DoSEL project: collection of plays in English and multilingual e-books to be presented in Zagreb

Today, on October 6th, 2026, the final meeting of the international project Drama of Smaller European Languages (DoSEL) began in Zagreb, Croatia, with the Estonian Theatre Agency also taking part. As a part of the three-day meeting, a collection of plays translated into English as well as eight e-books will be presented to the public.

On October 7th, 2026, a collection of plays in English entitled EIGHT PLAYS. Drama of Smaller European Languages will be presented at the Croatian National Theatre. The presentation features a panel discussion with playwrights, translators, and creators of the collection, moderated by Liisi Aibel, the head of Estonian Theatre Agency.

Estonia is represented in the collection by Piret Jaaks’ science fiction play Do Animals Know How to Count? (2019), translated into English by Justin Petrone. The collection also includes the following translated plays:

• Eneko Sagardoy, “Moto – Membra Jesu Nostri,” translated from Basque by Justin Peterson and Tim Nicholson
• Dora Šustić, “Pičman,” translated from Croatian by Vladislav Beronja
• Lon Kirkop, “A Moon of Our Own,” translated from Maltese by Kat Storace
• Lluïsa Cunillé, “The Donkey and the Stone,” translated from Catalan by Dustin Langan
• Maša Pelko, “Für Ophelia (A Mythology of Drowning),” translated from Slovenian by Barbara Skubic
• Jeton Neziraj, “The Adventures of the Bosch Family in Unmikistan”, translated from Albanian by Alexandra Channer
• Ekaterina Georgieva, “Free Falling”, translated from Bulgarian by Atanas Igov

The editor of the collection is Dino Pešut, managing editor Tamara Bračič Vidmar, language editor Jana Renée Wilcoxen, and graphic designer Ana Bassin. The book was published by Prešeren Theatre Kranj, and will be distributed in Estonia by the Estonian Theatre Agency. The collection was first presented at the Avignon theatre festival this summer.

In addition to the English-language printed book, eight e-books have been produced as part of the project, each containing one play in two languages: in its original language and translated into another smaller European language. Amongst others, the e-books include Jaaks’ play Do Animals Know How to Count? in both Estonian and Slovenian, as well as the Estonian version of the play Für Ophelia (A Mythology of Drowning) by the Slovenian author Maša Pelko, translated into Estonian via English by Liis Aedmaa. The e-books can be found on the DoSEL website.

The goal of DoSEL is to increase the international recognition and accessibility of dramatic works originally written in smaller European languages and to encourage their more frequent staging. The project is a collaboration between eight European cultural organizations, including the National Agency for the Performing Arts from Malta, the Arriaga Theatre and Sala Beckett from Spain, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Estonian Theatre Agency, the National Theatre of Kosovo, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre from Bulgaria, and the Prešeren Theatre from Slovenia.

Find out more about the project here: https://dosel.eu/ 

In the photo: cover of the collection “EIGHT PLAYS. Drama of Smaller European Languages”

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