1861-1914.

The Serbian National Theatre was founded as a drama theatre, and therefore Drama was founded when the Theatre itself was founded.

Until the First World War, 630 plays based on 392 domestic and foreign writers were performed at the SNP. In conditions of such hyperproduction, when some plays had only a premiere, some two or three, and a smaller number several reruns, the plays were prepared very quickly. Such a way of preparing a play cannot be spoken of from the aspect of direction. Rather, one could speak of setting the basic movements (mise-en-scène) which would, generally, be performed by the first actor in agreement with the others, in several rehearsals after the learned text. Thus, the plays were prepared by Jovan Đorđević, Antonije Hadžić, Dimitrije Marković, Laza Telečki, Dimitrije Ruzić, Pera Dobrinović, Andrija Lukić, Velja Miljković, Dimitrije Spasić, Miloš Hadži Dinić, Koča Vasiljević and others. A pathetic, romantic style of acting prevailed.

The members of the first acting ensemble were: Dimitrije Ruzić, Dimitrije Marković Kikindjanin, Nikola Nedeljković, Kosta Hadžić, Mihailo Gavrilović, Mihailo Rac(ković), Mladen Cvejić, Stevan Čekić and Draginja Popović (later Ruzić), Ljubica Popović, Milica Grunčić and Nikola Zorić. Until World War I, the following also performed on the stage of the Serbian National Theatre: Laza Telečki, Marija Nedeljković, Nikola Rašić, Đorđe Peleš, Đura and Marija Rajković, Ilija Stanojević Čiča, Dimitrije Spasić, Miloš Hadži Dinić. Koča Vasiljević, Velja Miljković, Pavle Marinković, Mileva Rašić, Milica-Milka Grgurova, Sofija Popović, Dimitrije and Ljubica Kolarović, Marija Cvetković, Tinka and Andrija Lukić, Pera and Jelisaveta Dobrinović, Marta Todosić, Milka Marković, Danica Metejić, Jefta Dušanović, Draga Spasić and many others. During this period, the SNP was a breeding ground for excellent actors, many of whom performed with great success at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and the National Theatre in Belgrade.

At that time of the awakening of national consciousness, the repertoire of the Serbian National Theatre was very important. The repertoire until 1914 was diverse. Only in the first six months did it rely on national plays, and later on, plays from the stages of theaters in Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb and Belgrade were performed, and to a lesser extent from the repertoire of German and Hungarian traveling troupes that toured Vojvodina. Plays with themes from Serbian national history were a great success with the audience. The lack of domestic dramatic texts was compensated by Serbian ones – characters in foreign dramatic texts were given domestic names, and the action was moved to Serbian places, with an emphasis on Serbian patriotism. The most popular were plays with national themes, mostly tragedies and dramatic depictions inspired by medieval and recent history, such as The Death of Uroš V by Stefan Stefanović, Miloš Obilić ( The Battle of Kosovo ) by Jovan Subotić, Hajduk VeljkoJovan Dragašević and others. In addition, the so-called plays with singing were extremely popular, such as dramatizations of prose by Stevan Sremac – Zona Zamfirova and Ivkova slava (music by Stevan Mokranjac), Đido Janko Veselinović and Dragomir Brzak (with music by Davorin Jenko), and Koštan Borisav Stanković (music by Stevan Mokranjac), which will remain in the repertoire until recent times, then Vojnički begunac and Gypsy by Edo Sigligeti, Stari bake i šu hussar son by Jožef Sigligeti, Seoski lolu by Emerich Tot and others. Translation activity at that time was very intense – it often happened that a contemporary French or German text would find its way into the repertoire a few months after its world premiere.

Of the domestic playwrights, the following were most represented: Jovan St. Popović, Atanasije Nikolić, Lazar Lazarević, Jovan Dragašević, Jovan Subotić, Laza Kostić, Đura Jakšić, Matija Ban, Đorđe Maletić, Dragutin Ilic, Milorad Šapčanin, Velja Miljković, Bora Stanković, Ilija Okrugić Sremac, Janko Veselinović, Dragomir Bržak, Branislav Nušić, and from abroad: Shakespeare, Molière, Schiller, Goldoni, Ibsen, Goethe, Mayak and Millau, Hauptmann, Scrib, Labisch, Dimanoir, Deneri, Sardou, Suderman, Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer, Carlo Obernjik , Sandor Lukácsi and many others.

1918-1941.

