As part of the 37th Grad Teatar festival, the play "Radovan III" by Dušan Kovačević directed by Vito Taufer premiered last night on the stage between the churches. The play was created on the fiftieth anniversary of the writing of the text and is a co-production of JU Grad Theater and the Sombor National Theater, whose collaboration has been going on for thirty years to the mutual satisfaction of both the employees of both institutions and the audience.
As Milena Lubarda Marojević, the director of JU Grad Theater, pointed out in the catalog for the play, the audience has always particularly loved Sombor plays.
"There is some complementarity and kinship of spirit, which was always obvious to the audience and people on and around the stage. I am very happy that in the Sombor Theater there is still that energy and that kinship is felt, which is preserved by those who remember all this and which is re-established by new generations as they search for a new expression. This search for a new and universal, for a fresh reading of a well-known comedy , the desire to please the audience together and open some new artistic spaces, connected Sombor and Budva again. The play "Radovan III" is the result of the desire to continue a wonderful three-decade collaboration with a fresh adventure, and to make it once again a joy for everyone".
The premiere was attended by the author of this famous play, Dušan Kovačević, who did not hide his satisfaction with the way this text, which was created exactly 50 years ago, was read and presented in this theatrical version.
In the director's words, Vito Taufer emphasized: "Good comedies are painful. Through the faces of comedy, we see and experience ourselves, our life situations, our fears, our destiny. Comic characters, for example, try to be something they are not. Or they see something in others that these others do not. Orgon in 'Tartife' sees a holy man, not a pig, and so on... The possibility offered by the theater, to laugh at our own big and small stupidities and small and big fools from a comfortable distance, is a great and useful thing both for society and for individual health”.
Taufer, after the play, said that they worked on it for several months and that they wanted to show how relevant the text is even today.
"I think we managed to do what we wanted. When we started the work, I wanted to show how relevant that text is today, maybe even more than it was when it was written 50 years ago. However, we are getting closer to that cataclysm and general apocalypse, it is getting closer and closer. Every audience is challenging and dear to me. It was not a greater responsibility for me because Dušan Kovačević was in the audience, but I will ask him for his impressions", said Taufer, whose second direction has been for the Grad Theater since 1989.
Actor Ninoslav Đorđević, who portrays the title character, had a difficult task considering that the audience had high expectations.
"That play with Zoran Radmilović in the lead role is still a very strongly imprinted image in the consciousness and cultural pattern. Even I, as a child, knew Radovan's text by heart and it was necessary for me to get Zoran's melodies, intonations, speech acts and the like out of me. This concept of the play is generally different and I was not burdened with expectations from the beginning. I wasn't interested in that at that moment, I was interested in whether we would make a play that has some value independent of the text. For me, the piece was surprisingly free of any anachronisms. In Vito's perception, he acquires a very ominous note because the environment in which Radovan lives and of which he is the protagonist is an environment of physical and verbal violence that breeds further violence and unhappiness. After all, what Duško would say in the subtitle, self-betrayal. Self-betrayal of himself as a human being, father and husband. Generally as a human being," Đorđević pointed out.
The character of Rumenka was played by actress Biljana Keskenović, who said that she played for the first time in front of Dušan Kovačević.
"Since I've been in the theater, I've met our greatest contemporary writer for the first time. A cult piece, nothing to talk about. This is a completely different view, reading and concept than that of 50 years ago. As for my character specifically, Rumenka has always been in trouble. In this concept, she is somehow an equal partner to Radovan, just as greedy, strong and eager for success. It seems to me that we got the most out of that role and I am personally very satisfied. I have been coming to Budva for many years and I am very emotionally attached to the City Theater, probably for 30 years. This festival has changed and grown a lot over the years, but it still takes place. These are not easy times and I remember some co-productions and festival productions, the Sombor Theater was a guest many times. The crowd changes and we change, it's not easy to play here. Not only because it's an ambient performance and it's outdoors, but the audience also demands a lot," said Keskenović.
For Lazar Nikolić from Budva, this was his first performance at the Grad Teatar festival.
"When I entered the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, I had a great desire to play here someday. As a child, I followed the City Theater and attended many performances, it was always an experience for me, and here, my wish came true. The audience was a little fan-minded considering that this is my city, but it was also a greater responsibility. I think that people have recognized the quality and that they are not easy when it comes to criticism, so I expect some comments that may not be pleasant to me."
The play's dramaturgy is written by Vesna Radovanović, Lazar Bodroža is in charge of scenography, Biljana Grgur is in charge of costume design. The original music for the play was composed by the brothers Robert Pešut Manjifiko and Aleksandar Pešut Shatz. The proofreader is Dr. Dejan Sredojević. The inspector is Zoran Vučković, and the prompter is Ninoslav Vranić.
The play features: Ninoslav Đorđević (Radovan III), Biljana Keskenović (Romanian), Marija Maša Labudović (Georgina), Danica Grubački (Katica), Srđan Aleksić (Stanislav), Nemanja Bakić (Jelence), Lazar Nikolić (Kelner), Pavle Popović (Vasilije) and Dejan Pletikosić, Vladimir Broćilović, Igor Pekanović, Dejan Vuković, Andrej Todorović (Vilotići).
The play is on the program repertoire on August 16, 17 and 18.
Bonus video:
