Diego de Brea

Diego de Brea (born 1969 in Šempeter pri Gorici) is a Slovenian theatre director.

Life and work
Diego de Brea finished elementary school and high school in Nova Gorica and then studied comparative literature and art history at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. In 1995, he started studying theatre direction the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana.

In 1999, his graduation piece, The Birth of Light, won an award at the International Student Production Theatre Festival in Brno. He has authored a number of well-known performances in Slovenian repertory and non-institutional theatres. He tackles many genres ranging from youth pieces and puppet shows (even a puppet opera), to self-authored projects, classical and contemporary texts as well as musical vaudeville. In Italy, he directed a self-authored project Leonora, starring the opera singer Eleonora Jankovich and based on Wagner’s motifs.

His performances toured both in Slovenia and abroad - in Belgrade, at the Varna Festival in Bulgaria, at the Mladi levi and Exodos Festivals, in London, Paris, Antwerp, Mons, Dortmund and at the Iberoamericano Festival in Bogotá, Colombia.

Honours, awards and recognitions
His self-authored project Duel (Glej Theatre, Ljubljana), received a special award at the Borštnik Drama Meeting. In 2005, de Brea received the aesthetic breakthrough award at the same festival for his performances Queen Margot and Edward II. He also received the Golden Bird Award for theatre in 2002.

Major works

 * Pilot – hommage to Srečko Kosovel, AGRFT, 1996/7
 * Federico – poetry by Federico García Lorca, MGL, 1999
 * Oton Župančič: Veronika of Desenice, Šentjakobsko Theatre, 2000
 * Eugène Ionesco: Exit the King, PDG Drama Theatre Nova Gorica, 2000
 * Bob Fosse: Chicago, SGL Celje, 2002
 * Duel, GLEJ Theatre, 2002
 * Roland Schimmelpfenning: Arabian Night, SNG Nova Gorica, 2005
 * Alfred de Vigny: Chatterton, Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Drama Ljubljana, 2004
 * Ivan Cankar: A Scandal in Saint Florian's Valley, SNG Nova Gorica, 2005
 * Alexandre Dumas: Queen Margot, Mladinsko theatre, Ljubljana, 2005
 * Christopher Marlowe: Edward II, SNG Drama Ljubljana, 2005
 * Christopher Marlowe: Doctor Faustus, SNG Nova Gorica, 2006
 * Luchino Visconti: The Damned, Mladinsko Theatre, Ljubljana, 2006
 * Jean Genet: The Maids, SNG Drama Ljubljana, 2007
 * William Shakespeare, King Lear