, death and the emptiness left in their wake. In the protagonist, Kamilo Emericki, the paradoxes of life, the absurdity of existence and the sadness of unfulfilled desires collide.
Flags is a coming-of-age story: the biography of young people, an entire generation whose lives were torn apart by history. Kamilo Emericki is not merely a part of history; he is shaped entirely by it, embodying everything that lies between dream and reality, life and death, the old world and the new.
It is a story of dialogue, relationships, encounters and farewells, of love and friendship; a story of those who return and those who leave, often forever—into death, into history.
In Flags, alongside history, Miroslav Krleža portrays our own reality as well, offering a warning that we must pay close attention to every symptom of the passing of the old world.
CAST
Actors:
Livio Badurina, Nina Violić, Jadranka Đokić, Goran Grgić, Živko Anočić, Marin Klišmanić
Dancers:
Michele Pastorini, Valentin Chou, Maria Matarranz de las Heras
Musicians:
Lucija Stanojević (violin), Božan Bejo (clarinet), Helena Novosel (vocals)
CREATIVE TEAM
Dramaturgs: Mirna Rustemović and Dubravko Mihanović
Set Designer: Ivan Lučišić Liik
Costume Designer: Tea Basic
Movement Directors: Maša Kolar and Maja Marjančić
Lighting and Video Designer: Ivan Lučišić Liik
Composers: Niksa Marinovic and Luka Gamulin
Sound Engineers: Luka Gamulin and Stipe Smokrović
Assistant Directors: Marta Tutiš and Hrvojka Begović
Assistant Costume Designer: Ana Trisler
Assistant Set Designer: Andrea Lipey
Adapted for the stage and directed by: Ivan Planinić
Premiere: 3 October 2025
Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia