Exclusive Performance: "Antigone - 2000 Years Later" in the Small Roman Theatre
In the sold-out Small Roman Theatre in Pula on July 28, 2025, the play Antigone – 2000 Years Later was performed to standing ovations from the audience.
Despite unstable weather conditions and occasional drizzle even just before the start of the performance, people were still looking for additional tickets. It was as meteorologist Zoran Vakula had predicted for Ulysses and Pula Cultural Summer 2025 – at the time of the performance, the rain over Pula would stop. After the first minutes of the performance, even the few umbrellas were closed, and the full acting power of Rade Šerbedžija, Maja Izetbegović, Katarina Bistrović Darvaš, Dženana Džanić, Ermin Bravo and the entire acting ensemble opened up – and it became a theatrical night to remember – with thunderous applause.
In the Small Roman Theatre, from antiquity until last night, no theatrical performance had been staged – and this production of Sophocles’ Antigone – directed by Lenka Udovički – is also the return of ancient drama to the Small Roman Theatre.
The play Antigone – 2000 Years Later, a co-production between Ulysses Theatre and Sarajevo’s MESS (International Theatre Festival MESS), is the only performance that Ulysses Theatre staged this season.
Ulysses Theatre's 25th Birthday Celebrated with Concert in Small Roman Theatre
In Pula’s Small Roman Theatre – Ulysses celebrated 25 years of activity – showcasing its exciting odyssey journey through unforgettable stage memories.
The celebration was held on Saturday, July 19, 2025. The program was hosted by actors who also created the long-standing repertoire of this theatre through their numerous roles: Maja Posavec and Ozren Grabarić.
And through the musical-theatrical spectacle, we were guided by numerous significant musical and theatrical names from these regions.
Alongside host RADE ŠERBEDŽIJA, the following performed: ZAPADNI KOLODVOR, DARKO RUNDEK, DAMIR URBAN, VLATKO STEFANOVSKI, MIROSLAV TADIĆ & YVETTE HOLZWARTH, SAŠA LOŠIĆ, LIVIO MOROSIN, MOSTARSKA SINFONIETTA, PUTOKAZI, ALEX BALANESCU, DUO SILENCE, LUCIJA ŠERBEDŽIJA & IVANKA MAZURKIJEVIĆ, DARIO MOROSIN & MAURO I IRENA GIORGI & RADE ŠERBEDŽIJA & GORAN FARKAŠ, KATARINA BISTROVIĆ DARVAŠ & RUNDEK, JURE IVANUŠIĆ, MAJA POSAVEC, NIKA IVANČIĆ, DIJANA VIDUŠIN, DENI SANKOVIĆ.
The special ambience of the Small Roman Theatre provided an excellent framework for an evening marked by outstanding music and stage performances by numerous acting stars.
Numerous guests from political and public life came to Ulysses Theatre’s birthday celebration (President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović with his wife Sanja Musić Milanović, Mayor of Pula Peđa Grbin, envoy of the Minister of Culture and Media, Darko Komšo, envoy of the Mayor of Zagreb, Martina Jurišić).
The numerous audience filled the Small Roman Theatre to the last seat that memorable night, having a great time, singing and dancing until the end of the concert.
Media coverage:
https://www.hrt.hr/video/koncertom-obiljezena-25-obljetnica-kazalista-ulysses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUy0M3UXaBg
https://tvnova.hr/mrk-pula-obiljezen-25-rodendan-teatra-ulysses/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iaww505I4Ts
https://www.novilist.hr/mozaik/glazba/kazaliste-ulysses-proslavilo-25-rodendan-velikim-koncertom/
https://www.regionalexpress.hr/site/more/dvadeset-i-pet-godina-postojanja-teatra-ulysses
https://fama.com.hr/pula-25-rodendan-teatra-ulysses/
https://kulturistra.hr/2025/07/25-rodendan-teatra-ulysses-u-malom-rimskom-kazalistu/
https://www.nacional.hr/kazaliste-ulysses-velikim-koncertom-proslavilo-20-rodendan/
Radio Naciona Duško Ljuština l https://youtu.be/Cd0crEC-ivs?si=iJaqKak-S3O9-CML
Nacional intervju Lenka Udovički https://www.nacional.hr/lenka-udovicki-ulysses-je-brend-i-dodana-vrijednost-kulture-i-turizma-u-rh/
Photo: Cropix, Goran Šebelić
Brijuni Premiere of the Play "The World and Everything in It"
The play was created as a co-production of Sarajevo War Theatre SARTR, Realstage, and Ulysses Theatre – directed by Selma Spahić.
