Viewing posts from: predstava

26.12.2011.

THE MELODRAMATIC SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

Igor Štiks: Elijah’s Chair, directed by Boris Liješević, produced by Jugoslov Drama Theatre and MESS

By: Vanja Nikolić

Elijahova stolica (Elijah’s Chair) premiered exactly one year ago. Created in co-production of Yugoslav Drama Theatre and Sarajevo-based MESS Festival, it lived its modest life on Yugoslav Drama Theater’s small scene. It wasn’t much written about, it was not “the hit of the season”, it wasn’t even listed for this year’s Sterijino Pozorje Festival. And then it was selected for Bitef Festival as part of the Region in Focus Program, as yet another play dealing with the heritage of history and the understanding of one’s own identity. To the surprise of many, it was exactly Elijah’s Chair that won Mira Trailović Grand Prix Award and thus earned all the attention. And so it happened that in only three years, Bitef’s main prize was twice awarded to Yugoslav Drama Theatre and its directors. First to Miloš Lolić for Sanjari (Dreamers) and now to Boris Liješević, the author of Čekaonica (The Waiting Room) produced by Atelier 212, which two years ago won the Sterijino Pozorje Special Award, and the collaborator on several projects by Tomi Janežič whose influence is visible in several plays directed in Novi Sad. more >

26.12.2011.

THE INSECURE VIEWER

The Shop-Window, directed by Nataša Rajković & Bobo Jelčić, produced by: Zagrebačko kazalište mladih (ZeKaeM – Zagreb Youth Theatre)

By: Sandro Siljan

The Shop-window was produced by Zagrebačko kazalište mladih (ZeKaeM – Zagreb Youth Theatre) in 2010 and the text and the direction is signed by a well known theatrical tandem Nataša Rajković and Bobo Jelčić. What is so special about this play is that it does not take place in the theatre but in a window of a shop in Tratinska Street in Zagreb. The play also excels in participation of many non-professional actors. The performance that I saw and the one that I will write about, was preformed in October 2011, as a part of a Show Case of the Croatian Theatre, which was organised for foreign selectors by The Perforacije Festival . I have to state this, because later on I found out that there are two versions of this play. There is the domestic one, whose topics are the abandoned shops in Tratinska Street and the international one, which tells of international conflicts in our region during the last decades. So, I will write about the second one.

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26.12.2011.

POSTSTRUCTURALIST GAME STEW

Singles, directed by Matija Ferlin, Istrian National Theatre, Pula, Croatia

By: Ivana Anić

In the director’s note on his new play Samice (Singles), Matija Ferlin in the program booklet says: “Singles is an original project in which I wish to transfer my choreographic knowledge and experience into the domain of spoken language. The concept I start from is extremely simple: set up a dramatic performance that respects the conventions of dramatic theatre, but in which all sentences are written and spoken backwards. Thus deformed and emptied of their original meaning, they become a challenge for the actor who is nevertheless required to pronounce them with intention, motivation, and sense they had in their original form.”

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22.12.2011.

STEREOTYPE AS POLITICAL IRRESPONSIBILITY

Ferrets, directed by Stevan Bodroža and produced by Montenegrin Dramatic Theatre (CDP) in Podgorica

By: Nikola Skočajić

Written by Bojana Mijović, Ferrets was created as a playwright exam during her second year at the Montenegrin Dramatic Art Academy in Cetinje. It premiered at the CDP two years later, in May of this year, directed by Stevan Bodroža from Belgrade. Since this is practically the first play by the Montenegrin playwright, we can be forgiving of the conventional structure and the reference material that does not go beyond required school reading. But there is no lenience in terms of the final message of her text and what it says.

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12.11.2011.

First Art Reviews and Supplement no. 1

Criticize This! project, dedicated to afirmation of the significance of contemporary art and importance of its critical observation in the process od development a democratic and open society, presents through the portals of the organizers and in a form of a supplement in newspapers Novosti, Danas and Pobjeda, the first art reviews by young critics produced under the supervision of well experianced and renowed art critics from the region.

Six selected art reviews in the fields of literature and performing and visual arts, will be published as the first edition of supplement in weekly Novosti in Croatia and daily newspapers Danas in Serbia and Pobjeda in Montenegro.

Other 16 art reviews will be published on portals of the organizers of the Criticize This! project – Booksa.hr, Elektrobeton.net, Kulturpunkt.hr, Plima.org i SEEcult.org), as well as on this web site.

Selected art reviews will be published in portal Eurozine.com, too.

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