Over the past few days, the revue of regional theater performances has brought the Podgorica audience to its feet several times and elicited long applause, laughter, and even tears, initiated an exchange of opinions and conversations, both about theater and society, the circumstances in which we live, the region, and art.
It could be said that this year's edition of the festival of the Regional Union of Theaters RUTA Group Triglav, which was hosted by the City Theater Podgorica, and physically, in the long-awaited building, the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović", was marked by the promotion of harmony, togetherness and tolerance, but also by struggle against all kinds of violence and division.
Popular plays, newer as well as older productions from the region, interested the audience and once again proved that Montenegro is eager for theatrical communication and exchange of ideas in that field. But what is particularly interesting is that the leaders of the regional theater companies, which are members of the Route, in Podgorica officially confirmed the co-production of all six theaters.
Director of the City Theatre Stevan Koprivica he said that this year's production of the region showed exceptional vitality and quality.
"It is true that they are different poetic denominators, but one common point can be found, and this is a theater of crisis, but a theater that deals with the social crisis and all those collapses of civilization in various ways," said Koprivica.
The priority of the Regional Union of Theaters, they pointed out, is quality, but equally important is the connection of different theater spaces, their networking and eventual creation of co-productions.
"I am happy that a strong connection has been established between the actors and the audience, we have quality programs and it was agreed at the festival level that we will continue to present ourselves with the best performances," added the artistic director of the Podgorica City Theater Dusan Kovačević.
The play "My name is Goran Stefanovski", produced by the Drama Theater from Skopje and directed by a Montenegrin director, had its regional premiere at the RUTA group's Triglav Festival in Podgorica. Branislav Mićunović, which is a kind of tribute to one of the most famous Macedonian playwrights who died in 2018. The play was performed only a few days after the premiere in Skopje, said the director of the Drama Theater Katerina Kocevska, so the positive and encouraging reactions of the Montenegrin audience mean even more.
"All the texts that were covered in the play are still relevant today, because we are always in search of identity and it is terrible when you are a stranger in your house, when home hurts...", the actress said about that play Jelena Žugić.
In contrast to that piece, the festival was closed by the play "Trpele", which had its premiere in 2013 at the Belgrade Drama Theater, and last year had more than a hundred performances. "Trpele" is a play based on the "confessions" of women who suffered violence from their partners, who then killed them and whose statements were documented by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.
Actress Slađana Vlajović she pointed out that the play, in the direction Boban Skerlić, socially responsible, and that the initial starting point was to draw attention to the problems that women have in the Balkan region, where the patriarchal matrix and a rather primitive value system still rule.
Such, socially responsible, but also engaged, were other performed performances. A special ovation and a long, standing ovation was earned by the play "Shindler's Lift" by Chamber Theater 55 from Sarajevo, which was performed on Friday. With their recognizable theatrical expression, the Sarajevo people evoke the war and its horrors in a fantastic direction Kokan Mladenović who brought the novel to life on stage Darko Cvijetić.
"Some reason for our work on this piece is that we are still crazy enough to believe in some change in people that would awaken a gram of reason in them and prevent the repetition of this kind of horror," the actor concluded at the time. Admir Glamocak.
Monodrama "Land of Wolves" Ullysses Theater from Zagreb, performed by a bride Tonka Mršić co-author with the director Galom Nikolić, she united several topics and told them through the experience of a woman from a small background. The authors remind us that the traumas of war are still experienced in our region, but also that women are still subordinated to patriarchal patterns and male figures.
The play "Oil of black cumin" produced by the Ljubljana Municipal Theater presented the audience with an unusual family drama, and the author and director Barbara Zemlić she said that she wrote about a family in which generational differences stand out, while thinking about what she would like to say about the times in which we live.
The festival was opened by the host's play "Horses Kill, Don't They?" directed by Kokan Mladenović, which shows in a tragicomic way today's society, which is in constant search for spectacle and a quick solution to material problems until the old ones surface.
The idea of uniting the city theaters of the region came from the Podgorica City Theater whose artistic director Dusan Kovačević he had no doubt that, when everyone gathered around one noble idea, the union would grow into a traditional festival of regional, perhaps even European significance. With each edition of the RUTA festival, he is more and more convinced of that.
"When, in a couple of years, the festival RUTA group Triglav becomes a tradition and forms its repertoire life, along with accompanying programs, I am sure that it will dictate a direction of theatrical activity, not only in the region, but also in this part of Europe. The fact that the best plays from the repertoire of the city's theaters are performed at the festival has a special significance for the cultural development of artists, because as an actor, I know how important it is when you play in front of a different audience, and also how much it means for the audience to see other artists." , he said.
The Union was created in 2019 with the aim of establishing cooperation, communication and exchange of ideas, artists and projects. It connects six theaters from the region through a series of revue festivals of the best productions of the participants in their home cities.
The next edition of the RUTA Grupa Triglav festival will be held in Sarajevo in June.
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