Broken Legs Blog

During our recent holiday to Pula in Croatia, we couldn’t resist a trip back in time to the amphitheatre, erected in the middle of the 1st Century, around the same time as the Colosseum in Rome, to see the Spectacvla Antiqva, a recreation of ancient Roman gladiatorial games which plays throughout the summer in the historic setting. Performed entirely in English, this recreation is not just full of vicious fights and death sentences (although there are plenty of those) – it is also educational and filled with comedic moments. Whilst this blog is dedicated to reviews of theatre productions, I hope you’ll excuse this brief tangent to discuss this exciting event.

As the audience enters the arena, gladiators wait to greet them, hoping to win their favour in the battles to come. Merchants try to find customers to sell slaves to, leading to some very funny audience interactions which requires the skilled actors to improvise responses when certain members begin to make “bids”. When the show begins, Sandor Slacki oversees proceedings as our compere, first riling up the audience with several Mexican waves, in order to get everyone ready for the bloodthirsty action ahead. He introduces a set of mimes, who re-enact the building of the arena, before introducing Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who takes his seat to oversee proceedings – if a gladiator loses but is not killed, it will be the Emperor’s decision whether to grant mercy or sentence him to death.

Slacki provides lots of additional information about the types of weaponry and armour used by the gladiators, as well as how they would train, which is accompanied by a brief re-enactment by the gladiators themselves. He also explains that in ancient times, gladiators would also fight animals, in particular lions – there are no real animals involved in this show, but there are some very funny interpretations! Once we are well educated, the fights can begin.

Each fight involves different types of gladiators – we are introduced to Germanicus, a famous (and expensive) gladiator imported from Italy, who fights against Lucio, a mime who has been elevated to the role of gladiator before our very eyes. Other gladiators include murderers and rapists, forced to fight instead of being immediately sentenced to death, and a two-on-two battle referred to as “fishermen vs. fishes”, which sees the fishermen attack the fish using thick rope nets. Slacki assures us that the fights are real, and the outcomes unknown – although whilst the gladiators are physically strong and foreboding, there is no bloodshed or risk of real injury.

Some of the fights end in “death”, at which point volunteers appear with a stretcher to remove the “body”. Others end with one of the gladiators surrendering, and it is up to the audience to try and convince the Emperor whether to spare the loser (by crying “MISSUM!” and raising a fist), or sentence him to die (by shouting “IUGULA” and lowering their hand palm-down towards the floor). After the first few gladiators are pardoned by the Emperor, the crowd becomes more bloodthirsty, with the vast majority screaming for the gladiator’s heads. The Emperor seemingly ignores the crowd and pardons the defeated Germanicus anyway, and just as people begin complaining of a fix, Slacki is on hand to explain that often the Emperor would ignore the crowd and pardon the more expensive gladiators, rather than have them killed. After all, good gladiators can be hard to come by!

At almost 90 minutes, the show is maybe a little overly long (the fights vary in length, and some of them go on for a while with various stopping and re-starting when a gladiator loses a weapon or a piece of armour), but remains exciting throughout. The fights are interspersed with demonstrations of fire eating and juggling, and the audience are made to feel involved at all times. This show is perfect for people interested in history, suitable for audience members of all ages, and a fantastic way to spend an evening in the breath-taking surroundings of Pula Arena. Highly recommended!

Tom Morley, September 2025