BEFORE PUCK THERE WAS PLAKIR

The House of Marin Držić proudly presents the Dubrovnik launch of Plakir, Son of Cupid – the fifth English translation of a play by Marin Držić published by the museum and the fourth translated by Filip Krenus who also edited the translation of Venus and Adonis – continuing a long-standing artistic collaboration between The House of Marin Držić and the Midsummer Scene Festival⁠.

The event will be hosted by Nikša Matić, director of The House of Marin Držić and publisher of the edition, alongside the translator Filip Krenus together with additional guests.

Written in Dubrovnik in 1556, Plakir, Son of Cupid (Grižula/Plakir) is one of the great lost jewels of European Renaissance comedy – a riotous fairy play of lovers, nymphs, enchanted mountains, trickery, desire, and warring gods. Long before Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Držić imagined a world where mortals lose their hearts to fairies, brides chase faithless lovers through the hills above Dubrovnik, and the courts of Love and Chastity collide in glorious theatrical chaos.

Rendered into English for the first time in nearly five centuries by Filip Krenus, this new edition forms part of a historic long-term project: the gradual translation of the complete dramatic works of Marin Držić into English – bringing one of the greatest Slavic playwrights and one of the essential voices of European Renaissance theatre to new international audiences.

Although performed in English, the Midsummer Scene Festival has, for years, remained deeply committed to promoting Dubrovnik’s own literary and theatrical heritage internationally. Through productions, translations, readings, and publications, the festival and The House of Marin Držić continue to build a cultural bridge between Dubrovnik and the wider world.

This presentation follows the recent York International Shakespeare Festival event hosted by York St John University, where excerpts and readings from Plakir, Son of Cupid were introduced to British audiences. Later this year, the work of The House of Marin Držić and its translators will also be presented in London at University College London.

We are honoured to celebrate another major step in preserving and sharing Držić’s extraordinary theatrical imagination – mischievous, musical, poetic, and astonishingly alive across the centuries.