At the just concluded press conference at the National Theater of Republika Srpska, the selection for the upcoming “Petar Kočić” Theater Fest, which will be held from June 3 to 9 of the current year, was announced. This year’s theatrical manifestation under the slogan “Who am I?” will be held for the 26th time. The participants of the media conference were NPRS director Dijana Grbić and festival selector, actress of the RS National Theater Nataša Ivančević. The director Dijana Grbić greeted the attendees and pointed out that this year the festival will also have a rich supporting program, and that at the closing of the festival, the National Theater in Belgrade’s play “Little things that mean life” will be performed in honor of the awardees. After that, selector Nataša Ivančević announced the selection of plays from this year’s Theater Fest and explained her choice.
SELECTOR’S REPORT XXVI THEATER FEST “PETAR KOČIĆ”
XXVI Theater Fest “Petar Kočić” will be held from June 3 to 9, 2024.
As part of the competition, five performances will be performed on the Great Stage of the National Theater of the Republika Srpska.
This is a Festival that values and promotes top achievements in theater art, with an emphasis on authors who create in the languages of the South Slavic peoples.
The selection also includes performances based on the motifs of novels by international and local writers, as well as author’s projects, i.e. pieces created as a result of the joint work of directors, actors and other collaborators.
This year, 40 performances were registered. Respecting the efforts and commitment of my colleagues, I also watched plays that were not included in the selection (authors who do not write in the languages of the South Slavic peoples or plays that were created before the deadline set by the propositions – 1 January 2023), but the theaters sent applications and thus showed us their trust.
Looking at the theatrical productions of last year, 2023, and this year, until March 2024, in our country and in the region, I see a large number of performances of dramatized novels, without diminishing the value of dramatizations, on the contrary, I wonder if our young playwrights lack the courage to speak up about the problems of modern man, or our theaters don’t have the courage or the ear to take risks with staging plays by less established writers.
It is interesting that smaller theaters have this courage. So I had the opportunity to watch imaginative and brave theater performances from Lazarevac (LIGHTING UP THE CASE OF A SERIES OF MURDER…), Zrenjanin (WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ALL OF US), Mostar (PERZEIDE – National Theater)…
As an actress, I may not have the right to interfere in the repertory politics of the theater, but as a selector of the “Petar Kočić” Theater Fest, a festival that precisely affirms domestic contemporary dramatic text, I feel that it is my duty to look back and notice this shortcoming.
In the period from 29.1. until 5/4/2024. I watched 40 performances live, when the conditions were created, or via video recording.
After watching so many performances, the conclusion is that the range in quality is really wide: from fantastically brave, large, sumptuous, to less successful, but daring and faithfully performed performances.
The criteria I was guided by when choosing the plays was the artistic quality and topicality of the topics the plays deal with. In addition, the plays I have chosen are characterized by excellent acting and partner play. It is a concept that is understood in the theater, but also rarely seen. Having confidence in your partner on stage is the pinnacle of acting. A good performance can only be achieved through togetherness and collective play.
Maybe banal, but never like today, one thought comes to me in all the plays I’ve watched – the constant questioning of the characters – WHO AM I?
NATIONAL THEATER OF SOMBOR
WAX PEOPLE
Writer: Mate Matišić
Director: Ivan Vanja Alač
A performance in which perhaps the most dominant question is WHO AM I ?
“Through three apparently separate, but actually cause-and-effect stories, the author guides us through his sins, repentance and redemption, using writing as a certain type of psychotherapy and confession in which he completely exposes himself, thereby gaining the right to expose others as well.” – Ivan Vanja Alac
In the first part, the writer and his wife are visited by a woman, who informs him that she has a son with him, who lives in Serbia, otherwise a criminal and murderer. In the second part, the writer goes to his homeland and confronts people from the past, questioning his actions from his youth. In the third story, a seriously ill family friend comes and asks the writer and his wife to take care of her minor daughter after her death. Through all three stories, the constant question of the Writer runs through (the role of the Writer, who is also called Mate in the play, is excellently played by Saša Torlaković). WHO AM I, do I write the characters or do the characters create me. An extremely witty play, which sometimes deals with criticism of society discreetly, and sometimes directly and charmingly. An almost bare stage, with clear stage signs (letters folded into a typewriter keyboard) and a few necessary elements that mark the space, leave the actors the freedom, but also the difficult task of bringing their characters to life. The always witty and ironic Mate Matišić and the great ensemble of the Sombor Theater will surely delight the Banjo Luka audience.
CROATIAN NATIONAL THEATER SPLIT
CRVENA VODA
Based on the novel by Jurica Pavičić
Dramatization: Ivor Martinić
Director: Ivica Buljan
The play begins with a picture of a happy family in a small Dalmatian town. The typical Mediterranean idyll is disrupted by the disappearance of the seventeen-year-old daughter Silva, one September evening in 1989, and a frantic search for her begins that will last 26 years. Inevitably, such a tragic event causes each family member to question – WHO AM I?
