Ovation for "Galeba" in Budva

Last night, the drama program of the 37th Grad Teatar festival continued on the stage between the churches with the performance of the play "The Seagull" by the National Theater from Sombor. The play was based on the play by Anton Pavlović Chekhov, adapted and directed by Milan Nešković.

The audience followed the action of the famous drama with great attention, and rewarded the actors with a standing ovation at the end. Director Milan Nešković said after the play that "The Seagull" is one of those pieces that are inevitable in a director's career.

"This is one of the pieces that everyone who deals with this work puts on the list that they will have to do at some point in their life, and sometimes more than once. I am happy that I got the opportunity to do it at the age of 37 and I am most grateful to my students because with each generation at the Academy I do certain parts of Chekhov and we always tried to understand why he wrote that it was a comedy in four acts. Through that research, I also dared to do such a large piece on the occasion of the jubilee, 140 years of the National Theater in Sombor. If the Grad Theater is my favorite festival, then the Sombor National Theater is my favorite theater to work in," said Nešković and explained why "The Seagull" is a comedy.

"The genre lives exclusively in the minds of the viewers, and the fact that we watch a tragedy between husband and wife, brother and sister, mother and son and what happens to them, and I mean tragedy and turmoil within the family, does not mean that we should not have it comical. Especially when we see the expressed vanity of the mother towards the child. The characters are very dishonest with each other, and thus with themselves. I think Chekhov also had this in mind when he said that this kind of insincerity leads to tragedy and suicide. On the one hand, it should be funny, why do we do this to ourselves. But it will be too late when it produces a great tragedy".

The artistic director of the National Theater in Sombor, actor Saša Torlaković said that it is not easy to appoint a great writer in the theater.

"Somehow, the director is always looking for an ideal division, and the dice were stacked that we currently have such a division, even though we are a small theater. It is extremely important that classical pieces are played in the repertoire of the National Theatre. To hang out with a great writer is a privilege and it doesn't happen all the time. I think today we should do the classics because they show that they are for all time. I'm fed up with those plays, and I've played in many, which smack of the politics of the day. I think that theater is above all that and every thought and sentence of this writer points us to the fact that nothing has changed in human nature since the time the play was created until today."

For actress Ana Rudakijević, this was not her first performance at the Gradu Teatr, but it was on the stage between churches.

"Last time we played in the amphitheater of the Stanjevići monastery, here on the stage between the churches it is challenging, although we like the fact that the environment is outdoors. Also, rarely does an actress get the chance to play Nina, so this was a big task and challenge for me. I got injured in the middle of the process and the cast that remained in the play is actually my private injury and it was challenging to push through with that injury, but I succeeded and I'm proud of myself that I succeeded."

Set designer is Marija Kalabić, costume designer is Biljana Grgur, composer and song writer is Duda Buržujka (Julija Petković), Andreja Kulesević is in charge of stage movement, and Saša Latinović is in charge of stage speech. The play features: Ivana V. Jovanović, Nikola Knežević, Srđan Aleksić, Ana Rudakijević, Pero Stojančević, Julija Petković, Saša Torlaković, Ninoslav Đorđević and Stefan Beronja.