Dr Ksenija Horvat (MA, PhD) is a Lecturer in the Media Communication and Performing Arts Division.
- Overview
- Research Interests
- Research Publications
- Teaching & Learning
Dr Ksenija Horvat was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1966. She read English and Comparative Literature at University of Zagreb, where she also worked as a workshop leader and a founding member of a Student Theatre Company between 1988 and 1990. Between 1991 and 1994, she worked as a dramaturg and director in ‘Lira’ Community Theatre, Zagreb. At the same period, she trained as a playwright at the School of Creative Writing at ITD Theatre, Zagreb, under mentorship of the internationally acclaimed Croatian playwright Miro Gavran.
During the war, Horvat worked as a head of translating office and later the general manager of Croatian Information Centre, an independent institute with the focus on providing translation services to the Defence Ministry of Croatia, foreign journalists, embassy officials and the War Tribunal in Den Hague. Amongst the work she translated in this period are War Crimes (1993) and Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994).
Horvat completed M.A. in Modern Drama Studies at University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (thesis on the politics in the dramatic writing of Sean O’Casey) and PhD at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh (thesis on the work of five contemporary Scottish women playwrights).
Currently, she works as a lecturer in Drama and Performance at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
Affiliations/Memberships to Other Organisations:
- Horvat is a founding member of Croatian Centre International Theatre Institute. Between 2002 and 2006 she reviewed Fringe and International Edinburgh Festival for EdinburghGuide.com and she acted as the Chief Examiner for Theatre Arts, International Baccalaureate between 2004 and 2010.
Horvat has published her research in contemporary Scottish theatre and related areas nationally and internationally with Edinburgh University Press, UK; Routledge, UK; Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, UK; University of Exeter Press, UK; Universite Stendhal, Grenoble, France; Vetrne Mlyny, Brno, Czech Republic; Bruccoli-Clark Publications, Columbia S.C., USA and Unicopli, Milan, Italy.
In addition, Horvat has translated and written for theatre since 1988. Her translations include August Wilson’s Piano Lesson/Sat klavira in Antologija moderne americke drame/Anthology of Modern American Drama (Zagreb: Mansioni, 1993); Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa/Zetveni ples for the Croatian National Theatre, Osijek (1996 production, transferred to Gavella Theatre, Zagreb in 1999); Stephen Greenhorn’s Passing Places in Antologija moderne skotske drame (Zagreb: AGM, 1999, produced by Zagreb Theatre Kerempuh in 2001). Plays include The Celebration (a devised piece in collaboration with Tuesday Afternoon Women’s Theatre Company at Gateway Theatre, 2002); Self-Service (co-written with Zee Sulleyman, directed by Zinnie Harris at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe at Theatre Workshop, Edinburgh); Vergil’s Dream/Virgilov san (Theatre ITD, Zagreb, Croatia, 1991; adapted for the Croatian Radio and broadcast in 1998, repeat broadcasts in 2001 and 2002); Pontius Pilat/Poncije Pilat (radio drama broadcast on Croatian Radio 3, 1994 and repeated Christmas broadcasts between 1994 and 2009); God’s Waiting Room (co-written with Kelly Scott, performed by QMU Drama and Performance students at Invisibility and Emotions: Nurses Work and World War One Conference organized by NHS Scotland, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and Edinburgh Napier University (originally performed on 21 November 2014 at Edinburgh Napier University Craiglockhart Campus; repeated performance at the unveiling of World War I Nursing Memorial at the Central Library Edinburgh on 11 November 2015).
Active Research Interests:
- Specialist areas of research include contemporary Scottish theatre, gender in theatre, translating for stage, dramaturgy, playwriting and screenwriting.
- Other research interests include comparative history of dramatic forms inclusive of Japanese and Chinese classical theatre forms, and theatre anthropology.
Research Methods:
- Qualitative research, dramaturgy.
Ksenija's lectures and seminars focus on Theatre Histories: ancient Egyptian passions, classical Greek drama, classical Roman drama, classical Japanese and Chinese theatre forms, medieval European drama, European Renaissance theatre forms, Restoration theatre, Romantic drama, Victorian and Edwardian theatre, Realist drama, European avant-garde, Irish Literary Revival, French Farce, Expressionist drama, Vsevolod Meyerhold's Biomechanics, Poetic drama, Drama of the Absurd, Anglo-American theatre between 1920s and 1960s, Southern Gothic literature, Grand Guignol, Scottish contemporary theatre, especially work of Scottish women’s playwrights and Playwriting.
