What is it that makes a woman kill her partner?
What suffers is the answer in most cases. Created on the basis of documentary material, true and authentic confessions of women victims of violence, the play "Suffered" tells the story of those same women who could not bear it anymore and who, therefore, killed their abusers. The performance of the Belgrade Drama Theater (BDP) will be performed tonight in Podgorica on the big stage of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović" at 20:XNUMX p.m., thus closing the RUTA festival of the Triglav Group, the Regional Theater Union.
The basic material for the play was the transcripts of interviews conducted by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia with women who suffered and then killed their abusers. The text for the play was written by a playwright Milena Depolo i Boban Skerlić who is also the director of this play. Famous actresses play in the play: Jadranka Selec, Danica Ristovski, Nataša Marković, Milena Pavlović Čučilović, Milica Zarić, Ivana Nikolić/Paulina Manov i Slađana Vlajović, and tonight's performance in front of the audience in Podgorica, for "Vijesti", is announced by Jadranka Selec.
Selecova talks about the piece that premiered in 2013, only to become relevant again after a certain number of performances and last year exceeded the figure of 100 performances. The play has won many awards so far, and the audience award of the 59th Sterija Theater for the best play stands out as the most significant, but Selecova points out in an interview with "Vijesti" that she is especially fond of the award from Banja Luka, when she was awarded seven awards for the leading female role. Speaking about the play, he says that the main problem is facing the fact that every woman can unwittingly become a victim. What is significant is the educational aspect of this piece, so previously there were regular discussions after the performance, which will be held tonight in the Dodest hall, which will conclude this edition of the festival.
The RUTA Festival of the Triglav Group has offered a diverse and high-quality repertoire in recent days, the Podgorica City Theater has once again proved to be a good host, and the audience is eager for exchanges and good performances from the region. Actress Jadranka Selec points out that she is looking forward to playing in Podgorica and does not hide her enthusiasm for the establishment of Unije, she talks about her many years of acting experience, which has become especially rich lately, and reveals that she has more work now than when she was younger.
With the play "Trpele" you are a guest tonight in Podgorica. Given that the piece has been performed since 2013 and that last year it exceeded 100 performances, it can be concluded that it communicates well with the audience, that it is attractive, but also that the topic is, unfortunately, still relevant today. What would you say, what is it about and what does this play contain?
Yes, I agree with everything you said. The topic is current and unfortunately I don't know when it will stop being so. To that extent, I think that this play certainly deserves a long life, especially since the theme is also universal. It is about the confessions of seven women who suffered domestic violence, but responded to it by killing their husbands. The whole story takes place in a prison. We made this play based on the documents of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. We received those confessions in their original form, exactly as these women spoke, testified, or confessed. Reading it was terrible and we were all shaken so much that the director asked us if we could even participate in that project or if it was too difficult for us, because the stories are so shocking. We all decided that we will still present this play because such a story fully deserves our attention and dedication. However, we did have difficulties while working in terms of getting emotionally attached to the characters. However, when the show is presented like this, people find it repulsive and do not want to watch the "confessions" of some seven mistreated women who will talk about who knows what and who became murderers. This is especially the attitude of men when they are suggested to watch a play. However, we had a lot of good comments from men, which we are always especially pleased about. However, dramaturgically, directedly, rhythmically, everything is made so that this is a very interesting play that does not only include confessions, but becomes a real theater piece.
I have to point out that I'm looking forward to tonight's performance in Podgorica because, to be honest, we haven't toured with this piece much, so I'd rather we perform in Montenegro as well.
The entire crew consists of women, except for the director. Does this mean that women listened more to women's voices, but also that the process needed a man's voice?
Director Boban Skerlić showed a complete understanding of the women's issue and working with all of us, which is probably not so easy, especially when it comes to this topic. Yes, we worked with a male director, but a playwright, Milena Depolo, who was constantly with us at rehearsals. Together with the director, she worked on the text based on how we felt about the event we were describing. She corrected everything "on the spot" until a dramaturgical form was reached that suited everyone. All that bore fruit!
