The play "In the Jaws of Life", co-produced by the Belgrade Drama Theater and Beo Art Production and directed by Andrej Nosov, was performed last night on the Summer Stage of the Bar Culture House.
The play was based on the novel by Dubravka Ugrešić, and dramatized and adapted by Biljana Srbljanović.
"The eternally problematic issue of the relationship between men and women, which this play deals with, three decades after the cult Yugoslav film of the same name, got its own theatrical life, and the story about men, what kind of pain they put women through, and what kind of pain women have to deal with is set in is in the contemporary social context," the organizers said in a press release.
The actress Vesna Čipčić, who plays the "aunt" in this play, points out that her character's life is completely different from today's time and modern male-female relations, and therefore it is not possible to make a comparison between that time then and now.
"What is beautiful about all this is the fact that Biljana Srbljanović wrote this script wonderfully and modernized the whole story, and I think that this story is so much more humorous and receptive to the audience today compared to the period when the film was shot," she said.
Čipčić, on stage surrounded by a "young, extremely talented and dedicated ensemble of actors", according to the organizers, particularly emphasized the satisfaction of working in such a team.
"Recently, when I received an award in the theater, I said that I wouldn't be like this in this play either if I didn't have such a wonderful ensemble, young people like the actors in the play, and I endlessly look forward to every meeting with them. I believe that as much as I can point out some things to them, they can also point out some things to me," said Čipčić.
Iva Ilinčić, a young actress and member of the Belgrade Drama Theater ensemble, plays the famous Štefica Cvek in this play, but neither her role nor the performance itself is directly related to the well-known film by Rajko Grlić.
"I knew that everyone was expecting 'In the jaws of life' and that Štefica Cvek that people remembered. We, on the other hand, then dramatized something completely different, where we could not even completely separate ourselves from that story. It seems to me that people like it, I think they have a good time, which is the most important thing," said Ilinčić.
According to Ilinčić, women's independence and the right to decide for herself what will happen to her fate is increasingly respected, although she believes that there is still a lot of work to be done on it.
"I think what has changed the most is that today this problem is being talked about and that both men and women are becoming more aware of what the right to choose is and what a woman has the right to want for herself. We dealt with that in this play. "I could identify because I am a young woman and I feel the pressure of society that is slowly moving towards marriage and all male-female relationships," she said.
Known to the public for her roles in television series and films, Ilinčić nevertheless points out that she is more inclined to work in the theater and exchange energy with the theater audience.
"Although the set has its advantages, I think that a real actor feels most beautiful on the stage. It seems to me that as an actress I can improve the most in theater productions, because it is a live thing, every time something new happens and there is this instant interaction with the audience that is different again and again. "Sometimes your words can absolutely change someone's thinking, touch someone emotionally and you witness it on the spot," she concluded.
In addition to Čipčić and Ilinčić, the play also stars Aleksandar Vučković, Dunja Stojanović, Vanja Nenadić, Luka Grbić, Miloš Petrović Trojpec and Marko Todorović.
"Bed Doll #21" on Sunday
The theater program of the 35th Bar Chronicle continues on Sunday, August 21. On that occasion, the play "Doll from the Bed No. 21" will be performed on the stage of the Starobar amphitheater, based on the text by Đorđe Lebović, written more than fifty years ago, and directed by Slobodan Branković.
According to the director, the play is dedicated to all victims of sexual violence who found the courage to come out and publicly "point a finger directly in the face of evil" but to those who are still silent, because the play shows "all the hell a victim goes through when she decides to speak".
The play, which was created as a co-production of the SNP, the Pančevo Cultural Center, Beo Art production and the Association of Dramatic Artists of Vojvodina, stars: Jasmina Večanski Kujundžić, Branislav Jerković, Jugoslav Krajnov and Marko Marković.
Bonus video:
