The Duodrama "In Eden, in the East" by Borislav Pekić, directed by Milo Vučinić, for whom the aforementioned play is part of his master's thesis, premiered at the Center for Culture, Sports and Media in Šavnica. In the play, produced by the Šavnik Cultural Center, the roles were entrusted to Dejan Ivanić and Stefan Vuković.
The work process, according to the director, was extremely demanding, as it involved numerous researches and clearly defined frameworks, which were guided during the work.
"The process was epically difficult because it was not at all easy to get into the hermetic nature of Pekić's text. The genius of his handwriting, which abounds, first of all, in allegories, offered us hope and beauty, which together with the audience we will feel at its full zenith through post-production. What we have done is referential in the sense that it can be a candidate for some possible further interpretations, because it is, after all, the first performance of this text in the Montenegrin area. When it comes to reading this text in general, I must point out that it rested on non-radicalization and non-invasiveness. It was actually an approach that, on the one hand, departs somewhere from the writer, but also remains in his idea," said Vučinić.
His mentor, director Radmila Vojvodić, gave them a lot of help in their work, and as he said, from the beginning they opted for a minimalist approach.
"The actors went through a really cathartic process and I know it wasn't easy for them. I'm sure that their experience as actors exceeds my experience as a director, but we moved at the level of a nice exchange of experience, energy... We aimed at the core of the narrative, that detachment, familiarity, obsession, that is, some layers of the state of consciousness and behavior of the persecutor and the persecuted, which during the process "peeled" in front of us. In the end, all that was left was to build that game," said Vučinić.
According to the actor, Stefan Vuković, the most difficult thing was that they had to go through the "classic madness of the time in which Pekić wrote the play and move it to the madness that is still raging in this and all areas of the world".
"This work shows that Pekić is one of the greatest writers of the former Yugoslavia, if not the Balkans. It was difficult, but very interesting to dig into that text, those thoughts that were ingeniously inserted on the paper. While we were clarifying it, we went through a difficult but precious time of interpreting the text, such an ingenious understanding of the reality of life, which corresponds to all climates and, in all times," emphasized Vuković.
Dejan Ivanić admitted that even as a student he had a desire to play this text by Pekić, but after working on the drama it is clear to him that it requires extensive acting experience.
"I'm glad I didn't do it when I was young, because Pekić is something special. Everything that writer wrote is one great poetry. Poetry about life, freedom, democracy... Despite our acting experience, it was very difficult for us to make this premiere and make Pekić understandable. The secret of the whole process lies precisely in our intention to make it comprehensible today because it is also so current. "Paranoia is all around us and will always exist here and everywhere in the world," said Ivanić.
The prime minister was also attended by representatives of the institutions that supported the project: the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and the Montenegrin National Theatre.
Radmila Vojvodić said that Vučinić bravely tackled Pekić's text because the work involved great research and learning, which resulted in a new, fresh and current reading of this work.
"We have proof in one master's thesis, still at school, that this reading is really exciting, current and communicates with the audience, with the topic and with the times. We have been living this story of the persecuted and the persecutor since the dawn of time, and it really worked in a current social context. The audience here does not often have the opportunity to attend theatrical events. That excitement among the audience and those of us who witnessed the entire work speaks of how necessary it is to strengthen cultural (theatrical) production in all environments, because there are no small or big cities... There are cultural and non-cultural environments," said Vojvodić.
According to Dr. Marija Sarap, director of the Directorate for Creative Industries in the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Đavnik Culture Center has shown that every municipality in Montenegro should open a creative center - a hub, "as a gathering place, a place for artists to meet and work." of this form, such as duodrama".
"Cultural Center Šavnik and the Municipality of Šavnik, with the awakening of the Creative Hub 'Kuća Pekić' this year, justified our trust, precisely because through inter-institutional cooperation we did it all together as true friends, solely for the sake of creativity in culture, for the sake of writers and for everything of what is the inerttextuality and universality of art as a special universe that unites people. In this case, we understood Pekić well, who showed with his text 'In Eden, in the East' that even today we understand his messages and that correspondence to recognize ourselves again. I believe that art always speaks for all of us. She is the one who breaks through all the barriers and all the dares that people think are impossible to overcome," said Dr. Sarap.
The dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) in Cetinje, Dr. Edin Jašarević, assessed that Šavnik has not only a natural resource, but also a creative center that, in the premiere of Pekić's play "In Eden, in the East" and other contents, valorized what made him and founded.
"Before and after the premiere, we discussed the placement of this play and other initiatives that can generate an interpretation of this region here. This region is inspiring because it has cultural resources that should be treated responsibly. Although this Creative Hub was initially designed to affirm literary creativity, we believe that it should be turned into an artistic residential center, which would concentrate the interpretation of writers who can tell some important stories of this region, either through literary, dramatic form or theme, and which can to be interpreted further later. That is our task. We will try to achieve results through the future cooperation between FDU and the Center for Culture, be it in the form of a book, a collection of some stories, or a smaller production," said Dr. Jašarević.
According to him, we should not strive for mega projects, but the so-called small forms that have high aesthetics, which was confirmed by the performance "In Eden, in the East".
Set design and costumes are the work of Mina Đurović, Matija Jovanović, who is also assistant director, was in charge of the sound, while Danilo Malović was hired for the lighting design.
The Center for Culture, Sports and Media Šavnik realized the play with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, the Montenegrin National Theater and the Municipality of Šavnik.
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