Also, I must point out that these are seven actresses of the Belgrade Drama Theater, completely equal in their roles. Something that we are all especially happy about and that we remember is that we received seven equal awards for the main female role at the Theater Festival in Banja Luka. At the last moment, the organizers had to print additional plaques. Although there is only one award for the main female role, the jury simply could not decide because the play is so compact, we all play for each other and we are so connected that we all came out as one actress, as you will see. This is something that proves that each of us gave this performance our best, but also that each woman is equally important.
These are true testimonies of women who suffered violence, and then when they couldn't take it anymore they committed murder. Was there any emotional spasm during the work, but also the need to express the difficulty that you, as well as many other women, face while suffering?
At first we thought it would be good to visit some female prisoners and hear their stories and experiences, but we ended up watching a documentary about women who talked about what happened to them and became murderers. We realized that we don't have to go further than that. It is not always necessary to draw everything from the original starting point, because the theater certainly has to shape it all in an artistic way, which in the theater is different from a film or a series. When we started working, we had to somehow identify with these women and their story.
It is interesting that it happened to me that I saw the woman I play, her name is Jagoda in the piece, on television in a show where she was a guest and talked about her problem. I was in shock, because I had the opportunity to actually hear from the character I play the sentences that I need to say in the play. However, the main problem that every woman can experience and feel, whether participating in the play or watching it, is that the same thing could have happened to you. Women enter such situations completely unconsciously. In one period, when we started playing, we constantly had conversations with the audience, and we especially liked to talk to the young audience and to try to draw their attention to what was happening, which as young people might not be known to them. and it seems impossible to them. What was always the main conclusion of each of those conversations was that the first time you experience violence from a (marital) partner, you should immediately run away from him/her and from that relationship. I would say that this is the advice or instruction of this play.
To move away from the physical, what are all the forms of violence in the 21st century, that is, pressure that turns into violence (against women)?
What is expected today and what was expected half a century ago is certainly different and different. Young people today are somehow more equal than before. Today, it seems to me that the situation might not be so difficult, because I would say that young women are (at least a little) smarter and don't give in to themselves, which was not often the case before. Young people today certainly have more opportunities to avoid violence, although statistics say otherwise. Thus, every third woman in Serbia is a victim of physical violence, every second woman in Serbia is a victim of psychological violence, and every fourth woman has been exposed to physical violence in the family at least once. Although it happens that the violence stops once or twice, for the most part it does not, but continues and gets worse and worse. I think we all know that every man wants to be dominant, so he commits psychological violence. In our community, people believe that men must be the "head of the family", which means that a woman must be obedient. It seems to me that today's young people have a chance to change all that, and it seems to me that everything has changed a little in their minds. I'm talking about people who think.
It is interesting that it happened to me that I saw the woman I play, her name is Jagoda in the piece, on television in a show where she was a guest and talked about her problem. I was in shock, because I had the opportunity to actually hear from the character I play the sentences that I should say in the play
At least the freedom of (discussion) about these problems and violence against women has been built up to some extent, which may have been a taboo or was ignored and neglected before.
That's right. I also hope that services that can help women have progressed in the last ten years. Previously, Maltene women could not turn to anyone and no one was interested, not even the family. All of this is discussed in the play, and based on what I know, I would say that we have taken a step forward.
The possibility of fighting for change and for freedom contributes to progress in every field. How important is the exchange of cultures and experiences through theater and theater performances, as well as theater festivals such as the RUTA festival, which allow the audience to get to know different productions, and therefore cultures, and the actors to experience acting outside their own country, so even though they are all members of this festival actually of the former Yugoslavia?
The creation of the union and festival of the RUTA group Triglav is a fantastic move that delighted me. I think that it had to happen again, and when I say "it" I mean expanding the cultural reach, space and audience, through creation and art, but also the creation of community in those fields. In that sphere, we must know what is happening, what is being done, how it is being done and what is current in the environment, in the countries of our former state. It is precious. It is precious that these other people come to us at the Belgrade Drama Theater, but also that we also go to Zagreb, Ljubljana, Skopje, Sarajevo, Podgorica... It is a school for every actor who has already finished some school, but it is also her a school that is permanent and lasts a lifetime. Our work and calling is such that it is necessary to listen and have an insight into the events around you, which broadens your horizons. That is something that is most important, what the theater is about, and that is the relationship to reality, what is happening in reality and how it is shaped in an artistic way and the like.
