We didn't hear anything smart tonight, the actor stated Muhamed Hadzovic after the performance of the play "Small Town Wedding", which opened the Regional Union of Theaters (Ruta) festival hosted by the Podgorica City Theater on Monday.
"How long can these people last without saying anything meaningful, nothing smart... We haven't heard anything smart tonight. They will talk about everything, but when the truth is mentioned, there is no further. That's how far we can go, how far we can support that belief that we don't have to say anything important, how far it can go into an abyss, an abyss, where they continue to live for the rest of their lives, so senseless." summed up Hadžović's staging of a play by one of the most important German playwrights Bertold Brecht in the co-production of Chamber Theater 55 from Sarajevo and the MESS festival.
The well-known scenography, which he signs Mirna Ler, subtly and symbolically reminds of "The Secret/Last Supper" Leonardo Da Vinci, but on Monday evening it hosted Brecht's (anti)heroes, well-known and caricatured types from our immediate vicinity, who, in the dramaturgy Željke Udovičić Pleština staged by the director Paolo Maghelli.
After the recent premiere on the intimate stage of Chamber Theater 55, the play was performed on the big stage of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović" in Podgorica, on the first night of the festival of the Regional Union of Theaters RUTA hosted by the City Theatre.
Prolonged farce of cheap humor, (un)frustrated charm, shows the emptiness of forced situations, weddings, parties, celebrations, events that we would rather not be at. However, we all once did and we all know about such weddings, he said Ermin Well done at the round table that was organized in the Dodest hall after the game.
The discussion about the play "Petty-bourgeois Wedding" was led by a playwright from the City Theatre Dragana Tripković who noted that "the theme of feasts, weddings, is very similar in all our countries" that RUTA brings together, and at the end of Europe, and this was confirmed by Bravo.
"This is not the bourgeoisie. This is every wedding you've been to, except our weddings are much worse, with all the cocaine and guns. But we did not want to go in that direction, towards such actualization", he said.
That "we really live in dark times", was pointed out from the stage by a local character, Bertold Brecht himself, and this is allegorically indicated by the direction of Paolo Maggeli, who prolongs the duration of the one-act play in the manner of an agonizing long-play. Superb music, although in its rhythm it demands action and situation, which it signs Damir Martinovic i Ivanka Mazurkijević, slowly adds to the agony that becomes increasingly difficult to watch.
"The idea of this play is the characters in their characters who like to 'frolic' in an emotional, spiritual and mental shallow, like most of us. What's interesting about the play is that, apart from a bit of humor that we've thrown in, it shows some petty-bourgeoisness that is seductive. The important thing is that we do not take a didactic position and directly say: 'You who came to watch us, you are petit bourgeois', but we really claim that we all are, but also that it is important to find that petit bourgeois in yourself. Paolo wanted us to look for those small fascisms in ourselves, small daily violence, which we can notice in the daily silence about violence and saying 'let it pass'. That was exciting for me to explore," explained Bravo and added:
"We don't salt our brains, we say that we are all petty citizens".
Actress Gordana Boban she said that she hopes that they succeeded in their intention to show the types that Brecht wrote in that way, and that they will help someone in the audience to recognize themselves and silently improve themselves and be/become a little better man...
Dina Mušanović pointed out that this is her second time doing Brecht with the theater tandem, Paolo Magjeli and Željka Udovicic Plenština. She said that her acting indication with the famous director was always "words are a consequence of the situation"...
"The way we feel at the moment when we say something is only a consequence of that state and that is the principle that guided them when working on the characters and working on stage situations," she said.
This was Hadžović's first time working with Brecht, and in that context he pointed out that Magjeli is someone who knows how to lead the process and that he was able to go into the depths of his character, looking for reasons for every line and situation.
The conclusion of the playwright Tripković, that Brecht's works are more relevant today than ever, even though he is always relevant, was confirmed by the playwright Udovičić Plenština, who also agreed with the statement about mutual similarities and distinctive features of the societies of the region...
"When staging the play, we were just thinking about how to read it with some of our common attitudes, because what shapes this play is a joint play, dependence on each other, in terms of actors and performers above all, and in what way to talk about this time where he mostly talks a lot and doesn't say anything, where silence is immanent, where unimportant things are talked about... That's the petty bourgeoisie we wanted to talk about," she said.
Udovičić Plenština also pointed out that playing in Podgorica was in somewhat different stage conditions, which represented an additional challenge for them, considering that the premiere took place recently, and she expressed her satisfaction with the guest appearance at Ruta.
"I'm really happy that there is a festival like this, because there are fewer and fewer opportunities and we witness less and less exchanges of performances, guest appearances where we can see each other, exchange opinions and have fun with each other, while enjoying theater art," says the Turkish playwright.
He signs the costume design of the play Lejla Hodzic, and in addition to those mentioned, the acting ensemble is completed by: Ejla Bavčić, Maja Izetbegović, Nedim Džinović, Enes Kozlicić, Sabit Sejdinović i Amar Selimović.
The route shows why the theater survives from ancient times to the present day
The Ruta Festival is visiting for the fourth time in Podgorica, the City Theater, and is being held from April 8 to 13. The audience has the opportunity to watch the productions of five regional theaters from Croatia, Serbia, BiH, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Montenegro.
"People who know how to make theater plays in Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Skopje and Podgorica, gathered this April, under the auspices of the City Theater in Podgorica, to show what they know and can do, and why the theater survived and survives since from ancient times to the present day. Different productions and different genres, but with one common denominator, a superb theatrical act, that seems to be the feature of this Ruta episode", said the actor of the City Theater of the theater Željko Radunović, greeting the audience before the start of Ruta.
"As someone who has breathed the air of the stage all his working life, I am particularly pleased that this Route brings before us new, young faces, new energy, under the mentorship of directors who belong to the older and middle generation, but in any case, to the first echelon of theatrical dreamers. The satisfaction is greater that all this is achieved and lasts in my Podgorica", said Radunović and declared the festival open.
Bonus video:
