The drama program of the XXXV Grad Teatar festival continued the night before last in the amphitheater of the monastery of St. Trojica, Stanjevići with the performance of the play "Goaticide" - based on the text and directed by Vida Ognjenović. Accompanied by standing ovations, the play is a production of the City Theater from Podgorica.
The action of the play is set in a mountain village in Montenegro during the former Yugoslavia, when a five-year plan for reconstruction and construction was adopted after the Second World War, and the industrialization of the country and the development of the wood industry were the natural causes.
This included the extermination of goats, which, according to "experts", are destroying forests. Among the many characters in the play, the President of the Municipality stands out, who blindly follows the Party's orders on the one hand, and his own beliefs on the other.
He does not question the logical basis of the ideas of the presumed authority, even coming up with the idea of draining Lake Skadar. There is also the figure of a veterinarian, a professor from Belgrade, who is also an expert on goats, and whose appearance in the village turns the whole situation upside down, given that he points to the importance and benefit that goats bring to the region and to people.
The all-knowing narrator Božo Dosije is on stage all the time, who introduces the audience to the play itself and presents the characters in the form of a file record, based on general observations and the collective's attitude about themselves. There is also a goat on the stage all the time, which, near the end of the play, the gathered peasants camouflage with sheep fur, trying to avoid "goaticide", pointing to the mental trait of the constant need to exist between norm and need, law and personal happiness.
The basic idea of the text Kozocid is to show that any ideology that separates itself from man and becomes both a means and an end to itself, fails precisely at the humane level whose creativity it tries to tame, said director Vida Ognjenović.
"This is a text and an idea against blindly listening to orders and against a government that uses orders only. These people ask for a discussion about everything, and the one who gives orders asks for obedience. There is a large space between obedience and discussion, and with this play we are fighting for that space. The government that today thinks it can use orders and bans is in great danger," said Ognjenović.
She emphasized that she is very satisfied with the choice of space, but also with the reaction of the audience, who greeted the actors with a standing ovation.
"I think that this is a very nicely arranged stage, a nice space where no music can be heard, where there are no other voices and minds. The audience is focused on the performance and everything around it. If I were to ask myself, this would be the main stage of the City Theater."
Her opinion is shared by actor Igor Đorđević, who said that the atmosphere is surreal.
"This scene is completely monastic, as it should be, and the play is communist. So, in the collision of those two worlds, this play happened and I think that we all enjoyed it together with the audience. I noticed the priests in the audience, it seems to me that they were the ones who followed the events on stage with the greatest attention."
Although the play speaks of a period that is behind us, Đorđević said that it also speaks to us today, only that now we have other problems and ideologies.
"It is money that is ideology today, There is no more ideology in this sense. I lack that kind of passion for a certain idea. This ideology in the play was, of course, wrong and proved to be wrong like many in the last century, like fascism. It seems to me that the church and religion are no longer in the center of attention as much as banks and corporations are today. We also have corona, but as happens in the play - the profession is the last to be listened to. And I am the voice of that profession in the play and I say a line - let the party take care of its own party affairs, and let the herdsmen or, in this context, the doctors go. It was always some kind of revolution, and I only hope for some kind of evolution. As the corona evolves, so will we, I hope, in order to survive", said Đorđević.
Actor Milivoje Mišo Obradović said that "Grad Teatar" has always been a special place for his theater experience and for performing plays.
"As a kid and a high school student, I used to come from Podgorica to see the performances of the City Theater and through them I fell in love with the theater. After that, I've been playing at the festival for years and it's always a pleasure to play for this crowd. Two years ago, we were supposed to play right here, in the amphitheater of the Stanjevići monastery, but then the rain prevented us, then the corona virus, and I know that the audience of the City Theater loves these kinds of plays, loves Vida Ognjenović, loves her texts, her directions and loves that kind of an ensemble-performance, where there are twenty or more actors on stage, who together create some magical energy," said Obradović.
In the play, in addition to Obradović and Đorđević, Dušan Kovačević, Dejan Đonović, Dubravka Drakić, Simo Trebješanin, Pavle Ilić, Goran Slavić, Danilo Čelebić, Stevan Radusinović, Ivana Mrvaljević, Miloš Pejović, Branka Femić Šćekić, Jelena Simić, Katarina Krek, Omar Bajramspahić, Davor Dragojević, Maja Šarenac, Dragan Račić, Pavle Popović.
The performance is on the program tonight, July 31, also in the amphitheater of the monastery of St. Trojica in Stanjevići, starting at 21 p.m. Transportation from the Mediteran Express station at 19:30 is provided for the audience.
Bonus video:
