Art is not more powerful than reality, but it is part of life's necessities

Theater is a picture of life, but not one, but a whole collage.

The theater is, as the program editor at JU "Zahumlje" Nikšić said, an art historian Kristina Radovic, an image that raises questions. Therefore, it is not surprising that the guest of the second session of her author's project "Imaginarium", which "Zahumlje" has been realizing since last month, is a director and playwright. Goran Bulajic, a man who, according to Radović, is synonymous with theater.

The theme of the new edition of "Imaginarium" was "Pictures and Theater", and Bulajić revealed to the audience that he thinks in pictures.

"The image is a primary sensation, a mental, emotional, cognitive category. Image and space. Here, I had my first rehearsal and first performance on the stage of 'Zahumlja', preparing the play 'Waiting for Godot'. Even today, when I enter this hall, those pictures are in front of my eyes because they are pictures that mean a lot to me and have remained after so many years. Later it turned out that these are my important paintings", said Bulajić, who graduated in 1979 from the Department of Performing Arts and General Literature of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo, and already the following year he was working on "Waiting for Godot".

In the play, which was well received by the audience, they played the late Sreten Mitrović, Mihailo Perošević, Boban Čvorović i Nebojsa Ćićo Vulanović, and there were also national and federal awards.

"That play marked our life. It was a change in the understanding of theater at that time. It is about a play that at that time was almost forgotten and represented a radical cut in the cultural turning point of the city. It is also significant because of the shift in the understanding of theater and theatrical engagement", said Bulajić, who directed almost 70 plays in Montenegro and beyond.

And in each performance, as he said, he lived a life. Theater is his way of life and he is glad that he has the opportunity to always be at the beginning of the story with each play - a story whose end is known in advance.

"As we are born, we play a game whose end is known in advance. In art, even though we know the end, we only play that game with different variants".

In the theater, as he pointed out, spatial artistry is very important, and painting is an indispensable part of the theater.

"Art is a way of life in the general sense, and art in the theater implies spatial design. You have to create the space intuitively, and the picture is an indispensable part of the theater".

Bulajić, who, in addition to theater plays, also directed TV dramas, wrote dramatic texts, worked as the manager of the Drama Studio in Nikšić, was the responsible editor of the Arts program on Television Montenegro, director of the Children's Theater in Podgorica, Kotor Children's Festival, artistic director of the International Actor's Festival in Nikšić, a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, does not think that theater can change the world, but he is sure that it can influence everyone who lives the theater - whether on stage, behind the scenes, or in the audience.

"The theater is an actor's art and the only art for which an artist is sufficient, a man who creates art with his body and voice. All other arts have some mediators or instruments", said Bulajić, who has been professionally engaged as a playwright in the Montenegrin National Theater since 1999.

Kristina Radović recalled that during the time when Bulajić was the head of the Drama Studio in Nikšić, 11 premieres were performed in 17 years and close to 500 plays were performed. According to the director, who has won several professional and social awards, art is not more powerful than reality, but it is part of life's needs, and theater summarizes the world.

"The world is a stage on which everyone plays his part," he wrote Shakespeare.

And after every role, especially a well-played one, applause follows. Bulajić, with a smile, admitted that he loves applause, and the audience did not spare their palms to greet him and the editor of "Imaginarium" who announced the next topic, "Image and Photography" and the guest, the artist mr. Anku Gardašević and art historian Ljiljan Karadzic.