On September 23, 1919, 100 years have passed since the death of our first professional theater actor, the founder of Slovenian modern theater, director, playwright and pedagogue Ignacio Borštnik.
Ignacij Borštnik, under the stage name Gorazd, began performing on the stage of the Ljubljana Reading Room as early as 1882. Like Levstik, Borštnik in the Dramatic Society advocates a more demanding repertoire.
In 1885/86, he studied at a private acting school in Vienna. After returning to Ljubljana, he becomes one of the leading Slovenian drama artists and takes over the artistic direction first of the Stanovsky and later of the Provincial Theatre.
Borštnik is a versatile creator - he also works as a director, playwright, poet, translator, theater educator and publicist. In 1890, he staged his national play with singing in three acts Old Ilija and plays the title role in it. He is directing for the grand opening of the State Theatre Veronika Desenica and in it he portrays the nobleman Vukašin.
In 1894, due to disputes in the Dramatic Society, Borštnik accepted the invitation of the intendant of the Croatian National Theater and moved to Zagreb with his lifelong companion, the actress Zofija Zvonarjeva. He stays there for almost 30 years and "lays the foundation for modern realistic acting on the Croatian stage" (D. Moravec). He performs several times in Ljubljana, where he also plays Cankar's characters Jakob Ruda and Kantor.
In Zagreb, he participates in the birth of Yugoslav cinema - he appears in films Matija Gubec and The Lady with the Black Cloak. For the movie I delete and judge writes the script and plays the lead role; his co-star is also the "world singer and film actress", Romanian Cara Negri.
After the end of the First World War, he returns to Ljubljana, thinks about founding an acting school and prepares to perform The Cankars Servants, but dies before the premiere.
In his birthplace in Cerklje in Gorenjska, there is an exhibition on view, in which the SLOGI - Theater Museum also collaborated with the material.
