I will never stop being from Budva

Theater director Boris Liješević he got acquainted with the basics of theater art at the "Grad Teatar" festival as a high school student.

He appeared as a director and actor in student performances of the drama studio of the Budva secondary school "Danilo Kiš" (1994), and already in 1997 he was an assistant to the director. Ljuboslav Majeri while working on the festival production "Jerma". The year he graduated, in 2004, as part of the "Theatre of the Future" program, directors and actors from the faculties of dramatic arts from Skopje, Novi Sad, Cetinje and Belgrade presented their projects based on his choice. He acted in guest plays of the festival, plays of the director Bore Drašković "Kartoteka" and "Don Juan" (2004), and when it comes to this event, he also left his mark as a director with the projects Budvanska "U kulisama duše" (2004), "Feniks" (2004), "Prisustvo" (2005). ), "Greta, page 89" (2009), "The Waiting Room" (2010), "Dear Dad" (2010), "Fathers are the City(s)" and "The Wizard" (2013), "Flour in the Veins" (2015 ), "Guardians of your honesty" (2017), "Eugene Onegin" (2018), "Blue Moon" (2019) and "The Reader" (2021). For the festival, he directed the plays "Servant of Two Masters" by Karl Goldoni (2012), the opera "Two Heads and a Girl" (2016) and "The Use of a Man" based on the novel of the same name Aleksandra Tishma (2019/2020). He does not hide that he has many memories of this festival, as well as the Budva City Theater award he recently received. Thus, he became the twenty-sixth winner of the prestigious award for theatrical contribution to this festival.

Just a few days after this recognition, as part of the "Beo art" manifestation, Liješević's last play - "The Reader" was performed, which delighted the audience in Podgorica and Nikšić. Liješević talks about all that, but also why the Second World War inspired him, as well as the state of culture, for Magazin....

You received the Budva City Theater award for 2019/2020. year. Given that it is your city - you grew up there and in some way started your career related to the theater through high school projects, and later did plays for this festival, how much does this recognition mean to you?

It means a lot, really. And for the sake of Budva and my fellow citizens of Budva, whom I will once again have the opportunity to thank for their support and love. And because of Milena Lubarda with whom I started the journey that led her to the position of director of the City Theater, and me to the City Theater Award. For both of us, that festival marked our youth and growing up and maturing. Around him we wove a web of dreams, hopes, elation... When she told me about the award, and it was still unofficial, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. I was ashamed. I didn't even post on my Facebook wall. I can't wear some things. Yes. It means a lot to me. It also means Budva. I will never stop being from Budva. And every congratulation and message I receive from Budva means something to me.

In the explanation, they say that you "create performances that concern us". At a time when almost everything that happens around us is for criticism, how difficult is it to choose the right topic and hit the center with it?

I try to do what concerns me. And if it honestly concerns me, then it concerns all of us. I am not talking about myself personally, but I am observing "I" as a subject. If any creator sincerely and generously gets into something, takes an interest, he can interest the whole of humanity with his enthusiasm. Shakespeare did not write what concerns us, but he used his talent to make what interests him become important for humanity and for all time.

We recently had the opportunity to watch your play "The Reader" as part of Beo Art, based on the novel by the German writer and lawyer Bernard Šlink. Why was this work inspiring to you?

"The Reader" is now a well-known story all over the world, after the bestselling novel and after the famous movie Stephen Daldry. The novel is about a 16-year-old to Michael Berg who falls in love and has his first sexual experiences with a woman 20 years older. After several months of a very intense and secret relationship, she disappears. Seven years later Mihael, now a law student and a member of the generation ready to judge parents who did not oppose Hitler, meets his love at the trial of the female supervisors from Auschwitz. He realizes that he loved a war criminal. That he loves everything he fights against. All his ideas about necessity, the condemnation of the generation that is guilty of the war, fall into the water at the moment when that raised finger leads to himself. He tries to make up his mind to her, but the actions committed in war cannot be understood in peace. This piece has deep connections with my generation, and those close to me, who came of age when the wars ended. And years later, we tried to remember how our parents reacted in the 90s, whether they cheered or were appalled, whether they rejoiced at those terrible images we remember or condemned them. If they condemned - why didn't they do something more? Why did they let this happen? Mihael Berg and his generation ask parents - why did you allow criminals to return to society after the war? Why didn't they point the finger at former Nazis who became prosecutors, judges, lawyers... why?

A few years ago, the movie "The Reader" was broadcast, for which the actress Kate Winslet won an Oscar for the main role. How difficult was it to adapt this story for the theater and were you afraid of the comparison?

I didn't do the play because of the movie. Long before the film, I read the book and knew that one day I would also do a play. And then came the movie that I watched, with not much interest. The film was made for the American market, so segments very important for Europe were cut from the film, which talk about dealing with guilt, as well as the story of the young generation calling their parents to account. The melodramatic line won out over the sociable and engaged. I was interested in why in Germany this novel belongs to the category "Waterliterature" (literature about Fathers).

This story is about an illiterate guard who would rather endure a severe punishment than admit that she can't read. When research is done at the world level, countries from the Balkans are almost always among the most illiterate, so taking these results into account, this topic is very relevant here. How do you comment on that?

Illiteracy is treated here as a metaphor. During 18 years in prison for war crimes, Hana became literate and read books about the Holocaust - Hannah Arendt, Eli Wiesel, Tadeusz Borovski... and in the end refuses to leave the prison. Because she realized all the responsibility for the death of several hundred women. She understands what she did not read until she was illiterate, that man bears responsibility for his every action. That no order, no higher power, no interest deprives you of responsibility. Responsibility is man's connection with God. We are ultimately accountable to God. And in our country it is often said - "I had to, they ordered me from above". That's how unnecessary personnel are hired, that's how tenders are adjusted... that's how the state collapses because of "those from above". Everything is done with that justification. But that doesn't absolve you of responsibility. That's how the Nazis justified mass murders - "I was only working under orders." And then the notion that the order does not absolve the person of responsibility was established. We need to become literate, in order to understand that we are responsible for our every action. That is one of the messages of this play.

