"How strange it is, that there are so many happy girls and so many unhappy women in the world", is one of the lines uttered by the champion of the Montenegrin National Theater in the third act of the three-part play "I am the one who is not". Varja Djukic.
In the role of a woman in the "third" age, as the third of three generations of women treated by the play according to the text Mata Matisic in directing Vita Taufer, Đukić says from the stage that those who are not unhappy - act.
And the fact that many people do it is confirmed by the figure presented by the great Ana Vučković in the second act, uttering the sentence from the title of the play, which at that moment, after a burst of laughter, freezes the face and causes unpleasant tingling...
Their (tragic) lives, which, nevertheless, they dominate, provide an excellent overture by the equally painful character of "Nikolina - Montenegrin Lolita", which she powerfully and convincingly plays Anđela Marunović.
They are the three leading roles in three one-act plays, placed in completely different situations, yet perfectly intertwined with each other, cruel, organic, true.
Rarely can a play so easily fit into its own title, that nothing more needs to be added or explained. The audience at the premiere performance on Monday evening in the Montenegrin National Theater was convinced of this and greeted the excellent acting ensemble with a long, loud, standing ovation and applause, which captivates with convincing and strong individual, but also perfect partner play, which was also confirmed by the actresses.
"My role is demanding in itself and it requires a lot of courage. I play the character of Nikolina, the 'Montenegro Lolita'. I am extremely grateful to Srđan Grahovac for the partner play and unconditional trust. Just studying that character from the beginning opened up a lot of doubts for me, but with the director's subtle guidance and great trust, somehow everything came together and went from beginning to end and there were no problems," said Marunović.
The curiosity is that this is the second staging of a piece whose premiere took place in the Croatian National Theatre, Đukić reminded.
"I think it is very important that this is the second performance of a brilliantly written play by Mata Matišić, who wrote the music, as well as the connection between Vito Taufer and him. This is a contemporary play written three years ago, so because of that we feel our flaws even more intensely . As you could see, he and you, from our, female point of view, reflect on all those values or opposites in our lives, putting them in the widest context. I think the audience felt the involvement of this play," said the actress who easily conquers the audience.
The performance suddenly, directly and without preparation throws the audience into the centrifuge and through tempting lines and action causes commotion, laughter, applause during the play, so that in all this they slowly get to know themselves, their environment, society and the curse we fight with by living double lives.
"I am the one who is not" opens taboos and breaks the silence, awakens the spirits of one's own but also the collective past and guilt, and undoubtedly radiates strong energy, euphoria and the need for more: music, dialogue, paradox, text, play, secrets, truth, of life...
The stories of the so-called underground come to the surface and confront the inactions of the construction and catering mafia close to the top of the state apparatus, dubious business(es) and human disappearances with the naivety of moral, ordinary people, independent intellectuals whose stumbling and hypocrisy we also witness.
The first act has a special charm, along with humor that dances enthrallingly with reality, given by chronological intertwining but also crime elements, the culmination of which is actually the realization of the truth and its rejection. The director said that he likes humor because it makes the piece more true and points to the core of everything.
"Humor never masks problems, that's why I like humor and comedies, because, I think, they are much more cheeky and direct, and actually comedy is more dangerous than some "difficult" topics," added Taufer.
That the female being is destined to be subjugated to oral social norms, strong words and moral boulders, but that it is possible to accept yourself, to know, justify and love yourself, and to refuse the role of victim with all the risks this entails (such as developing various potential defense mechanisms, among which and "Stockholm syndrome") and win, even if it meant accepting a dual identity, that is, living a double life - the figure of the symbolic name Ruza - Roza shows us. The second act lays bare men's doubts, fears, insecurities, but also the ego that overpowers empathy and the postulates of being or at least the principles of the profession. In this context, the question arises as to who we live for, how much we are ourselves and how to survive.
"We constantly lead double and even triple lives. I would say that it is somehow imposed on us, we just have to swim in it without getting lost, otherwise it is disastrous for our lives, for our personality and ultimately our destiny, especially for this piece ", Marunović believes.
Perhaps the most memorable, devastating and fragile moment happens right at the very end of the second act, when the packed auditorium falls silent, just a few moments after loud and raucous commentary, laughter, and even applause. Facing the fact that it is easy to witness something from the side, ignoring the causes and consequences, but that facing it in reality also carries responsibility - opens up answers to the question of who we are and how different we are depending on the role that is expected of us - to laugh and clap or step forward and shout.
The author of the dramatic text, as well as the director, played with the theater within the theater. This may lead to catharsis when, instead of acting, an individual in a collective retreats to reality. That moment lasts, the act drags on and the question arises as to what is fiction and what is reality.
"The theme of the relationship between fiction and reality is one of the key aspects of Matišić's dramaturgy. He constantly deals with it, especially in the theater, because he also writes for film. It is actually a classic dramaturgical form full of clever, dramatic locations. One of the lines of these stories, and also "One of Matišić's other preoccupations is our hypocrisy - socially, but also individually. That's why he brings us to those provocative situations where we simply face our various forms of hypocrisy. We face a psychological moment that we don't want to admit to ourselves," said the director. Taufer.
Moments of play and references to acting, art and artists elevate the performance and communicate well with the audience, which is additionally interesting.
"I think there are several theses in this drama, but the most beautiful one is the theme of the game. The game, which is the most important for our life, because without the game we don't have any other, great things. That's why the game within the game is an interesting theme. We are like actresses and actors, the actors of this drama. So I play a pianist who does not have a realized career. This problematization of art and in general that collision with the world of people who are engaged in creativity, and who are exposed to some kind of lynching and obscure cliché as creative thinking, which must be to fight for them to conquer, and especially women, that space, is a particularly important issue," remarked Đukić.
Each of the acts treats interpersonal and family relationships in different ways, and in the third it is precisely the family under scrutiny. Agreeing to anything in order to preserve the family and keep it together by simulating the warmth of the home has been no stranger to women for centuries, but what they turn into, acting or not, radiates a different aura and presents a different image compared to the one most want to project to a marriage partner. , to the neighbors, to the world...
"On a daily level you can see the fates of this kind, the media is full of gruesome, terrible, terrible news about what is happening and the amount of violence present in the family and society. We always talk only about the consequences, not about the reasons, we don't talk about complete social context. In this sense, this work, as a drama and theater, is very important because it talks about the possible causes of unhappy families, women, but also men who are in some kind of existential and even economic clinch. Because, when a person wants to realize some from his ideas in life, he encounters systematic obstacles," states Varja Đukić after the premiere.
In a poignant monologue, she slowly leads the audience towards twilight and resolution (which actually doesn't exist), towards acceptance and resistance, teaching a lesson not only in acting, but also in life.
The mosaics of life presented in three acts are framed in one clear picture of (today's) society and its toxic cells, playing with the limits of endurance, strength, struggle, but also freedom - female, male, collective, artistic...
All in all, this is a play that deals with the destinies of women of three different generations, states Marunović with the remark that we still live in a man's world, although the shift is noticeable.
With the performance "I am the one that I am not", the Montenegrin National Theater received a strong, important and competitive piece that the repertoire lacked, a contemporary, current and engaged performance with the potential of a long run and numerous guest appearances, and despite everything, it showed compactness in the full sense that even after three act lasting about three and a half hours in total, there is no satiety, but hunger and the need to move on, maybe differently... And most importantly, the play leaves the effect of duration and continues through conversation, thoughts and strong impressions...
Roles played by: Anđela Marunović, Stevan Radusinović, Gorana Dragašević, Srdjan Grahovac, Žaklina Oštir, Jelena Nenezić, Dejan Đonović, Lazar Dragojević; Predrag Pavićević, Marko Kazić, as well as acting students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts from Cetinje: Mina Mićović, Andrea Drašković, Radmila Škuletić i Kristina Mrkic. In the second act, the audience will be presented with: Ana Vučković, Zoran Vujović, Lazar i Davor Dragojevic together on stage they provide a special charm to the work, and in the third act they will be joined by: Varja Đukić, Izudin Bajrović, Aleksandar Gavranić, and Ana Vučković, Anđela Marunović and Srđan Grahovac will take the stage again.
The author's team is completed by: dramatist Stefan Boskovic, stage designer Lazar Bodroža, costume designer Lina Lekovic, the music is by Mate Matišić, she is a choreographer Julija Milačić Petrović Njegoš, and executive producer Nela Otašević.
Bonus video:
