Stjepan Miletić (24 March 1868 8 September 1908) was a Croatian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

, and writer.

Biography

Stjepan Miletić Jr. was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

in 1868 to the noble Miletić family. He studied philosophy in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, later achieving a doctorate in the subject there as well in 1893. He took over the management of the Croatian National Theater ( hr, Hrvatsko narodno kazalište, HNK) on 11 February 1894, instituting several reforms, including introducing electric lighting to the theater and founding the first acting school in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. He remained director there until 1898. Among his achievements as director, he greatly expanded the repertoire of the theater, both with domestic and foreign works. On the domestic front, he introduced the works of theretofore unknown writers, such as

Ivo Vojnović Ivo Vojnović (9 October 1857 – 30 August 1929) was a writer from Dubrovnik. Biography Vojnović was born in Dubrovnik as the first son of Count Konstantin Vojnović (1832–1903) and Maria de Serragli (1836–1922) on 9 October 1857 in Du ...

, , and , as well as revivals of Croatian classics such as

Ivan Gundulić Dživo Franov Gundulić ( it, Gianfrancesco Gondola; 8 January 1589 – 8 December 1638), better known today as Ivan Gundulić, was the most prominent Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa (now in Croatia). He is regarded as the Croatian nati ...

's '' Dubravka'' and

Junije Palmotić Junije (Džono) Palmotić, (also ''Giunio'' in Italian or ''Junius Palmotta'' in Latin) (1606 - 1657) was a Croatian baroque writer, poet and dramatist from the Republic of Ragusa. He was a member of the Palmotić noble family. Early life Pal ...

's ''Pavlimir''. From foreign works, he was able to bring many works from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's oeuvre to Croatian theater, including ''

A Midsummer's Night Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. Other foreign writers Miletić brought to the stage include

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

, and

Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque w ...

. Miletić was noteworthy as the first director of the HNK who was not an actor by trade and did not sign his directions, as was common at the time. However, it was an open secret that he directed some entire shows, as well as some sections of the foreign repertoire. Shakespeare's body of work inspired Miletić to write his own

pentalogy A pentalogy (from Greek πεντα- ''penta-'', "five" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound literary or narrative work that is explicitly divided into five parts. Although modern use of the word implies both that the parts are re ...

on Croatian kings though he only finished ''Tomislav'' (1902) and ''Pribina'' (1903) and ''Boleslav'' (1894), inspired particularly by ''Hamlet''. Given his upbringing in a noble family, he was able to spend lavishly on the theater and was not dependent on state subsidies. In 1902, his son,

Oktavijan Miletić Oktavijan Miletić (1 October 1902 – 17 August 1987) was a Croatian cinematographer and director. His avant-garde work in the period from 1928 to 1945 remains as one of the foundations of Croatian film. Miletić was one of the founders of the ...

, who became a well-regarded

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

and

, was born. In 1904, he wrote a memoir that also served as a book on modernizing and improving the repertoire of the theater, ''Croatian Theater'' ( hr, Hrvatsko glumište). In 1908, he died in Munich. He is buried at

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, hr, Gradsko groblje Mirogoj), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery ( hr, Groblje Mirogoj), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members o ...

References

{{reflist 1868 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Croatian people 19th-century Croatian writers Croatian directors Croatian critics Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery