We live in an ecologically and psychologically extremely unhealthy time in which there is a lot of nurtured hatred that is maintained in every aspect of life, where people who are not nationalists are chauvinists, and those two categories are different, he summarized in an interview for "Vijesti" Dusan Kovačević, famous playwright, novelist, screenwriter, theater and film director.
This summer, Kovačević was a guest of the 37th Grad Teatar festival on Poets' Square in Budva, and this year's co-production of Grad Teatar and the National Theater from Sombor, "Radovan III", was performed based on his text.
He finished elementary school in Šabac and high school in Novi Sad in 1968, and graduated in dramaturgy at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in 1973. He worked as a dramatist at TV Belgrade, assistant professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, and since 1998 he has been the director of the "Zvezdara Theater" in Belgrade. . He has been a corresponding member of SANU since 2000, a regular member since 2009. He was the ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro, and then of Serbia in 2005-2006. in Portugal. He lives in Belgrade.
He wrote cult dramas: Marathoners run the lap of honor, Radovan III, What is it in a human being that drives him to drink, Spring in January, The Space Dragon, The Gathering Center, The Balkan Spy, Saint George Slays the Dragon, Claustrophobic Comedy, The Professional, Hilarious Tragedy , Larry Thompson, The Tragedy of One Youth, The Five-Star Container, Doctor Shuster, Dinar by Dinar, Rehearsal of Suicide, Life in Tight Shoes, Godfathers, Mr. Nušić's Birthday and Hypnosis of One Love; as well as film scripts: Beasts, Special Treatment, Who's Singing There, Marathoners Run the Lap of Honor, Gathering Center, Hilarious Tragedy, Underground, The Professional and Saint George Kills the Dragon; TV dramas: The Return of the Thief, The Two-Room Tavern and Stardust; TV series: Čardak neither in the sky nor on the earth and There was once one country; Radio dramas: 828 kilometers north of the first town and Bio čovek.
Only in professional theaters in Belgrade, more than 3000 performances of his plays were performed, which were watched by more than two million spectators, and they were performed in over 200 foreign theaters and translated into 25 languages...
Kovačević talks to "Vijesti" about his impressions from the play on the stage between the churches, the wars in his works and those that are happening and have happened, he talks about violence, young generations, theater and culture, Grad Teatr...
You were at the premiere of "Radovan III" on the stage between the churches. What is your impression after watching the play? What were your thoughts and did you remember the writing of that work and the first premiere?
When I wrote that play 50 years ago and when it premiered, it was a story about a man who is a tyrant within the family. Not to make it too dark, my handwriting and way of thinking always leans a little towards something called comedy. I think our life is neither pure drama nor pure comedy, but something in between. Or mixed, as I would say Njegos. I have that feeling and memory from half a century ago. It's scary when I mention those years, I don't believe that so much time has passed, but the calendar shows that it is so, but also that nothing has changed in that autocratic government within one family. At the time when I wrote in 1972, that text referred to a completely different story, to a different government. At that time you were not allowed to mention the name, you were not allowed to write. All this that is written, talked about, painted today and where everyone insults everyone else, if that is democracy, I am not for that type of democracy. The insult became something of a good day. That's not democracy, that's simpleton. I experienced that story at the premiere as one memory of one writing and one time. Director Vito Taufer did it by loading today's time and world which is constantly in some tense feeling. It is overstretched, people are afraid, the war is 1000 kilometers from us. A hundred people die every day, and at the same time the Eurovision Song Contest is held and Ukraine wins, which at the same time suffers in the war.
How do you explain that?
The whole story is completely absurd, it is tragicomic in its inappropriateness and inhumanity. It's happening in our neighborhood, and this is a story about a war of neighbors. In one solitaire, the neighbors had a war and Vito brought it to the fore, based on everything we see on television every day. Unlike the show at Atelier 212, which was more about comedy and grotesque thanks to Zoran Radmilović who played masterfully. I called him a jazz actor because he improvised and did things that many actors of his talent could not achieve. So this is a collective performance, unlike that performance from Atelier 212, which I would call individual. All the actors put in a lot of work and effort here. I am particularly interested in the end of the play and the multitude of pyrotechnics that are used, which remind us of the wars we watched here and that we watch on TV today.
At the Poets' Square, you pointed out that there is a link between your works and wars, that they always ran through your texts. How do you see the moment we live in, are you optimistic?
I am not optimistic because of the fact that we all know very well - that both World War I and World War II started harmlessly. He was accused Gavrilo Principal that it caused the First World War which has nothing to do with intelligence. That war was being prepared for years and an occasion was sought. That they killed in Sarajevo then Ferdinand's horse, they would go into that story again. That war was prepared, and on the eve of the Second World War Hitler had been bullying everyone around him for years and arming himself, everyone knew it would only be a matter of days. Then when he annexed Austria with everyone's approval, everyone rejoiced in that phalanx of his. Well, when the war knocked on everyone's door, then the devil took the joke away. Only then did they take it seriously, but then it was too late. It was tragic.
Do you think that everything that is happening right now is a prelude to a new war?
We now have an absurd fact. This would be the start of World War III if there were no atomic bombs. That is 100 percent correct. If it is a conventional weapon, and it is not conventional because drones and unmanned aerial vehicles are used, then it is not a classic war, but a war between the Russian Federation and the NATO pact would have started a long time ago. However, since both of them have atomic weapons and know that it would be the end of the world and that there is no winner, they think very carefully. Fear keeps the peace outside of Ukraine. Otherwise, if there wasn't that horror and hell that would turn the country into a wasteland, I think this would be the beginning of a great tragedy.
How are things in our yard? How do you view the current political situation in Serbia and the region?
From day to day, one day it is more beautiful and better and it seems to you that you are living in a normal world, and then the next day you are hit by the fact that someone has done something stupid. Unfortunately, there is a lot of nurtured hatred and this hatred is maintained through the media, it is maintained in various incidents, on sports fields, in every aspect of life where there are some people who are not nationalists but chauvinists. Nationalism is one story, and chauvinism is a completely different story, and I'm afraid. Not to mention social networks. Every crazy idea finds space and a place to be advertised, ideas that used to go to prison are being promoted. Today it has become quite normal. I remember in my time in Šabac in the fifties, someone wrote an insult on a stall, they caught him and he went to prison. Because of the chalk writing on the stall. Today you write with chalk on all possible media, you insult anyone you can, we simply live in an ecologically and psychologically extremely unhealthy time.
What do you think we should do?
I think that something should be done at least with these new generations of young people, to call on their minds. It makes me sick when we see something being chanted in the stadium that offends someone from any side. The moment that happens, I don't watch that game anymore. That's not the place and that's not the reason to play it. Let's talk about football because it's mostly an incident thing. Margaret Thatcher, if she did anything smart in her life, she did it so that anyone who makes an incident goes to jail immediately. It characterized her as a cold and ruthless, steely Lady, but she was absolutely right.
Speaking of young people, you also talked about the tragedy that happened at the "Vladislav Ribnikar" Elementary School in Belgrade at Poets' Square. What was your first reaction to that event, and how do you look at it now?
I talked about it because it is one of the biggest shocks in my life, along with all the private ones. I wasn't surprised then. I am surprised now. And the more time passes, I ask myself the question as a man, as a father and as a citizen and as an even normal person how is it possible and what happened. I have an explanation based on my great knowledge of the animal world, since I have raised all kinds of animals all my life. I'm not an elephant, maybe because I didn't have the conditions, but everything else I did. I raised generations and generations of dogs and then it happened that in one litter of seven dogs, one puppy started to cause problems, about 20 years old. At about six months old, that puppy started causing so many problems that he started attacking people. When he turned one, we had to put him to sleep. He was born with a mistake.
Are you saying that some people are born with a flaw?
