A story about a family and the consequences of media reality

On Thursday, September 19, the premiere of the play "Hero of the Nation" will be performed, produced by the Nikšić Theater. It is a play which, according to the text, is Ivana. M. Lalić, adapted and directed Milan Neskovic.

At the press conference, Nešković said that the focus of the story, which was created a quarter of a century ago, was shifted to one family and what consequences the media reality, which is often the opposite of the real one, leaves for an ordinary "little" man.

"That's how the comedy of the absurd, as it was originally intended, became a tragicomedy, which is also a tribute to the time from when the text was created until today," said Nešković.

The play features: Vladan Gajović, Biljana Keskenović, Stevan Vuković, Maja Stojanović i Ljubomir Bandović/Nikola Vasiljević. Scenography is a work Vesne Sušić, she is in charge of the costumes Margaret Schobot, while the music is signed by "Autogenic training" and "Azilanti". She is a producer Milica Burić, the organizer Belizar Kasalica. He is in charge of the photos Dusko Miljanic, while she designed the poster Vesna Sušić.

"The work on the play was short and effective. I won't talk much about the play or the character I'm playing, but I'll use football vocabulary - on Thursday we'll run out, leave our hearts on the field and see if this is it," commented Gajović briefly.

His life companion in the play, actress Biljana Keskenović, said that she immediately fell in love with the character of Desanka because he is somehow close to her.

"It is about a warm, sincere and naive woman who is the support and partner of Budimir (Gajović) and who accompanies him throughout the entire play," said Keskenović.

Stevan Vuković is glad that the director "moved away" from the template text and that they got something they didn't expect. He believes that they managed to make a show in about fifty rehearsals that the audience will look forward to, but also in which they will find themselves, just as they also managed to "communicate well with the characters they play".

"In Nikšić, I constantly meet people who, like Budimir, have buried their ideals, so I want to see the 'dead people' who live in this city on stage, but also for the audience to find themselves and manage to communicate with themselves," he said. Vuković.

Ljubomir Bandović and Nikola Vasiljević will play alternately in the plays. A younger colleague, who is an alternation, said that he had an interesting task and that he can't wait to see what the audience's reaction will be, while Bandović did not hide his satisfaction that after 20 years he is again part of the Nikšić Theater ensemble.

"We all understood what the director envisioned and what it should be in the end. With this play, I will also seal my friendship with Gaja, because I know how much this all means to him," said Bandović.

According to Gajević and Biljana Keskenović, the actress of the Nikšić Theater, Maja Stojanović, will remember her work on the play "Hero of the Nation".

"You can really see that for a reason the champions of the theater and us younger ones had the opportunity to learn from them in the best possible way. In three years, this is the eighth premiere of the Nikšić Theater, and I must say that it is the most complex play," said Stojanović.

According to costume designer Margarete Šobot, the task was not difficult at all because she worked with a fantastic team with whom she immediately agreed on ideas, so the realization was simple.

Artistic Director of the Nikšić Theatre, Janko Jelić he pointed out that the play was done in a record short time and that it is a piece that is basically a comedy, but it is multi-layered, and in it there are motifs that are not characteristic of comedy, such as motifs of death and sacrifice, "universal biblical themes". He pointed out that the author and acting team brought the mentioned topics in the right way and did them in the right way.

Moderator of the press, editor of the newspaper "Pozorište", Slavojka Marojević she also pointed out that the performance marks the jubilee - 25 years since the production work of the Nikšić Theater, which began on September 18, 1999, when the play was performed on "Scene 213" Stevan Koprivica "From nothing to nothing", which he directed Goran Bulajic.

Lalić: We will all eventually become actors in a global reality show

"The play 'Hero of the Nation' has a strange fate. Written about twenty years ago, it suddenly becomes younger and more relevant every day, month and year. I believe that its freshness is directly related to the growing general information aggression that directly threatens to erase the small, thin line between our lives and the virtual truths marketed to us by the media. It is as if we are moving unstoppably towards a situation where the border between off and online life no longer exists. We will all eventually become actors in a global reality show. "The Hero of the Nation" is not only a comedy of absurdities, it is above all a family drama, where generational differences generate both plot and denouement - and a sad and warning ending. I am convinced that this successfully overcome genre dichotomy will largely determine the success of the play. Knowing the author's handwriting of Milan Nešković, I have no doubt that a complex and challenging theatrical masterpiece awaits us, which I am very much looking forward to in advance.

I would like to thank the Management of the Nikšić Theatre, the acting ensemble and the complete author's team led by Milan Nešković, for the trust shown", wrote the author of the text, Ivan M. Lalić.