Valletta, Malta – The second International DoSEL Showcase, a theatre festival dedicated to drama written and performed in smaller European languages, officially opened on 16 April in Malta with the premiere of the Maltese production Ir-Rebħa tal-Ħuta Li Ttir by Teatru Malta.
The festival is organised by the National Agency for the Performing Arts Malta and Teatru Malta as part of the international cooperation project Drama of Smaller European Languages (DoSEL), co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe Programme.
DoSEL brings together eight European cultural organisations committed to increasing the international visibility, accessibility, translation, and performance of dramatic works originally written in smaller European languages. The project consortium is led by Prešernovo gledališče Kranj (Slovenia), in partnership with the National Agency for the Performing Arts & Teatru Malta (Malta), Teatro Arriaga (Bilbao, Spain), Sala Beckett (Barcelona, Spain), Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (Croatia), Estonian Theatre Agency (Tallinn, Estonia), National Theatre of Kosovo (Prishtina, Kosovo), and Ivan Vazov National Theatre (Sofia, Bulgaria).
Following the first International DoSEL Showcase presented in Slovenia during the 55th edition of the Week of Slovenian Drama in Kranj in March 2025 and later in October 2025 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, this year’s Showcase in Malta presented four performances, staged in their original languages with English surtitles:
- Ir-Rebħa tal-Ħuta Li Ttir – Carmel S. Aquilina & Teatru Malta (Malta)
- The Text of The Body – Anja Novak / Anjuta & Prešernovo gledališče Kranj (Slovenia)
- Always Be Like a Dragon – Espi Tomičić & Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (Croatia)
- MEDIUM – Mart Kangro & Von Krahl Theatre (Estonia)
The opening evening at Teatru Manoel, Malta’s national theatre and one of Europe’s oldest working theatres, built in 1731, included an opening reception with welcome speeches by Sean Buhagiar, Artistic Director of Teatru Malta, Dr. Luke Dalli, CEO of Arts Council Malta, and EU Commissioner Glen Micallef.
The performances were followed by discussions with the artists and the audience, which were extremely lively and engaged.
Beyond performances, the festival programme included an international playwright residency for artists from five countries, staged readings of plays developed within the DoSEL project, translation workshop presentations, a dramaturgy workshop, public discussions, research presentations on playwrights working in smaller European languages, and a consortium meeting of project partners.
“Participating in the international DoSEL festival in Malta, I am especially pleased that the performances sparked such a strong response in dialogue with international audiences and opened a space for reflection on the intimate experiences they addressed. The intensive accompanying programme of the festival has once again demonstrated the importance of such international collaborations for artists, institutions, and their cultural contexts, confirming how necessary stronger European theatre connections are for the visibility and development of drama in smaller languages,” said Rok Bozovičar, Director of Prešernovo gledališče Kranj.
For more information, visit: www.dosel.eu
Cover photo: © Maša Pirc