On your profile on a social network, there is a photo on which it is written: "I think, therefore I am dangerous". Is a man who thinks freely and loudly today dangerous for society? Does art contribute to an increased risk of that danger?
I hope and believe that art still thinks. Every art tells us something, teaches us, helps us and leads us towards some kind of awareness, awakening awareness of ourselves and the world around us. But yes, today is such a time when a man who thinks, but not only in himself but also out loud, has no optimistic possibility that he will do well in life. I hope that will also change and I say again, I trust and believe in young people in that field as well.
What are you currently working on, are there any new projects in the pipeline?
I just came back from a test shoot, casting for a movie. I've had a few calls for different projects, but none of the work is definitive yet, but what it is is that I'll be dubbing some cartoons. At the moment, I don't know what will happen with the mentioned castings, but I hope that grandmothers, or actresses of my age, will have work, so I will be needed as well. I say that because there is a period in the life of an actress, now I am talking exclusively about the female gender, and that is the period when you are not old enough to play a girl, but not a mother either. It was a very ungrateful period that I also went through and during which I did not work much. Now I'm at an age where I can play a grandmother, or rather a grandmother, so I work more and more and have more work to do. I don't know how it happens, but it does.
"If I had had this kind of experience at the beginning of my career, I would have learned ten times more"
You play in the series "Wheel of Fortune", which has been shown on television for some time, and which is both genre- and thematically different from the series that have been filmed lately. What is the experience of working on that project?
We just finished filming ten days ago and it's hard for all of us to be parting ways. Maybe it sounds strange, but during the filming of this series, such an acting, creative and technical team gathered together and got along well with each other. We lived with each other, we understood each other well, we worked well, but also easily, although it was hard and tiring work. Continuously for seven months, almost every day, from morning to night, it involves work that is very demanding and difficult.
Just to make a joke: in the beginning, after several filmings accompanied by people from the production, the same people came up to me and congratulated me, enthusiastically saying "congratulations!", "well done"... I thought I was doing something fantastic and that I was creating something superb role, and then I realized, that is, I assumed, that all those congratulations came mainly because I am a woman in years, so they encouraged me and congratulated me on my endurance, vigor, energy and the like...
It is very hard and continuous work and rhythm even for a young man, let alone for someone older. However, this is precisely why it is an extremely valuable experience. If I had had this kind of experience at the beginning of my career, I would have learned ten times more, just as I have learned much more now than in many years of working in front of the cameras.
There is a period in the life of an actress when you are not old enough to play a girl, but not a mother either... It is a very ungrateful period that I also went through and during which I did not work much. Now I'm at an age where I can play a grandmother, or rather a grandmother, so I work more and more and have more work to do
I don't like series dominated by violence, drugs, crime...
Batches are produced today much more than before. How do you view this so-called hyperproduction?
We actors should be happy about that, because we have more opportunities to work. However, as you know, until a decade or less ago, there was a crisis that lasted 20-30 years, like the nineties. During that long period, very little was recorded. Unfortunately, I belong to that generation that, because of that, did not have enough opportunities to work for film or television. In this sense, it is good and wonderful that more is being done now. But labor force is cheaper today, many things have to be done in a short period of time and in the simplest possible way. Of course that is not very good and of course no high artistic quality can come out of it. I think that some of the cheaper series are also intended for (semi-)discretion. On the other hand, we have series in which more investment is made, and which, to be honest, I don't like very much, because the themes that talk about violence, drug use, murder, crime and so on prevail... That's why different series come in handy , as a contrast. A person is exposed to stress every day, so should he still shake from pain and get annoyed when he sits down to watch something in order to relax? I don't think that's very good. That is why there are and should be other series that are perhaps made a little cheaper, faster and whose quality is not so high, but which are for the soul of the people, at least I think so.
Are there family series and that ritual or habit of watching a series or movie together today?
Very little... I think that "Wheel of Fortune" is one such series that can be watched by everyone in the house. It's good and it can't be bad, so those who criticize such genres, I think, are wrong.
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