The first acting ensemble consisted mainly of pre-war members: Ljubica and Miloš Hadži Dinić, Danica and Kosta Vasiljević, Milka and Mihailo Marković, Draga Spasić, Danica and Milan Matejić, Katica and Vojislav Vilovac, Ruža and Dragomir Krančević, Marta Todosić, Marija-Mica Hadžić, Štefanija Lenska, Mileva Bošnjaković, Saveta and Jovan Stojčević, Pava Sluka-Rajičić, Julija Kučera, Dimitrije Spasić, Dobrica Milutinović, Milivoje Živanović, Milorad Dušanović, Vasa Ivanović, Milka Marković, and Pera Jovanović, and later they were joined by: Boža Nikolić, Marija Vera, Radoslav Vesnić, Pava Sluka, Radenko Almažanović, Aleksandar Veresčagin, Zora Vilovac, Svetislav Savić, Dragoljub Sotirović, Stanoje Dušanović, Jovan Haritonović, Hijacinta-Cinta Vugrinčević-Haritonović, Nadezhda Arkhipova, Rahela Ferrari, Mila Levova, Tomislav Tanhofer, Jovan and Mila Goc, Mihajlo Kovačević, Ida Pregarc, Brana and Kaja Cvetković, Stanko Kolašinec, Stojan Jovanović and many others. The direction and training of future actors was entrusted to experienced actors: Miloš Hadži Dinić, Dimitri Spasić, Kosta Vasiljević, Aleksandar Veresčagin, Jovan Goc, Brana Cvetković, Milan Matejić and others.

The repertoire of the interwar period was based on both domestic and foreign dramatic texts. The repertoire was influenced, in addition to the National Theatre in Belgrade, by the repertoires of foreign theatres, so that at that time the strong influence of the French and Russian repertoire was visible. Of the domestic writers, the most frequently performed were Jovan St. Popović, Branislav Nušić, Bora Stanković and others. The greatest income was brought in by plays based on works of lesser literary value, so that the largest part of the repertoire was occupied by French vaudevilles because they were also the most popular.

1944 – to the present day

The choice of repertoire in the first years after the war was among the most important elements of theatre policy. The aim was to bring theatre closer to the people and for the performances to have a positive effect on the people, especially for them to be plays with a clear political message in line with the Communist Party. As a result, the repertoire could not include plays from the interwar period: light comedies, vaudeville, melodramas…, and it was not uncommon for the authorities to ban a performance that was considered to threaten the regime. Thus, the repertoire included works with war themes, works by Russian writers, and works by our classical dramatic literature, primarily by Jovan St. Popović, Branislav Nušić, and Bore Stanković. Already in the early 1950s, the influence of the state on the work of the theater slowly ceased, and the repertoire was again composed of plays by world and domestic classics. Soon, the repertoire included contemporary world, but also contemporary domestic drama, among which the works of Miroslav Krleža, Borislav Mihailović Mihiz, Aleksandar Popović, Ljubomir Simović, Jovan Hristić, Velimir Lukić, Dušan Kovačević, Sinisa Kovačević…

The most significant acting names marked the post-war work of the Theatre: Milan Ajvaz, Ljubica Ravasi, Stanoje Dušanović, Rahela Ferrari, Viktor Starčić, Olga Životić, Ljubiša Iličić, Sinisa and Ljubica Ravasi, Stanoje Dušanović, Olga Životić, Dušan Životić, Slavka Tošić, Žarko Mitrović, Sofija Perić-Nešić, Branko Tatić, Aleksandar Stojković, Slavko Simić, Nikola Mitić, Stojan Jovanović, Milan and Slavka Tošić, Petar Vrtipraški, Lazar Bogdanović, Franja Živni, Ivan Hejtl, Miodrag Lončar, Vitomir Ljubičić, Stevan Šalajić, Đorđe Jelisić, Velimir Životić, Rade Kojadinović, Velimir Životić, Ilinka Dušanović, Slavko Đorđević, Anđelija Vesnić, Milica Kljaić-Radaković, Dobrila and Dragiša Šokica, Dragutin Kolesar, Zaida Krimshamhalov, Milena Bulatović, Stevan Gardinovački and others. The Yugoslav Drama Theater was founded in Belgrade in the fall of 1947, and on that occasion several members of the SNP joined that theater.

After the war, there was a period of new direction and the Theatre almost always had a permanent director: Jovan Konjović, Jurij Ljvovich Rakitin, Josip Kulundžić, Bora Hanauska, Jovan Putnik, Milenko Šuvaković, Dimitrije Đurković, then Dejan Mijač, but many guest directors also worked.

Today, the SNP Drama is made up of an ensemble of outstanding actors who perform plays based on the works of the greatest world and domestic classical and contemporary writers. In order to contribute to the affirmation of young talented playwrights, the Serbian National Theatre launched „Project Three“ in 2004, which was conceived as a festival of new Serbian drama, that is, authors who have not yet been performed on domestic professional theater stages.

Based on available materials and literature, the text was compiled by Dr. Milena Leskovac.