Oliver Frljić was born in 1976 in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He works as a director, author, actor and theorist in Croatia, where he studied philosophy, religious studies and directing. His productions have garnered him several awards and invitations to international festivals, including the Wiener Festwochen for his 2010 production Mrzim istinu! (I hate the truth!), and the Heidelberger Stückemarkt new play festival for Black Box Schule, developed at Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. From 2014-2016 he served as the artistic director of the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka. In early 2016 he announced that he was resigning out of protest against Croatian cultural policy.
In 2017, his play KLATWA (THE CURSE) was invited for two guest performances at the Maxim Gorki Theatre. His first play for the Gorki, GORKI - ALTERNATIVE FÜR DEUTSCHLAND?, premiered on 15 March 2018. This was followed by EIN BERICHT FÜR EINE AKADEMIE, based on motifs in Franz Kafka’s story. His play DAMNED BE THE TRAITOR OF HIS HOMELAND!, which was first staged at the Mladinsko Theater in Ljubljana, was also invited to the Gorki’s WAR OR PEACE Festival.
In the 2019/20 season he's tackling two works by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in ANNA KARENINA ODER ARME LEUTE. In addition, his work IMAGINARY EUROPE, which was created together with the Europa Ensemble as a cooperation between various European theatres, as well as his work MEDEA can be seen at the Gorki as part of the 4. BERLINER HERBSTSALONS. In the first year of the Corona pandemic, he staged ALLES UNTER KONTROLLE. In April 2022, he started a »war trilogy« with DANTONS TOD / IPHIGENIE, which he continued with MUTTER COURAGE UND IHRE KINDER by Bertolt Brecht and SCHLACHTEN with texts by Heiner Müller. Since the 2019/2020 season he has been a member of the Artistic Advisory Board. In season 2022/23 and 2023/24 Frljić is Co-Artistic Director at the Maxim Gorki Theatre. His latest productions are Alice in Wonderland based on Lewis Carroll and Prozess by Kafka.