It is my deep conviction that a man who raises his hand on himself is potentially born with the feeling that he does not belong to this world and that this world is his enemy. That's why I was at Poets' Square and said that courage is living. Any fool can live in paradise. Come on now, when it's hard, live and enable others to live, do something good. So it's a story about that boy who must have been born sick because it had to be done by someone who was pathologically seriously in trouble, but one big question mark is how it wasn't noticed. He had to give some signals in the family and in any environment that something was wrong with him. Not to mention the fact that his father took him to the shooting range. It's the end of the world, of all possible games and of all possible places he takes a 12-year-old to shoot.
Let's go back to theater and texts, do you see your successor somewhere?
From time to time there are people who write one play and then go to television, write series. Some of my students whom I taught and who were very gifted people have been writing series for television for years and decades. It's quick money, and the regret is very long. This is true for both writers and actors. People who do not make big roles in the theater or on film and enter the television machine for the smallest emotions, time and everything completely, they feel that they are making money quickly and easily, and they do not notice that their years pass just as quickly and easily. One day, when they look back, they have 200 episodes of some soap opera, but they don't have a role. They have nothing to refer to. Unfortunately, time dictates it and we have taken many things from the world that are disastrous, and we have not taken what is smart, we don't like it. But that's why we have accepted all the stupid things that the world has invented and cherish them. So we're still good with what we've accepted and what we're doing.
Is it a question of existence because we all know that wages in the theater are low? Especially when we know the fees for TV series and movies.
I've said many times that it's a shame that movies are interrupted by commercials. Those series and those films are made because of commercials, you have a series that lasts an hour, and 30 minutes are commercials. Then it actually lasts 30 minutes and then everyone is good except for the viewers who have to watch everything and anything. I've been forced to watch a lot of things that I wouldn't normally watch, and I've found that out of at least 100 channels that we have now, very often I can't find a single thing that I can watch that night. Either they are reruns, or they are desperate films, or they are show programs with some half-world. And whenever you switch from channel to channel, there are always commercials. So much for that media space.
Nevertheless, it seems that the theater is alive, especially in Budva at the Grad Teatar festival, which is under your sign this year. The premiere of the play "Radovan III" was held, followed by your guest appearance at Trg pjesnika, and the festival closes with your text "Hilarious Tragedy" directed by Jagoš Marković. How does the festival look to you now compared to the time 25 years ago when you were last there?
The Budva City Theater has long surpassed the conditions in which it is performed with its meaning and respect. You know, that scene between the churches is nice for camera stuff. I was here 100 years ago, in the meantime completely new circumstances, new buildings, new conditions and a new way of life have been built. I think that the festival and everyone together would have to find a place that will raise the playing conditions just one step higher. Some place where they can play, without the people around them endangering the performance, but also that the performance does not endanger some people who have their own private lives. By the way, the Grad Theater festival in Budva is one of the prestigious places, that's known and everyone wants to come here, so I hope that in due time, as they say, more attention will be paid to that existential part. By the way, in terms of essence, name and meaning, affirmation, Grad theater belongs to the top ten.
And the fact that it is marked by your image and work this year?
The play "Hilarious Tragedy" directed by Jagoš Marković is an excellent play. The only thing I'm not sure what they're going to do with the scenery which is fantastic, I'm not sure if they're going to be able to put it here. It is one of the most beautiful scenographies made according to my piece. Exactly as it is Dali drew and worked, surrealistic, beautiful and it is an excellent show. The audience will see, and I'm glad to be here again, so we'll see each other again.
If you deny people a normal childhood story, then you get something that degenerates into terrible evil
Lately, we have been witnessing a large amount of violence, which is what you were talking about... How much does it have to do with the (non)culture we live in and the education that is riddled with many problems?
Very bad and problematic things happen. Now they made a selection in the publication of the school program, so for example they removed it from that program Desanka Maksimović. Come on, somebody explain that to me. I don't know who did it and why and which commission it is, but whoever did it is surely illiterate. I guarantee that he is illiterate and that he has never read anything, but he accidentally got lost, they caught him somewhere on the street and asked if he wanted to be a member of the commission, so he kicked out Desanka because she was the only one he had heard of.
And he had to be a member of the ruling party.
Well, it had to be someone who was very well positioned. So let's start from the school curriculum, from education. If you deny people normality and a normal childhood story, then you get something that degenerates into terrible evil.
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