The search for a lost life that never happened

The play "The Use of a Man", based on the novel by Aleksandar Tišma and directed by Boris Liješević, a co-production of JU "Gradteatr" Budva, New Fortress Theatre, Novi Sad Theater/Újvidéki Színház and East West Center from Sarajevo, will be premiered in Budva, on Sunday, on stage between churches in the Old Town, at 20 p.m.

The performance lasts for two hours, during which, as stated in the accompanying material, it talks about a world dominated by religious, racial, political and any other intolerance. Madness is spreading, and people hope that it will not reach the peaceful Novi Sad and that Europe and the world will not allow the spread of Nazism and do nothing, even though everything tells them that they should run away and save themselves.

"They are sure that reason always prevails in the end. The main character Vera Kroner, a girl from a rich merchant Jewish family, is deported to Auschwitz in 1943, along with her and other Jewish families. Vera is the only one who survives, because she spends her time in the camp in the 'house of joy', a brothel where the sexual services they provide to SS soldiers prolong their lives and delay their journey to the crematorium. The question the play deals with is whether you should survive when your whole world falls apart and disappears? Isn't it better, more honorable and smarter to disappear with him? Is it necessary to fight for life if traumas and images of the worst horrors follow after that, which return and do not give peace. Is there more peace, home then? (...) What is a man and what is in him was the main question during the work on this play. Man is changed by circumstances. It adapts. He becomes what the time asks of him. This is a story about the search for a lost life, which never happened," the announcement reads.

"Reading the novel, we had the impression that we were reading some contemporary chronicles and that we were getting messages for our time. One of the most significant of these is flirting with dangerous ideas that have their roots in fascism and end up in gas chambers. It all reminded us of the wars we remember. That's why the play resonated strongly in Sarajevo. How could they understand those people who hope until the last hour that madness cannot be stronger than reason, and when they realize that it is not - it is already too late. They are already knocking on the door and leading us. War is always one and the same, wherever it is. The reasons are different, but they always boil down to the same thing," said Liješević about the play.

The play features: Emina Elor, Draginja Voganjac, Jugoslav Krajnov, Dušan Vukašinović, Ognjen Nikola Radulović, Aljoša Đidić and Ognjen Petković.

The dramatization of the novel was done by Liješević and Fedor Šili, the dramaturgy by Šila, the music for the play was composed by Stefan Ćirić, the costumes were designed by Marina Sremac, and the scenography by Željko Piškorić.

The performance is realized as part of the joint regional program "Dialogue for the Future", which is run by UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

Repeat performances are planned for September 14 and 15.

"During the holding and performance of the show, all valid measures will be strictly observed with the aim of suppressing the spread of covid-19", say the organizers.

The Budva premiere is realized in cooperation with the Tourist Organization of Budva, and the 34th edition of the City Theater will be supported by the Ministry of Culture.