The sequence of emotions and reactions that followed the premiere of Martin udio, based on the text of Sanja Savić Milosavljević and directed by Nikola Bundalo at the National Theatre of Republika Srpska, was a rare and unusual experience in the domestic theatre scene.
It began with sincere laughter at the familiar humour of the Dinaric mentality. As the play progressed, a dull pain slowly emerged somewhere above the diaphragm. At times, something inexplicable seemed to catch in the throat, then tears spread across the hall that could not be stopped, even if one wished to do so. Finally came applause threatening to shake the walls of the theatre — proof that the audience had witnessed a performance that had risen beyond its source material and even beyond its creators.
Explosion of emotion and artistic mastery
During its three-hour running time, Martin udio slowly but surely draws the soul out of the viewer, pulling from it emotions both wondrous and terrifying, joyful and sorrowful, beautiful and tragic — just as life itself does.
Though often humorous, this is not a light entertainment, nor cheap manipulation through tragedy. It is theatre that compels the audience to realize it has witnessed one of the finest productions in the eight decades of the National Theatre’s existence.
When the actors returned for their final bow, the applause turned into a fifteen-minute emotional outpouring, leaving the ensemble in a state rarely seen in theatre — performers in complete symbiosis with their audience.
The decision of the theatre’s leadership to stage one of the most acclaimed novels in modern Serb literature, under the artistic guidance of the author herself as dramatist and Bundalo as director, proved invaluable.
A story of ordinary people under the weight of history
The novel interweaves the fates of three central characters: Marta, a village seamstress from Lika, Dušan, a driver from Sarajevo, and Ivana, a young student and artist from Belgrade.
Their lives merge into a complex family connection that follows the national fate of the Serb people west of the Drina in the second half of the twentieth century.
The author skillfully avoided the trap of overwhelming national themes by focusing instead on the stories of ordinary people — those who suffer the consequences of decisions made by leaders, politicians and ideologues, while trying to survive beneath the relentless wheel of history.
Strong direction and inspired stagecraft
Bundalo followed this poetic framework with precision, simplifying the dramaturgical process for the stage and turning it into a directorial triumph.
The production reduces itself to its bare essence: a minimal staging of a monumental story unfolding across multiple locations over nearly seventy years.
Set designer Dragana Purković Macan found a brilliant and practical solution with a movable bus that transforms into a village house in Lapac, a student apartment in Belgrade, the Zetra Hall during the Sarajevo Olympics, or refugee columns during Operation Storm.
Music by Petar Topalović and video work by Petar Bilbija further strengthened the atmosphere, adding sound and visual depth that elevated the rhythm of the narrative.
Outstanding performance by Nataša Perić
Within such an effective stage setting, the cast rose fully to the challenge.
Led by Jovo Maksić as Rajko and Nataša Perić as Marta, the ensemble exceeded expectations.
While experienced performers such as Aleksandar Stojković, Nikolina Friganović and Miljka Brđanin were expected to deliver strongly, Perić’s ability to stand alongside far more experienced colleagues with confidence and emotional force was particularly striking.
Her Marta is at once a playful village girl, modest daughter-in-law, skilled seamstress, frightened young mother, uncertain wife and tragic symbol of a collapsing world and family.
Authentic and universal
The National Theatre of Republika Srpska had long searched for a play that would portray the fate of people west of the Drina in such an authentic yet universally understandable way.
In the end, it found it on home ground, transforming it through dedication, talent and commitment into a masterpiece in whose characters we may recognize our own lives.
Quiet heroes of our people
Director Bundalo dedicated the play to his mother and to all mothers and women who were the quiet, overlooked heroes of their people.
“This is a story that, through the fate of one woman, reflects many others — all those who throughout history were and remain the guardians of our hearth. These are the quiet heroes of our people, women whose endurance survives every misfortune, tragedy and hardship. Many wrongly interpreted this as a story only about suffering. It is not. This is a story about life. Suffering is an inevitability that follows our people, but what truly matters is the path to survival and the unshakable belief that dialogue and remembrance lead to healing,” Bundalo said.
Source: Glas Srpske