From the reviews:
Theatrical Bomb from Brijuni. ‘The World and Everything in It’ is a Strike to the Heart and Mind
The play, based on Hemon’s novel, takes us to the battlefield of gay intimacy and history.
(…) And it blazes with a miraculous exchange of ethical and aesthetic treasures, honesty and vulnerability. At moments you’re not sure whether everything around you is the product of artificial intelligence or your brothers and sisters who desperately share your worst and best dreams. “The World and Everything in It” is of such noble breed – a theatrical adaptation of the masterful novel “The Lazarus Project” by Bosnian-Herzegovinian writer of American addresses Aleksandar Hemon. One of the most beautiful love stories ever, written within two Sarajevo recruits, Sephardic Jew Rafael and Muslim Osman, whose love blazes on the fronts of the First World slaughter, is Hemon’s iron bloodstream from which he composes a symphony about history that devours its children. (…)
(…) Fantastically experienced interplay between Ermin Bravo and Alban Ukaj.
(…) Director Spahić’s constructive forces are truly impressive. Set designer Lili Anschütz, costume designer Selena Orb, choreographer Ena Kurtalić, and composers Draško Adžić and Damir Imamović sovereignly provide unbridled evidence of the raw, crude, and fairy-tale babbling of human straw in this world. “The meaning of life is not to be dead, you live so you won’t die. And that’s it,” is a sentence that quietly seethes from every diaspora of Selma’s team.
Telegram, July 21, 2025. Author: Davor Špišić https://www.telegram.hr/kultura/kazalisna-bomba-s-brijuna-svijet-i-sve-u-njemu-udar-je-na-srce-i-um/
A Long Kiss on the Lips Between the Two of Them, Muslim and Jew, Silenced the Audience on Brijuni. Wonderful Performance
The play ‘The World and Everything in It’ on Brijuni is the best I’ve seen this year. I would say it’s a more serious work of art than the novel.
(…) To put it briefly, the play “The World and Everything in It” produced by Sarajevo War Theatre, abbreviated SARTR, and directed by Selma Spahić is the best play I’ve seen this year. It was performed on Veliki Brijun as part of the celebration of Ulysses Theatre’s 25th anniversary, as a co-production, and premiered in January this year in Sarajevo. On Brijuni it was performed under the starry sky, and fewer than a hundred spectators in the Summer Cinema sit in the middle of a “fortress” whose walls are made of plywood on which actors climb, across which light spreads and smoke rises. So the boundary between audience and performance is abolished as much as possible; the viewing space becomes the action space, and the protagonists, who circle the “ramparts,” sometimes perform right next to your ear or eye.
(…) Ermin Bravo and Alban Ukaj masterfully interpret the characters of Jew Rafael and Muslim Osman. Their long kiss on the lips silenced the audience as if both would now jump off a bridge.
(…) Throughout the performance, theatricality actually grows, emotions grow, and the circle closes. Playing, equally inspiringly in order, are Snežana Bogićević, Tatjana Šojić, Kemal Rizvanović, Igor Skvarica, Hana Zrno, and Faruk Hajdarević. Particularly worth highlighting is the beautiful and convincing acting of Snežana Bogićević as Rahela, Osman’s daughter, whom she plays from birth to adulthood with much passion and patience.
Jutarnji list, July 24, 2025. Author: Tomislav Čadež https://www.jutarnji.hr/kultura/kazaliste/dug-poljubac-u-usta-izmedu-njih-dvojice-muslimana-i-zidova-publiku-je-na-brijunima-utisao-divna-predstava-15606864
Nacional – Interview with Selma Spahić https://www.nacional.hr/selma-spahic-veseli-me-na-brijunu-postaviti-epsku-gej-pricu-o-sarajlijama/
Photo: Jelena Janković
Premiere of the Play "Mothers" - by Rajna Racz and Kolektiv Igralke
Play About the Decision on Motherhood Received with Ovations
The play Mothers was created as a co-production of Kolektiv Igralke, Ulysses Theatre, Kuća Nahero, and Maska Ljubljana, directed by Rajna Racz.
With this premiere, the jubilee 25th season of Ulysses Theatre was ceremoniously opened in front of the Ethnographic Museum.
From the media:
(…) Returning to “Mothers,” the authors themselves said this is not a play about motherhood. This is a play about the decision on motherhood. And that’s exactly how it was. It’s a play that provokes thought, reflection, introspection, analysis, regardless of whether they are mothers, wanted to be mothers but motherhood wasn’t realized, or it’s a story in whatever possible situation mothers found themselves. Or those who are not. Who do (not) want to be.
Glas Istre, July 12, 2025. Author: Vanesa Begić
Radio Nacional – interview with Rajna Racz
Ulysses Theatre