You find World War II quite inspiring. It is well known that Hitler wanted to control all spheres of society, and even burned books. Is there such censorship today and what is the easiest way to implement it?

Today, the trend is to declare any bad phenomenon in society as fascism, it is our illiterate arbitrariness. Nazism has its roots in anti-Semitism. And without anti-Semitism, there is no Nazism. Since social networks, censorship no longer exists. Social networks have turned freedom of expression into a weapon. And I don't even know about burning books. Not enough is invested, that is a fact, but the problem is not censorship, but the lack of education of the people who sit in the institutions, especially those who determine how much should be allocated for culture. The problem is that neither culture nor universities have their autonomy anymore. Every segment of social life is under the influence of parties. And I deal with the Second World War really often. Whenever I read a good novel or story about the Second World War, I think - don't you feel how alive and present this is still. How many questions from that period are still waiting to be answered? How many unclosed chapters of World War II have perverted to this day. We are still living the consequences of that war. We're not sure exactly what was going on. We argue whether they are heroes or villains. History is being remade. Camps, numbers of those killed, execution grounds... Hrvoje Klasic says that nothing is more changeable than history. Injustices still scream, restless blood cries out. Many criminals lived out their lives peacefully in post-war Europe. How many bloodied hands from the second war caressed the children, raised that hand "for" and "against", circled the names on the ballots.

The Second World War is the time when man allowed himself not to see another man as a man, but to treat him as an animal and to keep it normal, he believes that it is his right. That he belongs to a system that destroys or burns the entire nation, and that he justifies his participation with orders and work. It was a time when empathy disappeared, when human existence was rendered meaningless, and the concept of a human being was called into question. The limits were then seriously exceeded. Like never before and hopefully never again. Terrifying. How is that possible??? The question will cry out for eternity - how could such a thing happen. But I fear an even worse question - can he do it again?

The premiere of your play took place in June last year, in the conditions dictated by the current pandemic. Although a year and a half has passed since then, the situation with the virus has not changed much despite measures and vaccines. How difficult was it to prepare and finally perform the play in such conditions?

The play was prepared for a long time, we started working on it in February 2019 with the plan to have the premiere in April, then we had to stop when the state of emergency started on March 17, 2019. Then we stopped and continued the work via group viber calls. Not knowing when or if we will continue. We would make a group call via viber, everyone sat in their room, we read a scene and talked about it. It can be done that way if there is no other way, but when it is done with dedication, then it is also creative. There were a lot of important moments and insights. Rehearsals filled our days in isolation. We filled the time with creativity and meaning. We witnessed that it can be done despite the state of emergency and the pandemic. That when people who want to work get together, nothing can stop it. That creativity is stronger than anything. That good acting has no boundaries or limitations. If you're really good, you'll be just as good on stage, in front of the camera, and on the phone. Talent is not some abstract, invisible quality. Being good at what you do is a matter of attitude towards life and profession. That's talent. He pushes you forward and does not allow you to be passive and wait for better times. It makes you change the time you live in. Talent beats time. Talent should be nurtured.

The pandemic affected all areas of life, but somehow culture suffered the most. First, concerts and plays were banned. Although culture best shows the state of a country, why is it the easiest thing to give up at times like this?

I really dont know. I didn't give her up. Ask those who make these measures and decrees.

Your plays are most often a criticism of society, and theater is essentially supposed to criticize. Can the consciousness of an individual be influenced through art?

The theater should live. And in that way of life, to criticize, but also to provide some insights and to entertain and cheer up. I don't think my plays are a critique of society. I think more that they are reflections on the world and society, an observation of some phenomena. Of course, theater can influence consciousness. As can a movie. Both the book and the poem. You can hear that someone's movie changed their life. But what is it in the film that can change someone's life, and that is the question. Someone either recognizes himself or an event from his life in someone and gets some answers. I think that only authenticity and sincerity can change the world. And these social engagements of ours cannot even reach like-minded people. Dostoyevsky changed many people's lives. Is not it? Why? Because he plunged deeply into himself, he was exposing himself. He was not in the business of fixing society.

Long live the theater that brings us together and helps us forget everything

As far as the theater is concerned, you are quite active. Lately, a lot of films and series have been shot on ex-YU premises. Do you also find such projects attractive?

They didn't. I love the theater. I love rehearsals and research. And unpredictability, I love that paradox that in a hypermaterialistic and virtual world, theater turns out to be the most realistic. You see living people in front of you who create something, take you to another world. It is the asset of the theater that has sustained it through the decades. And it seems to me that only in this world of virtual coins and friendships, that live relationship between the actor and the viewer becomes important.

It's a miracle. We are all together in the hall. And then the actors start to create another world and time and people, all to tell us a story so that we can better understand life and the world around us. The applause that erupts at the end of the play is not only for the actors, but also for the theater and the phenomenon that took place. At the premiere of "The Reader" after the state of emergency, lockdown and everything that happened, on a gift during the applause Mirjana Karanović spontaneously exclaimed "Long live the theater". The crowd started chanting with her. It was a cry gathered during months of loneliness, fear, abandonment, not playing. And the joy of meeting again. The joy of life that manifests itself in the theater.

Long live the theater that brings us together and helps us forget all this. And that for a moment we live as we used to live. It helps us not to forget that we are human. Long live the theater where we are all together. And we all create together.