On 8th October, the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, awarded Robert Waltl theOrder of the Croatian Interlace for his outstanding contribution to Croatian culture and the promotion of Slovenian-Croatian relations.
Robert Waltl, with his wide life experience and passion, has established many successful relations between Slovenian and Croatian culture over the last thirty years and has left an important mark.
Since 1996 Robert Waltl has been present as an actor and, above all, as a director in most Croatian theatres, from Zagreb (ZeKaEM, GK Trešnja, GK Žar ptica, teatar ITD) to Rijeka (HNK Rijeka, Puppet Theatre Rijeka), Osijek (Dječje kazalište osijek), Split (HNK Split, Kazalište lutaka Split), Zadar (Kazalište lutaka Zadar, Drugo more Zadar) to Dubrovnik (ART radionice lazareti, Dubrovačke ljetne igre). Here he directed dozens of theatre performances, played numerous roles in many of them and was an artistic collaborator in numerous productions. Many of Waltl's productions in Croatia have also won numerous awards, including several for the best children's performances in Croatia.
In 1999, Robert Waltl, together with director Ivica Buljan, founded the Mini teater in Ljubljana. The breadth of this idea is reflected in an open programme that promotes artistic theatre at the highest level. The programme of Mini teater consists of classics and contemporary authors. Mini teater has also become a kind of informal Croatian cultural centre in Ljubljana. It has hosted numerous Croatian theatres and individual artists. It exhibits works by Croatian artists Ivan Kožarić, Lovro Artuković, Zlatko Bourek, Slaven Tolj, Tina Gverović, Josip Štefanec and Dejan Kljun. Croatian theatre legend Ana Karić, to whom the Mini teater's art salon is dedicated, has starred in several performances at the Mini teater. In addition to her, opera diva Dunja Vejzović, actors Nina Violić, Senka Bulić, Alma Prica, Sreten Mokrović, Rok Juričić, Marko Torjanac and others have also performed at Mini teater. Waltl has collaborated with Arsen Dedić, hip hop group TBF, rock group Let 3, singer Vojko, composer Ivan Skender, design group NUMEN, architectural studio 3LHD, costume designer Ana Savić Gecan and others.
In co-production with Croatian theatres, Mini teater has staged numerous performances such as "Schneewittchen after Party" by Swiss avant-garde classic Robert Walser, "The Night at the Edge of the Forests" by Bernard-Marie Koltès, "Medea Material" by Heiner Müller, the world premiere of Koltès' "The Day of Murders in the Story of Hamlet" and "The March / Song of Songs" by the same author. Croatian partners were HNK Ivana Pl. Zajca in Rijeka, ZKM in Zagreb, ARL Dubrovnik, Zadar snova, Drugo more from Rijeka, MSU from Rijeka, Žar ptica from Zagreb.
As a director and actor, Waltl has also staged Ivana Brlić Mažuranić's iconic text "The Fabulous Adventures of the Apprentice Hlapich" in Slovene and Croatian, which has been performed almost five hundred times in many countries and has contributed significantly to the promotion of this classic work of Croatian literature.
He has performed at numerous international festivals (Austria, Italy, Hungary, Germany, France, Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Portugal, Spain, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, South Korea and China).
