Janko Ljumović on Poets' Square: Artistic product as capital

The literary program of this year's "Grad Teatar" festival continued on August 6, and the guest of Poets' Square was prof. Janko Ljumović, MA, who presented his book of essays "Theatre as capital", published by Matica Montenegrin.

Moderator of the evening was Assoc. Dr. Hazim Begagić, theater expert and producer and director of the Zenica National Theater, who said that the book is a collection of sixteen theater essays that were created in the period from 2012 to 2020.

"During that period, Ljumović wrote intensively and published these essays in several Montenegrin magazines and in other languages, and they were created as part of his research and analytical work, as well as the presentation of his works in the region and beyond. The essays talk about a very wide range of topics that move in the interdisciplinary fields of theater studies, touch on contemporary art and theater production".

The title of the book is based on the title of the essay in the book itself, and it is about the essay "Festival as capital", which is part of the monograph of the Grad Teatar festival. Ljumović explained that he avoided the title by implying that different titles and essays should be placed in one book and that the book should necessarily be called "Theatrical Essays".

"I was looking for a name, and then that essay dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the City of Theater was the solution for me to title the book "Theatre as Capital". I will explain the title using the example of the award recently won by the play "Blood Wedding" at the Biennale of Stage Design. When we talk about theater as capital, we are talking about its values. Those values ​​are questioned by the audience, professional public, and theater scholars. A wide array of feedback on the theater that has been going on for so long and despite the challenges is going on even more intensively and is more and more necessary. The story of both the festival and the theater as capital is its position and place in society, the reasons and ways it works so powerfully, and that social and cultural capital is also a potential story of how we valorize certain theater productions and repertories, namely awards and perception to the public", said Ljumović, pointing out the monographic edition "Voice of Virtue - Igor Vuk Torbica", published by JU "Grad Teatar" as a good example and added that it is very rare for a play to get its own book.

The idea was that the essays in one book give an answer to how we situate contemporary theater in Montenegro and how it reflects certain themes of cultural identity and the connections that theater as a medium makes in the community, added Ljumović and emphasized that the focus of the essays is on the repertoire and repertoire policies.

"The theater is not only an ephemeral medium, it also has greater power and the possibility of being woven into the fabric of a city and culture. The framework of theater as capital is a topic that can be further worked on and thought about, especially on this type of material and approach to theater in this way. I wrote the essays out of the need to materialize the thought of my own theatrical experience of a certain number of titles and repertoire. The theoretical framework for these topics is not so prevalent in our region, and this was an additional motivation to further question these topics and to introduce a case study of Montenegrin theater. "The book is still the ultimate asset, we are talking about theater as a transient art, but it is the book that remains even after the life of the play is over," he stressed.

During the evening, Ljumović said that in Montenegro we also have a problem with theater criticism.

"Someone who will analyze today's theater in twenty or thirty years, the question is from which sources will he be able to do the analysis. Theatrology has the handicap of treating a work of art that it cannot fully observe, unlike film or some other arts. Theatrology then finds its way, uses indirect sources. It is still not a complete act of seeing the totality of the work of art, which is the essence of live art like theater."

"Montenegro has a well-researched theater in the period up to 1941, but there is also a paradox that in that period Montenegro did not have a professional theater," Ljumović said.

"In the period when we have developed theater and repertoires, we do not have publishing, research and documentation. One whole job that can be done by specialized institutions, but that does not abolish our existing institutions. I want to promote publishing production as very important. We have very valuable theatrical performances, but we do not have them materialized through the theater segment. The text about Slobodan Milatović is also very important, that is the name I wanted to write about. When I was faced with an important biography of the leader of the independent avant-garde theater in Montenegro in the eighties, then you come to the problem of sources, texts, books. He is also an author of texts, a producer, a special personality and the question of other names arises, because in Montenegro we also have a lack of monographs dedicated to drama artists. Other arts don't have that problem, but when we talk about theater we have a lot of work to do."

The repertoire is, conditionally speaking, a product of the theater, said Ljumović.

"Repertoire is something that makes a season and theaters are recognized by their repertoires, they are the identity and image of each theater. Theater is a rare art that has retained the privilege of subsidy, all others are dependent on the market. Protection gives a greater degree of freedom, but it can also be an acquired privilege that is not justified by what could be the development of theater art. When you establish an analysis of the repertory policies of a theater model, you will see how certain theaters manage to get out of that iron definition and offer something that can be completely different. Two examples that I am always happy to share are Atelje 212 during the time of Kokan Mladenović, when the entire repertoire was marked by the revolution, and the Slovenian National Theater in Ljubljana, which one year offered a repertoire on the theme of utopia. The search for titles and clips between all those poetics and the titles of contemporary texts and dramatic classics was precisely the answer to those two themes," said Ljumović.

Ljumović referred to directors Boris Liješević and Borut Šeparović, whose plays were shown during this year's Grad Teatar festival, emphasizing authentic changes.

"The challenge was to get mainstream addresses to deal with documentary theater as well. It used to be unimaginable to see Maja Pelević at the National Theater in Belgrade or to see Borut Šeparović at the Croatian National Theater, but it happened," he said.

At the end of the evening, the audience had the opportunity to talk to Ljumović and ask him questions. Academician Siniša Jelušić asked what the meaning of today's theater is, and Ljumović said that corruption enters into the very being of theater.

"I have no illusions that the theater has power, but I think it is very important, if it is important to just one person in the public as a transfer of experience and a value that gives him hope and the possibility to believe and experience. Certain topics in certain communities had a very important narrative for processes or movements. It is difficult to answer that question because there are many narratives, examples and experiences, but I believe in the need for theater as a living art to have magic. There are many examples where the theater approached some important issues in a very engaging way," Ljumović said.