3 Winters by Tena Štivičić

Directed by John Gillett

With Alex Boariu, Hannah Brucher, Stavria Charalampous, Nicol Coman, Antonia Ilieș, Zuzanna Podrazka, Vasco Siromahov, Sylvie Titterington, Georgi Todorov, Ananda Wennhamer and Kyle Ballantyne

Tena Štivičić’s play 3 Winters follows a single Croatian family living in Zagreb throughout the vicissitudes of the nation's history between 1945 and 2011. It was first performed in the Lyttelton auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 3 December 2014 (previews from 26 November) and went on to win the 2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

The play's action is set in and around the Kos family house in Zagreb, Croatia, in three alternating time periods: November 1945, January 1990, and November 2011 (with the exception of the first scene, which takes place in an office in Zagreb in 1945). In 1945 we see Rose, with her mother, husband and their baby daughter, Maša, moving into a partitioned house at the time of the victory of Tito’s communist partisans. By 1990, Maša and her history-teacher husband, Vlado, are occupying the same house, with their young daughters, at the very moment when Croatia and Slovenia are about to break up the dominant Yugoslavian communist regime. Finally we meet the Kos family in 2011 when Maša’s youngest daughter, Lucija, is about to marry an avaricious entrepreneur and Croatia is on the brink of joining the capitalist club of the European Union.

Important Information:

This play discusses themes of loss and trauma from war and political conflict. It contains a scene depicting an abusive, violent relationship.

Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission

Age Recommendation: Not recommended for under 16

Entry Policy: No entry once the show begins