Unlike the previous few years, on the Podgorica City Theater Day, promises about moving into the new building and longing for it were not heard from the stage of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović". But the people who create and create do not ignore the (un)conditions in which it takes place...
Instead of words about the fulfillment of hard-to-achieve wishes, this theater traditionally marked its day by awarding annual awards, as well as the "Vasilije Ivanovič Šćućkin" award, which went to the director of the City Theater, playwright and screenwriter Stevan Koprivica.
Annual awards for high results achieved in the artistic, technical and administrative sectors went to inspector Olgica Lalović, stage designer Smiljka Šeparović, archive technician Žana Abramović, hygienist Ljilja Ćetković, ticket operator Gordana Karadžić and wardrobe designer Bogdanka Popadić.
In addition to the official awards and recognition, special thanks were also given to the actor Goran Slavić who "showed the highest level of professionalism and belonging to the theater and art by playing the play in the moments when he received the news of a death in the family". They often say that acting is more than life, but the City Theater points out that such a gesture requires the courage and dignity of a person and a professional.
"I am proud to stand in line with people like Vanja Popović, Željko Radunović, Davor Dragojević, Milan Karadžić, Dubravka Drakić, Jagoš Marković and Vida Ognjenović. These kinds of awards belong to the type of sublimative awards, when everything comes together and it seems to you that there is nothing further after that. Here in Herceg Novi there is a game called 'Trešeta', when you have enough points they say it's enough, but I don't agree to that. This award and belonging to this theater will be a stimulus for me to do this beautiful job as long as I can," said Koprivica, who is also a professor at the dramaturgy department at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.
A hero who has special powers
The prelude to the awards ceremony was the premiere performance of the play "Tarzan - Lord of the Jungle", a choreo-drama for viewers over the age of five. The well-coordinated and synchronized ensemble captured the attention of everyone in the audience, with dance, movements, mimicry, but also with screams, telling the story of the hero with whom generations and generations grew up.
The multi-genre and multi-layered play was based on the motifs of the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and was directed by Tamara Vujošević Mandić, who did stage movement and choreography, as well as Davor Dragojević, an actor of the City Theater recognized for his engagement with the youngest audience.
The premiere performance of this play was the hundredth performance for the City Theater this year, and those 100 performances were seen by around 25.000 visitors. However, when it comes to the production, it seems that the year 2023 will be remembered in this theater precisely for Tarzan, which will continue to be enjoyed by audiences of all generations in the future.
The desire of the author's team was to show a hero who does not have the super powers referred to in modern works, but his powers are those of real (human) value.
"We wanted to show the children who was the super hero of our youth. Today they have their own super-heroes, Batman, Superman and others, and our hero Tarzan did not have such super-powers, but he had many others, and that was the power to unite us, to enjoy the book, to enjoy television, film , let's look forward to it... We introduce the younger generation to our hero/s with this play. This is just the beginning and I believe we succeeded in our mission to introduce the younger audience, and remind the slightly older audience how we grew up and who was the one who grew up with us", said Dragojević after the performance.
A test that everyone passed
The audience was "bought" with the role of Tarzan by Milo Perović, who, although a member of the younger generation of actors, remembers Tarzan very well... He admitted that the biggest challenge for him was to combine all the segments from the rehearsals into one whole, which they succeeded in, and he especially meant that it was a play for children...
"The premiere was a test that we all passed. It's great to play for children, because they react honestly and directly, and then things are spontaneous, you can also react spontaneously on stage, and the timing should be the way it is at the moment, and the break can be extended if the children in the audience react to it. Simply, that listening is somehow important for every actor who is a player... This is my first play for children and it's wonderful to play for them, we exchanged great energy and felt each other's emotions", he stated.
The fact that he found himself in this role and that he liked the process is also shown by the fact that after the premiere he said that he would like to try his hand at dubbing cartoons in the future, that is, to give voice to heroes in cartoons that he himself loves.
Lara Dragović was in the role of Jane. For her, she says, the biggest challenge in the play was the movement.
