The performance "Hero of the Nation" premiered in the Nikšić Theater

Stop - look around, look into people's eyes, shake their hand, ask them how they are, what they want, what they dream about, notice them. But, start from the family first - listen to each other, live with each other, not next to each other. Don't forget that your neighbor is your neighbor only if you know what worries the other, what he fears, what he fantasizes about, what he looks forward to. That life is in the family, on the street, in society, and not on television, reality shows, mass media. That there is a word empathy, which we have forgotten, and which we only remember from time to time. Gather around the family hearth, not around the TV, talk. Talk, but also listen. Be a "hero of the family" first, not a "hero of the nation".

These would be the messages of the play "Hero of the Nation", which premiered on the stage of the Nikšić Theater on Thursday evening, and had its first rerun last night.

"It is as if we are unstoppably moving towards a situation where the border between off and online life no longer exists. We will all eventually become actors in a global reality. "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 Milan Nešković, I have no doubt that we are in for a complex and challenging theatrical craft, which I am very much looking forward to in advance", wrote the author of the text Ivan M. Lalić.

And he was right - the genre dichotomy did determine the success of the play to some extent, but the director Nešković successfully "embroidered" a theatrical handiwork that touches you, but also makes you wonder, and the actors made an effort to find ourselves and the people around us in them. The audience showed with several minutes of applause and ovations what they thought about the new performance of the Nikšić Theater, which many said was the most complex and the best performed in the theater in recent years.

"A very emotional, painful topic, and yet we are somewhat to blame for the fact that this topic is so painful, that the influence of the media on society is such. Here, it is reinforced emotionally that this problem would reach the audience by the very fact that we created a conflict between the mass media and the family, not society. Society is too big a word for any of these people in the audience to identify with. But everyone came to the theater from a family home or apartment, so we increased that emotionality, because we turned an absurd drama into a tragicomedy," said Nešković after the premiere, satisfied that they managed to cross the border and reach the audience.

Because everyone in the hall knew at least one Budimir who goes through life unnoticed, at least one Životić family whose "years were eaten by locusts", and in the end they were left with a screen and a remote control.

"When you look at the winners of the Cannes, Venice, and Berlin festivals, you see that they are all films that deal with the issue of the absence of empathy. What would you say? Aca Popović, as if our grace had died. This applies to the entire society. The moment when empathy disappears within a family, then we have to worry both as a society and as individuals. This play is mostly about that. I really don't know how to give answers. I only know how to ask questions and that through theater. I hope that this kind of questioning will lead us to be better and more empathetic towards our fellow man, regardless of the screens we keep in our pockets and to which we are slaves, including ourselves," said Nešković.

"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 that's it," he said at the press conference, a few days before the premiere. Vladimir Gajović.

And they ran out onto the field, left their heart on it and saw that that was it.

"I hope that the Nikšić Theater will not abandon this play. This kind of play takes at least two to two and a half months, and we did it in a month. It went fast, and thanks to this wonderful audience, I think we did a wonderful thing. I would like this play to last," said Gajović, who plays Budimir Životić in the play, the head of a family that is slowly falling apart, thanks to the media, but also by themselves.

His monologue at the end of the play stopped the laughter and brought bitterness, instead of delusion, he gave us truth and wonder.

"What is it that characterizes my character - purity, face, honesty. If they buried me once, then they will really bury me. Once you say it, then do it to the end, and not change your mind after two minutes and say something else. Budimir has been working as a conductor for 40 years, nobody notices him, and in the family he only threatens to beat everyone alive, including his wife and son", Gajović explained how he, as well as the audience, experienced Budimir.

In addition to him, they also play in the play Biljana Keskenović, Stevan Vuković, Maja Stojanović i Ljubomir Bandović/Nikola Vasiljevic. With his young colleagues from the Nikšić Theater, Stevan, Maja and Nikola, Gajović is collaborating for the first time and he has only words of praise for them - wonderful people and colleagues.

His lifelong companion in the play, Biljana Keskenović, says that he has been acting for a long time and that he is rarely deceived by his feelings when it comes to the quality of the play and its connection with the audience.

"Already in the early stages of working on this play, I was sure that this is a play that will connect with the audience, that it will move on that emotional level and that this is a topic that concerns us all. This story through a family and the disintegration of that family is very poignant. We have a melodramatic play that begins with some lighter notes and ends in a dark and heavy tone. We can play this show anywhere and in any country in the region, because I think these families exist everywhere. This is a family to which I myself belong for some years, which has gone through all that is talked about in this play, all the nineties and 2000s, poverty, bombing, inflation, wars. "Somewhere, I experience this character and this play very personally", said Keskenović.

And her Desanka conquered not only her, but also the audience.

"She is very close to me, dear, very gentle and emotional. She, like every woman, is the pillar of that collapsing family and where she frantically tries to maintain the family. And finally her five minutes come. We all need to try within our families to preserve it, because everything around us is denying us. It is not easy to support a family. That, when we leave after this play, we can imagine whether we can still remain close and that this family survives despite everything. No one outside is to blame. We have lost our empathy, we have lost our concern for others. It is not easy to live in this time. Whether it's in Serbia, Montenegro or anywhere else - it's the same everywhere," said the drama champion of the National Theater in Sombor.

And the drama within the drama was created by the journalist Lenka - she "buried" a living man for the sake of the show. And her boyfriend, Budimir's son, Ljubomir, decided to turn the family's life into a reality show.

"The role was not difficult for me. It has that twist at the end that is shocking, but that is today's current affairs and all that social networks and the media bring and how all of that can turn negative," said Maja Stojanović, who plays Lenka.

"In less than three years, this is the eighth premiere of the Nikšić Theater, and I play in six performances. A nice figure for the Nikšić Theater. A lot of guest appearances are already scheduled for October and November. Now it needs to be played out," Maja pointed out.

And it will play out, because the text, which is a quarter of a century old, seems to be more relevant today than ever. When you add to that the good work of the author and acting team, the play will be played and will touch the audience. It's just that the wonderment lasts longer after it. Maybe then there will be hope for man, family, and society. And maybe empathy will once again be what adorns us.

He signs the scenography for "Hero of the Nation". Vesna Sušić, costume design Margareta Shobot, and music by the groups Autogeni training and Azilanti.

Another ten for the Nikšić Theater, Gajović the status of an honorary member

All visiting directors and actors have been repeating the same thing for the last three years - working in the Nikšić Theater and collaborating with people in the theater is a privilege that is rarely encountered. It was the same this time.

"The collaboration was fantastic. I would also like to thank the people of Nikšić and the Nikšić Theater, because this is not a platitude, but this is perhaps one of the most beautiful places to work in which I have worked so far in terms of the atmosphere, the possibility of daily rehearsals, from morning to night, the helpfulness of all these people behind the scenes, from from the people who make the coffee and who deal with props. This is a truly fantastic experience and I am really looking forward to returning to Nikšić, if there is one," said director Nešković.

Biljana Keskenović pointed out that the connection between the people who work on it is essential for the success of the play, and that happened in the Nikšić Theater.

"I'm not only referring to the author's team and the actors, but also to these fantastic people behind the scenes who give incredible support to all of us and who said one sentence at the beginning of the work, which I haven't heard in a long time: We are so happy that a new play is being made" .

Because of this good fortune, Vladan Gajović was especially happy, to whom theater director Radinko Krulanović presented the charter of honorary member of the Nikšić Theater.

"It surprised me too. If he had given me five minutes earlier, before the monologue, I wouldn't have had to act anything, I would have cried immediately and it would have been easier for me".

Gajović, a native of Nikšić, as I said, because of "some private nonsense" crossed Nikšić and did not come to his hometown for 20 years. He came for the first time after two decades in November of last year, when he was presented with the "Veljko Mandić" award, which is awarded biennially by the Nikšić Theater for outstanding contribution to theater art.

"I literally crossed the whole city. And then, when I came here to receive the award and met people from the theater, I immediately told them that whenever they wanted to call me, I would come. And here I am. I am glad if we managed to justify some expectations with their invitation and my arrival. And I think we are".