Fortress Comedy Festival: Rollicking in the Ramparts

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Friday 26th April 2019

Croatia's Fortress Comedy Festival brings global stand-up stars to a historic setting.

Croatia's glorious Adriatic coast has enjoyed some high-profile attention over the last few years, and not only because those cities are spectacular places to visit generally; they've also provided iconic backdrops for some wildly popular movies and series, notably a little show called Game Of Thrones. It's not tricky to see why that mix of monumental history and sun-kissed sea would appeal to the epic-drama location scouts. But what about comedy?

This July in Sibenik - one of the Croatian coast's most scenic settings - an impressive line-up of international comedians will fly in to perform at one of the grandest locations of their careers. The aptly-named Fortress Comedy Festival looks to be a rare feast of daytime larks and evening laughs.

That location is St Michael's Fortress, which looms impressively over Sibenik's Old Town and has housed umpteen Croatian kings, over the centuries. From its heights you can see the storied city's enviable attractions: several luscious national parks, the enticing Adriatic and daytrip-friendly nearby islands. And high on its ramparts is an open-air stage, boasting the best view in the business and a bunch of its best acts.

Which of them will take the fortress's throne that weekend? First up there's Ireland's dark prince, Dylan Moran, who is no stranger to big TV shows and movies himself (Shaun Of The Dead, Black Books, Notting Hill etc); then there's the trophy-wielding Rose Matafeo, the New Zealander who won the hugely prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award last year, with the show Horndog. The whole bill has been carefully curated, in truth, in collaboration with London's on-the-case Soho Theatre.

Also on hand will be Moran's now Australia-based compatriot Jimeoin, who is no stranger to big outdoor stages. And clearly attracted to castles is Shappi Khorsandi, who is pictured on the poster for her latest show, Skittish Warrior, posing outside one wearing full armour. Which looks tremendous, but is a logistical (k)nightmare in the hand luggage.

Also, The Mash Report's Nish Kumar will keep things topical under weather that's hopefully tropical (honestly, we've been to that coast in July and it is nice. Bring shorts).

Scaling the fortress too will be the well-travelled Geordie jester Kai Humphries - whose habit of knitting woolly hats for his gig-mates may not be required this particular trip; the Russia-born Olga Koch, who also made a big splash at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, and the joker in the pack, New Zealand's Javier Jarquin, aka the Card Ninja. He knows the region well, so presumably was keen, when the invite arrived?

"I was incredibly excited," says Jarquin, "especially when I heard the rest of the amazing line up. I've done some shows in Croatia before as well as Slovenia and Serbia but Croatia was my favourite. Can't wait to get back! The food is delicious and the hospitality is superb. Everyone should go!"

Indeed, and as Javier suggests, stand-up is popular in this part of the world. Also on board at Fortress Comedy Festival are two acts from the region: Zagreb's Vlatko Štampar, and Nikola Silić, from Belgrade.

"Comedy Fortress Festival looks insane!" Silić declares (meaning insane in the 'awesome' sense, of course). "The chance to see all those comedians in one place, and for me to share the same stage with them is unbelievable."

Silić is a sizeable presence in several areas of the local comedy industry. He's been doing stand-up for nine years, across the Balkan region and beyond, and also creates satirical animations which led to a long-running gig with Serbia's biggest late-night talk show. Does he notice varying comedy styles in the different nations?

"Humour is not that different," says Silić. "For every corrupt politician in one country there is a parallel one in another; destinies intertwined so to speak. I did gigs all over the Balkan area and from London to South Africa, and my take is that people are people, problems are problems, and funny is funny, geography be damned."

Talk of political intrigue brings us back to Game Of Thrones, which has big Sibenik links. Fortress Comedy Festival-goers who follow that mighty series may want to spend some of their fortress-fest daytime downtime checking out some of the city's other major monuments: St James Cathedral doubled as the Iron Bank, apparently, where two of GOT's Brit-comedy crossover stars - Mark Gatiss and Roger Ashton-Griffiths - chewed the fat in season five.

Let's check back with Javier Jarquin, who spends much of his time making jokes about geeky movies (as a member of the JustUs League): does he have extra-curricular activities in mind?

"Never seen Game Of Thrones, but happy to be dragged along to most places!" the sometime Ninja exclaims. "I will be trying to squeeze in everything I can whilst I'm out there. The coast is the stuff postcards are made of."

Stiff paper? No, you know what he means. It's a weekend to write home about.

Comedy Fortress Festival runs from 12th to 14th July in Croatia. Find out more