The peoples in our area have survived because they are very witty peoples, full of spirit, full of the ability to make jokes about themselves. It is very important because it is what keeps us pushing on, going and trying to get better despite everything. And to change, after all, the people have to change, and then they have to be able to laugh and cry.
This is what he said in an interview with "Vijesti". Danijela Nela Mihailović Serbian theater, television and film actress. She adds that the most inspiring thing for an actor is to play tragicomedies, and for the audience to receive all the horror we live through laughter and humor.
She remembers that Grad Theater was the first festival that I came to as a young actress in 1997, with the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and this summer the Budva audience had the opportunity to see her at Grad Theater in the play "Hilarious Tragedy" in direction Jagoš Marković, according to the text Dusan Kovačević.
Mihailović was born in Valjevo, where she completed primary and secondary medical school. She graduated in acting in 1994 at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in the professor's class Vladimir Jevtović, together with Nataš Ninković, Nebojš Glogović, Vojin Ćetković, Sergej Trifunović. She performed her first role at the National Theater in Belgrade in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", which was performed more than 100 times. She has been acting as a scholarship holder since 1993, and became a permanent member of that theater in 1994. She played on the stages of all Belgrade theaters. She achieved notable roles in the film "Ice", as well as in the television series "The dollars are coming", "The village is burning, and the grandmother is combing her hair" and "Invincible heart". She received several awards for her role as Danica Čvorović in the play "Balkan Spy". Since April 2021, she has the status of drama champion of the National Theater in Belgrade.
What memories do you have of the Grad Teatar festival, given that you played some of your first roles here, and how do you see Grad Teatar today?
I love Grad Theater, I think this is even the first festival that I came to as a young actress. I think it was in 1997, the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and I have to admit that then this festival looked somehow more grandiose and was more important, but only in terms of the many spaces where we could play everything. First of all, I'm thinking of the Citadel, every actor in this area of ours is endlessly sorry that that space is no longer used for theater performances. It was, in my opinion, the most beautiful scenography in the world. Naturally woven for the theater, I miss that stage a lot. However, the persistence and perseverance of the people who run this festival is admirable. Despite everything that has happened to us in these three decades, it has survived and continues, and that is very important and all honor to the people who persistently managed to preserve it. Kudos to the actors who also guarded it by coming here, and it's certainly always a pleasure when I'm here, and I've been many times.
What is the Budva audience like?
The audience is divine, cultivated, there is always some excitement here. I have to admit, this scene between the churches is a small scene and we often lack a bigger scene, such as for the scenography of the play "Hilarious Tragedy". We really needed a bigger stage, but still this is a divine space. During the play, I looked at one church, then at another, and on the third side is the sea. It is a divine space. This is really rare for an actor to play in this kind of environment, so I congratulate everyone who is responsible for the duration of this festival and I hope that he will get better and better, that he will reach and overcome the old glory he had.
By now, are you already used to the ovation of the audience here, specially intended for you?
Thank you. Here, my colleagues constantly tease me and tell me when I go on stage, "you've bribed the audience again, you're taking your people with you again". You know how, an actor works for that applause and for a moment to see that the audience is satisfied with what he has done. I keep repeating that I do not exist as an actress without that audience, so it is my greatest reward and I enjoy it.
The premiere of the play "Hilarious Tragedy" was supposed to take place at the beginning of May, but a great tragedy happened in Belgrade. The action of the play is quite close to the happenings in society, how did you experience all that?
The premiere was supposed to take place on May 5 and of course it didn't happen. This is the sentence uttered by Dušan Kovačević who watched the dress rehearsal the day after the tragic events and said that this was a direct collision with life. It's incredible how life can set it up and it was very difficult in those moments for all of us. Of course we postponed that premiere, that's why the first premiere was in Banja Luka, because this is a co-production with the National Theater of the Republic of Srpska. It happened first on May 12 in Banja Luka, and then on May 15 in Belgrade. I think Dušan also said that, that he thinks this play will forever be marked by that event, unfortunately. It's incredible how reality, the moment we live in and the theater constantly permeate, and the greatness of Dušan Kovačević is precisely in the fact that he writes such pieces.
Speaking of theater, what is the situation on the Serbian theater scene?
There is a huge selection and some wonderful premieres took place last season in Belgrade and I am very happy about that. I am not only talking about the National Theater in Belgrade, although it is my favorite and most important thing that something good happens there. Great plays are staged in other theaters as well. The theater is alive, full, and that's what matters most. I think that people are hungry for theater and culture in general, and it seems to me that the audience constantly reminds us of that. We don't need to be warned, we are here for them and we know that they are hungry and that they need it, so it is spiritual food. The theater is a purgatory, that's why I was a big opponent when the theaters were closed during the days of mourning. I think that it was a refuge and a purgatory for the human soul and that everything could and should have stopped except for cultural life, except for museums and theaters. That was supposed to happen.
What topics are currently represented?
Themes communicate with reality, they are engaged and the theater should be engaged, to ask questions above all. We don't give the answers, nor are we that powerful, neither the writers, nor the directors, nor the actors. But what is important is that we ask the right questions, so that when that person from the audience goes home, he has something to think about, to try to give the answer himself after watching a certain play. I think that's important. Somehow, even when we don't want to purposefully make a politically engaged play, we didn't do that here either, we stuck to the text very much, but we see everything here that we could say is very current and political. In fact, the political moment in which we live is very difficult both for you and for us, and for decades past, everything that we live through this child who asks "who am I" is depicted. And through these children, unfortunately, who experienced that terrible tragedy. Really, who are we? Who are these children of ours, but above all who are we?
This year, Vito Taufer directed the co-production of the Grad Theater and the National Theater of Sombor, the play "Radovan III", also based on the text of Dušan Kovačević, and on that occasion he said that the play must make the audience laugh. Do you share his opinion?
It seems to me that in order for the audience to hear those real, crucial questions and feel the tragedy of this moment, they must first laugh before being able to bear that tragic moment. That's why it's the most inspiring for an actor to play tragicomedies, and it seems to me that it's also for the audience to receive all this horror we live through laughter and humor. After all, these peoples in our area have survived because they are very witty peoples, full of spirit, full of the ability to joke about themselves. It is very important because it is what keeps us pushing on, going and trying to get better despite everything. And to change, after all, the people have to change, and then they have to be able to laugh and cry.
What is the most tragic moment in social life?
So, is there anything after May 3, can it go further than that? It's terrible that it happened in this area, it's terrible that it's the first case in the world that such a small child did it. Why here, in our small country? You know, they say, when we hit rock bottom, we can only go up, so you want to hit rock bottom. Let this be our bottom, lest we all go somewhere to something better and more beautiful.
How do you view the fact that Kovačević's texts are so relevant decades after they were written? Couldn't we have learned something during that time?
I praised our people a little while ago, and now I will say that the biggest flaw of people from all these areas is that they don't learn from their mistakes. That's how it is in our mentality. Maybe it's like that everywhere, but I feel for this people and recognize this mentality. We don't learn from our mistakes, we constantly repeat history, we keep going around in circles. I constantly think that something will happen and that we will move on, and I have to believe in it in order to have the strength to raise and nurture my children.
What are your next plans? Can you reveal to us any of the new roles in which we will be able to watch you?
I can hardly tell you, it will be in the theater, on film and on TV. There is work, thank God.
The biggest flaw of people from all these areas is that they don't learn from their mistakes. That's how it is in our mentality. Maybe it's like that everywhere, but I feel for this people and recognize this mentality. We don't learn from our mistakes, we constantly repeat history, we keep going around in circles.
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