"I have to praise the colleagues who played animals because it was certainly more demanding for them, but as for the other roles, the text was actually the most challenging, because after the animal screams and choreography, the text comes after 10-15 minutes, which probably no one expected.. is to level movement, puppets and text into one unit and to be equal in terms of genre", said Dragović and reminded of one of the messages of the play, which is that "people are actually the greatest animals, and the nobility that exists in humans also exists in animals and even more"...
For Tamara Vujošević Mandić, this is the third project in the City Theatre, but the first on stage for children, which was particularly interesting and challenging for her.
"My style and my dealing with contemporary movement, both through the Ballo troupe and through my own author's projects, is different, so there was a little insecurity, because children accept things in a different way, and then it is challenging to somehow find that measure where you can interest them in that some, let me call it 'non-verbal theatre'", she explained.
Dragojević did not hide his satisfaction with the audience's reactions, which came as a reward for his hard work. He emphasized that he is proud of the actors who gave their best and maximum energy, and that they deserve success, attention and thunderous applause. The actors put so much effort into the project that injuries also occurred, Dragojević added, so Jelena Đukić replaced Marija Đurić just five days before the premiere.
The fantastic blend of young energy of the acting students and the City Theater ensemble is due to: Milo Perović, Jelena Simić, Marija Đurić/Jelena V. Đukić, Miloš Kašćelan, Lara Dragović, Pavle Ilić, Anđela Radović, Vukan Pejović, Smiljana Martinović, Sejfo Seferović, Itana Dragojević, Anđela Marunović, Matija Memedović and Aleksa Balević.
Stage movement and choreography was done by Tamara Vujošević-Mandić, set design, costumes and puppet design by Kiril Vasilev, composer by Veselin Frenki Bogićević, lighting designer by Ivan Vuksanović, video material designer by Goran Brnović, and stage designer's assistant by Enes Deari.
Tenancy conditions
Dragojević also revealed that the preparations for the play lasted more than a year, followed by the process of working with the actors, which lasted about two months.
"The work with the actors lasted more than two months. I have to say that it ran in insufficiently good conditions, not to use a harsher word. Our theater has been in existence for 72 years and we are still tenants! We are still fighting for that place of ours, because our theater deserves much more, it deserves a bigger place than it is currently intended or given. With this premiere, we wanted to draw attention not only to the fact that we know, but also that we can, want to, and that means reminding us that we should have a house... Give us more space so that we can create and work even more and better." said Dragojević.
A similar appeal was made by Tamara Vujošević Mandić.
"Certainly, what I have to mention is that these people who played a great premiere tonight still deserve the highest praise, because in such adverse conditions in which we worked, they created a miracle and I am terribly proud of them", she concluded.
Koprivica and the City Theater have been connected for many years
Ana Medigović, Secretary of the Secretariat for Culture of the Capital City of Podgorica, read the explanation for the decision to award the "Vasilije Ivanović Šćućkin" award to Stevan Koprivica.
"Taking into account the importance of the award and previous laureates, especially appreciating the decades-long association with the City Theatre, the Theater Council decided that this year's winner of the award for exceptional artistic achievements in the field of theater art for children and adults will be Stevan Koprivica, the author of over 40 performed theater pieces for children and adults, top films and TV series", said Medigović, recalling Koprivica's rich biography, and then also the connection with the theater she manages.
"The texts and creative collaboration of Stevan Koprivica with the City Theater, at that time a children's theater, were marked by a successful play on the theme of love, directed by Milan Karadžić, after which this theater entered a period of full affirmation. It is the first play with which our theater participated in Sterija's theater, which represents a historical turning point. Not long after, Koprivica wrote the play "Forever Yours" for this theater. This play opened the evening scene of the theater and it was the key argument for the establishment of the City Theater as a theater institution that also deals with productions for adults. This piece also took part in the Sterija Theater, the most important festival in Yugoslavia at the time... He is the author of the piece 'The rest is progress', which was the trump card of the City Theater for many years," Medigović reminded.
She pointed out that in the recent history of theater, Koprivica is the author of texts and dramaturgy on numerous important projects, the most important contemporary drama author in the City Theater and in Montenegro.
"He belongs to the galaxy of artists who dedicated their rich creativity to the City Theater and made it a strong representative of theatrical life in Montenegro, the former Yugoslavia and today's regions," added Medigović.
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