The scandalous financial burden of the public institution "Grad Teatar", which was left by the previous management of this cultural institution, is one of the main reasons why this year's edition of the festival is one of the most modest in its 31-year-long tradition.
The festival will be opened on July 5 and closed on August 15, and will take place under the motto "For three pennies". Acting director of JU "Grad Teatar" Milena Lubarda Marojević assessed that 2017 was the year in which the festival and institution "Grad Teatar" found themselves at a turning point.
"Under the heavy load of accumulated debts, at the beginning of the year, the functioning of the institution was almost blocked, and the implementation of the XXXI festival was called into question. On the other hand, the continuity of 30 years of investment in a project like this, visionary, of universal significance and meaning, above the context of daily politics; and the character and unquestionable quality of the large number of art programs realized so far oblige the institution and the festival to be protected and preserved. That is why for 2017 we are choosing a concept and program that will turn a big problem into a challenge. The festival programs will take place under the motto: 'For three pennies', which is a phrase taken from the famous musical 'Opera for three pennies' by Bertold Brecht, and which symbolically and meaningfully marks this year's concept on several levels. The emphasis is on modesty, which gives rise to new ideas, new forms, new artistic concepts, which move the world again and again," Lubarda Marojević pointed out.
The festival will be opened by the play "Grieving Family" directed by Igor Vuk Torbica, performed by theaters from Celje and Kranj, one of the most successful plays in the region in the past season, and the drama segment will close with the new play "Gospoda Glembajevi" directed by Zlatko Sviben.
The art program brings two author's settings. One is the multimedia project of Svetlana Racanović, MSc, the international exhibition "Lines of Escape-Lines of Resistance" which brings conceptual art and experiment in the field of fine arts back to the festival, and the other is the project "Silence of the Stone" by Rajka Bošković, PhD.
At Poets' Square, they made an effort to send off the most significant titles of the country and the region in the field of literary production, as well as to mark some of the important jubilees, which make 2017 a special year.
"On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of 'Mountain Wreath' in Vienna in 1847, we will hear two lectures on the Square by some of the confirmed connoisseurs of Njegoš's work. The square will be opened with a lecture by academician Tonk Maroević, who will talk about the possibilities of lyrical reading of 'Mountain Wreath'", she said.
"The audience will also have the opportunity to hear Prof. Dr. Jelena Pilipović, professor of English from the Faculty of Nikšić, Marija Krivokapić, Dimitrija Popović, Dragan Bošković, Ivana Dimić, Balša Brković. For the very end of this year's Square, the guest appearance of one of the most important authors of post-Yugoslav literature, the Croatian and Bosnian writer Bekim Sejranović, has been confirmed," said Council member Svetlana Ivanović.
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