Challenging and provocative: Opera "Two Heads and a Girl" in Budva

Exciting music by Isidore Žebeljan, thirty top musical performers on stage led by conductor Premil Petrović, actors Mihailo-Miša Janketić and Milovan Filipović "assisted" by Rambo Amadeus, premiered before the audience of the Grad Theater in the opera "Two Heads and a Girl", directed by Boris Liješevića.

This challenging and in many ways multi-layered and provocative work (from the music itself by one of the most respected female composers from this area in the world, to the libretto written by Borislav Čičovački based on the motifs of Thomas Mann's novella

"Swapped Heads" and the witty old Indian legend about love), Boris Liješević placed it in our, modern times, in the cynical 21st century, skilfully playing with myths, stereotypes and collapsed values ​​that characterize it. So the exceptional singers: soprano Katarina Jovanović in the role of the goddess Kali, Aneta Ilić as Padma (soprano), baritones Vasa Stajkić (Čandra) and Nebojša Babić (Bati), set in the metaphorical scenography of Aleksandar Denić, together with the other participants of the play told us an engaging story, which is only outwardly covered with comedy and wit. The first opera directed by the Budva director, today one of the most recognized and busiest in the region, was greeted with ovations from the stage of "The Witch" in Bečići.

"I experienced the invitation of Isidore Žebeljan and Borislav Čičovački as a great honor," says Boris Liješević.

"Today, she collaborates with world festivals, and this opera is one of the most significant things that I have been offered to direct so far. And although I always promise that I won't work during the summer, I simply can't resist some nice invitations, especially the invitation from Grad Teatr and the jubilee festival. Budva is my city, my fascination with the theater and my dream began here, at the Grad Teatr", points out Liješević, adding that he is very happy that the premiere audience saw off the opera "Two Heads and a Girl".

"Any work that ends beautifully, as it seems to me from the reaction of the viewers that this one ended, is both fun and stressful at the same time, and this was an unusual experience for me. I had to learn that the main direction is not the director-actor, that is, the singer, but the conductor and performer. But I also realized that opera is also a space, like the drama theater, where you can talk about important things that concern us, that opera is not just fairy tales that need to be attractive, popularized and 'stirred up'. That's why I didn't go that way at all, nor was I interested in it. On the contrary, we placed this ancient Indian fairy tale in a modern, shocking contemporary milieu, milieu of refugees, refugee camps. In this piece, two heroes, Chandra and Bati, go on a journey, and I simply could not shake the impression that they are modern travelers, travelers of the 21st century, who cross miles and miles to move from their continents to some destinations that are better for life. On those trips, they lose their heads, children, and reason, and these are all the shocking images that we see, and which found a place in this play," Liješević points out.

Rambo Amadeus proved to be the right, great choice for the role of the Prophet

Rambo Amadeus proved to be the right, great choice for the role of the Prophet.

"Initially, the idea was for me to be the Narrator, but I refused, considering that it was not the right role for me and that it should be played by a professional. I got the exact place that the audience gives me: those five-six witty, sarcastic and ironic minutes on stage, and it's very nice to be a part of something that is new, important, and that for me personally is also something completely new. This opera is important for the culture of the entire region, that's how it was made, as a regional co-production, and it still addresses a part of the cultural elite of this area. "Two heads and a girl" is not for the general public, and it will not be a very commercial work. However, what we lack as societies in this area is precisely the intellectual elite, because they are the engine of development of every country. Money is, in fact, a very slippery slope. Let's just look at the fate of the people who sold their family land and lots here for big money, and what they did, where did that money go. There were few who advanced from that or educated children from those couples. Europe is not rich by accident, it is rich because it has always invested in culture, knowing that man first rises spiritually through culture. I am very glad that some small places, like us, and here they are all 'small places' - Budva, Herceg Novi, Brioni... have a reflex and a need to produce things like this opera, and I am pleasantly surprised by the production as well The city of theater, and tourist organizations of the municipalities of Herceg Novi and Budva. The opera 'Two Heads and a Girl' will be played in a few days in Herceg Novi, and I invite everyone who did not make it to the Grad Theater to come to Novi, because it is worth seeing two or three times", says Rambo Amadeus.

We live in a rather trivialized age of false prophets

About the very character of the Prophet that he plays in the opera, which is a parody of all the prophets of our time, Rambo Amadeus says:

"We live in a time that is quite trivialized, and in that trivialized time we have people who are quite trivial themselves, who become false prophets, or they need prophets to guide them through life. Those banal people have a lot of followers, and this opera was a wonderful opportunity for me to make an ironic departure from such people. I believe in science, in thought, not in prophets," says the famous musician.