Excellent acting, costumes that follow the passage of time for 26 years, scenography, seemingly crowded with small realistic details, but with clear signs, and rotation, which, apart from a clear sign of the passage of time, draws the audience into the painful and tense atmosphere of the search. The Banjolu audience will have a unique opportunity to see a well-directed theatrical thriller, a genre that the theater rarely deals with.
NATIONAL THEATER IN BELGRADE
FATHERS AND FATHERS
Based on the novel by Slobodan Selenić
Dramatization: Kata Đarmati
Director: Veljko Mićunović
The play follows the saga of the Medaković family. Going to study in Bristol, Stevan Medaković inevitably reconsiders his patriarchal principles. And with his marriage to the Englishwoman Elizabeth, his questioning becomes even more pronounced. He realizes that love is not enough to overcome the problems of merging two cultures. The birth of a son only creates an even greater gap in the marriage. Growing up, son Mihajlo (Michael), torn between two cultures in the family, is constantly searching for his identity – WHO AM I?
With Kate Đermati’s dramatization, we watch Selenić’s novel told in contemporary theatrical language. The visually stripped scene and a completely modern approach to this novel, does not deprive us of very strong emotions. On the contrary. With such a setting, the great collective play of the actors comes to the fore.
“BORA STANKOVIĆ” THEATER VRANJE
WE WILL NOT FORGET ANYTHING
Based on the novels “Kanjec filjma” and “The Same Story” by Vera Cenjić
Dramatization: Tijana Grumić
Director: Jug Đorđević
A historical period that was marginalized for years, that is only superficially known, and that left a strong stamp on our identity – the period of Informbiro and Goli Otok. Very bravely through the novels of Vera Cenić and the dramatization of Tijana Grumić, the director Jug Đorđević with an ensemble of actors opens the subject of the suffering of a young student from Vranje in that troubled time of the Informbiro. An attempt to find out where her guilt lies will not save her from the calvary she went through with numerous investigations and finally deportation to Goli otok. Through this seemingly local story, because it is about a young woman from Vranje, a painful topic of our not-so-glorious history opens up, but the story continues in the present: the topic of the suffering of women in general.
BOSNIAN NATIONAL THEATER ZENICA
DRAMA ABOUT MIRJANA AND THOSE AROUND HER
Writer: Ivor Martinić
Director: Nermin Hamzagić
“This is a play about a woman who only has a daughter, years, memories and an apartment she hates. At least that’s what she says. In fact, the only thing she has are those around her…” – Asija Krsmanović
It is in those around her that Mirjana tries to find her identity, but what is tragicomic is that all the characters around the emotionally devastated woman look for a solution and confirmation of their identity precisely in Mirjana. A seemingly unimportant story about a little man, but a very exciting and emotionally charged play. This piece is proof that stories about ordinary people and their lives cause a storm of emotions.
A great text by Ivor Martinić, but also interesting scenographic solutions, the director’s witty actions and, above all, excellent acting, are enough recommendations for this play.
With the selection of these plays, the motto of this year’s Theater Fest – WHO I AM – is clearer.
From the question of the writer in the drama PEOPLE OF WAX, do I create characters, or are these characters a part of me or form my identity.
WHO AM I in the drama FATHERS AND FATHERS is a question posed by Stevan Medaković, faced with a new environment, entering into marriage with a foreign woman and, in the end, his son, Mihajlo (Michael), torn between father and mother, between two cultures.
The attempt of Mirjana and everyone around her to establish and organize their little lives, to finally answer such a complicated question WHO AM I (DRAMA ABOUT MIRJANA AND THOSE AROUND HER).
Is it possible to continue a normal family life, after the disappearance of a daughter, sister, girlfriend? WHO AM I, if I can’t find my sister? Can faith in God save me from suffering for my daughter, will God help me find her? Is my faith strong (RED WATER)?
And finally, the question of the main character in the drama WE WILL NOT FORGET ANYTHING – WHO AM I to suffer like this? But also a question for all of us, who are we to commit such atrocities, who are we to let a great tragedy be forgotten, to deny the rights of future generations to build their identity based on the lives of their ancestors.
It was an honor and a pleasure to watch the performances live, socialize and exchange experiences and opinions with colleagues from Split, Zagreb, Sombor, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Gračanica, Novi Pazar, Prijedor, Zenica, Sarajevo, but also to enjoy the recordings of the performances. I am deeply grateful to all the theaters that hosted me.
The fact is that theater cannot change the world, but it can point out social anomalies and make us think, I hope that our audience, after watching the plays, will stop for a moment and ask themselves WHO AM I?
SELECTOR Nataša Ivančević ,
actress
April 6, 2024, Banja Luka
Source: NTRS
