Last night, on the stage between the churches in Budva's Old Town, the drama program of the 37th Grad Theater festival began with the performance of the play "Fishermen's Quarrels" by Karl Goldoni, directed by Ana Tomović. The play is a production of the National Theater in Belgrade, where it premiered at the beginning of this month on the "Raša Plaović" stage.
It is a comedy of a vaudeville mechanism, that is, a real situational comedy, where the fates of 11 characters are intertwined like a microcosm in a macrocosm. The piece had its premiere at the carnival in Venice in 1762, and Goldoni "found" his heroes in a nearby small fishing village. This is the third performance of "Fishermen's Quarrels" at the National Theater in Belgrade. In 1973, they were directed by Paolo Magđeli, and two decades ago, in 2003, the staging was done by Goran Ruškuc.
After the performance in Budva, the director Ana Tomović said that she was especially glad that the scenography blended well with the environment.
"The impressions are great, I think we hit the atmosphere of this space between the churches and that contributed a lot to the whole game. The actors tried to get into the game, and the audience could hear everything because it was an open environment. It seems to me that everything reached the audience, I saw that they reacted very nicely and that the reactions were very good. The story is essentially simple, it is about a love plot, jealousy, girls who want to get married, intrigue that is created and then flares up like a flame in the hay. Even though it is more simple and can be played in any time, I wanted to give the stamp of this time through the scenography and visual identity. When we think of the sea today, we can no longer see a coast that is not polluted and full of plastic, even marine species are now polluted. I wanted it to be the seal of this play, to talk about an important environmental topic," said Tomović and added that the play is important in this day and age because it talks about the humanity of an official to help people solve a problem.
"His empathy and his personal involvement were also very important to me and I wanted to emphasize them in this play. This play is made for the audience and it is for the joy of the audience. These characters are so beautiful and colorful, the audience should laugh and rejoice. My intention was for the audience to experience a sense of excitement with these characters. I think the most important messages of this play are love and empathy".
Actor Hadži Nenad Maričić won all the sympathy of the audience during the performance of the play. He revealed that even at the first rehearsals, they talked about how this piece should not be discussed too much.
"Just like you shouldn't argue about the meaning and beauty of a rose, you should enjoy its fragrance. The audience also enjoys this play and only after some time realizes the deep messages of what Goldoni wanted to say with this piece," Maričić pointed out and recalled that many years ago he played in the play "Fishermen's Quarrels" at the Grad festival. theater.
"The three of us from this play played in that division and it was one of the first performances at the Gradu Teatr. And then we said that this play will resist and that what will come out is comedy and the joy of the play, which will spill over from the stage to the audience. You saw tonight that it was really enjoyable for us and for them. The sea is close, you can hear the sounds of nature. I was obviously born under a lucky star because almost every year I had the opportunity to be in Budva and play at the Gradu Teatr. Whenever I played, I enjoyed more the sound of the waves, the atmosphere, the smiles, so it's a great pleasure for me to be here", said Maričić.
The scenography is by Andreja Rondović, costume design by Marija Marković Milojev, music by Irena Popović Dragović, and stage speech by Ljiljana Mrkić Popović. The play features Branislav Tomašević (Paron Toni), Ivana Šćepanović (Šjora Paškva), Tamara Šustić (Lucijeta), Vučić Perović (Bepo), Jovan Jovanović (Ivanko), Hadži Nenad Maričić (Paron Furte), Zlatija Ivanović (Šjora Libera), Iva Milanović (Uršula), Teodora Dragićević (Keka), Dragan Sekulić (Krište) and Nedim Nezirović (Iže).
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