To refuse is not far from banning. It's not far at all, it's just a question wording. There is hardly a shorter letter that says more than the one we have seen sent as an explanation why the play Exposed women it cannot be performed in Nikšić.
If someone wanted to, he couldn't squeeze so much minimalism into a few sentences. less is more. Everything is there. I am sure that some subsequent performance of that play will include elements from that letter, because the text itself is upgraded, it would be a shame not to use those sentences.
I have criticized many times the work of the CNP, the leftism of those who lean to the right, the elitism of those who are snobs, the repertoire that was full of nothing and the selectivity of those who decide. Everyone who expected a change is now disappointed, because only the rhetoric has changed, and it seems that we have not moved far. At least they were pretending. They acted. Now the letters are direct, public, open, without reservation.
You should watch the movie "Forbidden without a ban". You can see how the movies used to be bunkered there. Even though that bunkering is bad, even though it was terrible censorship, it was at least covert. Makavejev, Žilnik, Lazar Stojanović, they all suffered under the regime, and you should read the book Black wave, in which there are transcripts from many film trials. The film was also bunkered Young and healthy as a rose, so when it was shown decades later, the actors who played in that film forgot that they were part of that story at all, that fantastic film that today's new generations adore for its audacity, editing and hand-held shooting before it became fashionable .
But to reject a play with such an explanation is a spectacle in itself. Because, hardly anyone could have given a greater award to that play and text than this one. This has become an engaging story, the spotlight is on the text and the play "crosses the ramp", becoming a big topic. It's been a long time since there was no news about a play in prime time in the daily, especially a play that is not in the repertoire of the CNP.
That says a blow to the capsule was made. We don't have too much experience with alternative theater, FIAT had its own story, Slobo Milatović he did fantastic projects, and the CNP stuck to established repertoires pretending to be important. Now, space is opening for some new voices, now we see reactions that are spontaneous and impulsive.
Nothing can be defended. Just as poets cannot be burned. One of the most valuable sections in the French National Library is the sector with forbidden books. Bora Cosic and his "My Family's Role in the World Revolution" as well as "When the Pumpkins Bloomed" Dragoslav Mihajlović they are read despite the fact that they were forbidden and that officials of the time, whose name is now forgotten, rightly forgotten, threw trees and stones at them.
The names that are still relevant today, signed under the email, will be forgotten, but there will be talk sometime about the play that is not allowed to be performed. And the problem is not only in the performance, the problem is in the explanation itself, the denial of discrimination against women, at a time when we too often read the headline that the husband beat or killed the wife. Any attempt to change it, to talk about it, to make a voice heard should be helped, should be given a chance. Audience, criticism (if any) and time will tell how valuable and important a work is. Those who think that they are in charge, and that it must be as they say, are least invited to pass judgment on it. The problem is force. Against such a force, it is necessary to fight.
Bonus video:
