A Slovenian theatre has joined forces with partners from several other countries to translate plays written in languages spoken by no more than a few million people and help bring them on stage.

The Drama of Small European Languages (DoSEL) project aims to improve conditions for international collaboration, translation and the staging of European drama.

Apart from the Prešeren Theatre in Kranj, the other partners come from Croatia, Bulgaria, Malta, Estonia, the Basque Country and Catalonia in Spain, and Kosovo.

Individual national and regional theatres from the countries sought to boost their international profile on their own in the past but realised they could do better working together.

They met at the annual Week of Slovenian Drama hosted by the Kranj theatre two years ago to discuss how to develop the idea, while now they are stepping up their cooperation.

Their two-year project is getting under way this month after winning funds from a Creative Europe open call. The EU found it important in making plays and theatre of small European languages more accessible.

It also involves the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre from Bulgaria, the Maltese National Agency for the Performing Arts, the Estonian Theatre Agency, the National Theatre of Kosovo, and the Arriaga Antzokia and Sala Beckett theatres from Spain.

DoSEL project manager Barbara Rovere told a presentation in Kranj on 7 November the aim was to safeguard the linguistic and cultural diversity in arts and culture, especially theatre.

The project will result in 24 first translations of plays written in the languages of the participating partners into a major European language and another small European language. The plays will be translated in four translation workshops and two residencies.

The project will also provide for transnational mobility of European artists and cultural workers and at least eight presentations of drama in a small European language outside the country of origin.

Two international theatre platforms will also be organised. The first will take place in Kranj next spring and the second will be hosted by Malta in April 2026.

The partners want these platforms to become a permanent feature of the European theatre sector.

Kim Komljanec, a Culture Ministry official, welcomed the project but said no language was "small", its reach determined not by the number of speakers but by the thoughts expressed in it.