Along the Paths of Jagoš Marković's Directorial Vision

Ceremony. Crowds and lines, nice encounters, swelling emotions, deep thoughts and insightful observations, full Great Hall of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović", sold out tickets, but the most persistent are still waiting for a free seat... Fantastic theater performances, real theater magic, different from night to night, but unique and authentic, with the signature and seal of the great director Jagoš Marković. With all that, from evening to evening, there are standing ovations, applause that never loses its volume, people on their feet, long and loud expressions of respect that echo through the KIC hall, the stage, hearts, and memories, and with their sincerity they reach much further than that stage and the current moment...

This is how the first six days of December passed in Podgorica, when the first edition of the International Theatre Directing Festival "Jagoš Marković" was held. In a revue style, the audience had the honor of watching six selected Marković plays... Each of them showed the splendor of the director's approach, rich skill, unique creation, recognizable poetics, but also different ones, and critical observations, and in all of this, a focus on beauty, the beauty of life and play, on love and togetherness, on man and interpersonal relationships, on humor and song that make life easier.

In an atmosphere of theatrical euphoria, the festival, in addition to top-notch performances, was accompanied by a supporting program - round tables that began on December 2 and covered a range of topics until the 6th. The play "The Wizard of Oz" from the Drama Stage for Children of the Podgorica City Theater closed the "Jagoš Marković" Festival on Saturday evening.

The play features: Kristina Obradovic, Jelena Simic, Dejan Djonovic, Bozidar Zuber, Sanja Popovic, Milos Pejovic, Vukan Pejovic i Filip Đuretić. The text is based on the cult novel L. Frank Baum, wrote Aleksandra Glowacki, and the direction is by Marković, who has shown his directorial virtuosity with this play, when it comes to children's theater, according to Gradski.

The second edition of the International Theatre Directing Festival "Jagoš Marković" has been announced for the beginning of December next year, and the director of the City Theatre Sandra Vujovic, She expressed her satisfaction with the first edition of the event.

"This festival is not just a review and not just a tribute to Jagoš Marković and a retrospective of his work, but it is also a giving of new life to this great director so that we can save him from oblivion, to continue to socialize with him at least in this way, to be good hosts like he himself was in his private life, so that Podgorica becomes a new gathering place for the profession and, above all, a place where the audience will be able to enjoy the highest quality and best performances and directorial performances from the international scene continuously throughout the festival," she said.

Considering that the audience greeted the officials with whistles and exclamations of protest and dissatisfaction during their protocol address at the opening of the Festival, and the first and then each of the subsequent performances with dignity, with immense respect, admiration and attention, it seems clear that certain content cannot and should not be a political platform, even though it has always been so...

"The theater has always been and remains a space of freedom, dialogue and art. However, it must never become a place that violates the dignity of the moment, especially when we gather to honor the creativity and life of one of the greatest artists this region has had," said Vujović on this occasion.

Starting next year, the festival will have a competitive character, and the selector will be the former selector of Sterijino Pozorje and the permanent theater critic of the daily newspaper "Politika". Ana Tasic. Speaking about the newly founded Festival, which is dedicated to one of the greatest theater directors, Tasić said that its establishment and focus on directing are of utmost importance.

"The festival has the opportunity to bring together significant directorial poetics in one place, positioning Podgorica as a theater center, first in the regional, and then perhaps in the wider cultural space. Of course, this positioning is a process, it cannot happen overnight, it requires continuity, perseverance and patience, but the first step has been taken, the foundations have been laid," she said and revealed what will be the guiding principles when selecting...

"The festival program will follow the path of Jagoš Marković's directorial vision in terms of searching for creators who go beyond the expected, school, mortuary theater, for poetics that have stage authenticity, which stand out for their distinctive expression, effective encounters, magical combinations of words, visual and musical poetry. It will also strive to follow his path in terms of exceptional communication with the audience, dedicated acting work, as well as strong emotionality, sensuality of the play, which significantly characterized Marković's work in the theater. These are my guiding ideas that will certainly not be easy to achieve, but we will embark on this path with great dedication and principle," Tasić announced.

And, as the actress reminded Dubravka Drakić During the first of the conversations, the festival named after Jagoš Marković carries a great responsibility that everyone should be aware of.

"I think that a huge responsibility lies not only with the founders of the festival and the City Theatre, but with all of us, not to forget how important it is to justify the fact that the festival is called the 'Jagoš Marković' Festival and that it is a festival of theatre direction, and not just so that it happens and remains like a festival, but so that it is a unique and special festival, in all the ways in which Jagoš was a unique artistic person and personality," Drakić said at the time.

The maps were burned in two hours.

The director of the City Theater, Sandra Vujović, also highlighted the fact that the interest of the audience was a particular challenge.

"The biggest challenge was that the tickets sold out on the first day, within two hours, and then we had almost 30 days during which we had to politely explain to people that there were no tickets and that we had sold them all. We would have liked the hall at KIC Budo Tomović to be twice as big, because even then it would have been filled to the last seat," said Vujović.

Regardless, there were those who would patiently wait for everyone to settle down, then look for a free seat, but there were usually none. The hall was filled to the brim... One could witness a rarely diverse audience, some new people and faces that are not often encountered in the theater, which actually testifies to the fact that there is an audience, but that it knows what it wants and that it should not be underestimated, but that it is up to the theater to win them over with adequate, high-quality and authentic content.

Unrepeatable joy and ease

Each of the performances and plays during the Festival was emotional, and the actors could always be seen with tears streaming down their faces, but playing "The Wizard of Oz" for the Gradski ensemble was special. Obradović confirmed this, as she came to a realization...

"Tonight I performed 'The Wizard of Oz' with special emotion for many reasons, and one of the most important is that together with my team from the play, I intimately decided that the time has come for a generational change and that I should leave those shoes for walking on the yellow brick road to a new, younger Dorothy. Plays stop being played without us having any major influence on such decisions by the management, but this is Jagoš's play and, unfortunately, there is no longer any possibility for a completely new flight. I did not just leave a play, but I will be in the auditorium with immense pleasure, happiness and emotion to watch a new Dorothy," Obradović said.

The audience also had the opportunity to see her in the play "Filomena Marturano", and the actress recalled her collaboration with the director.

"It's an unrepeatable joy. Even when it was difficult or when we were at a dead end, it caused such a need to find a way out of a seemingly hopeless situation, but even then that joy of creation did not diminish," said Obradović.

Actress Simić also shared her memories of collaborating with Marković and the creation of "The Wizard of Oz".

“We did 'The Wizard of Oz' 11 years ago, and I've been working at the City Theatre for exactly that long. It was my second play with Jagoš, after the play 'Lucretia or the Devourer', and I can freely say that as much as my professor at the Academy taught me about acting, Jagoš taught me what it looks like in a theatrical process. Every process that I went through without him was different in some way, because I understood very well his suggestions, his energy and his unique way of conveying to us the essence of our task. I remember working with him, because it was always easy with him. Everything you saw in 'The Wizard of Oz' is very challenging for the play, but understanding what Jagoš is asking of us was really easy,” said Simić.