The play "Before Retirement, a Comedy about the Soul" is a drama about fascism hidden behind the empty form of bourgeois life, emphasized the artistic director of the Montenegrin National Theatre (CNP). Maria Sarap at yesterday's press conference, announcing the premiere of the play.
According to the text Thomas Bernhard, the play was directed by Nataša Milićević, and will premiere today on the CNP “Studio” stage, at 20 p.m. A repeat is announced for tomorrow evening.
"'Before Retirement, a Comedy of the Soul' is a drama about fascism that is hidden behind the empty form of bourgeois life and precisely then, in his - Bernhard's - way, it becomes more than an ideology, a view of culture, art, family relations, racial and national issues and ultimately a way of life itself. I invite you to the premiere tomorrow evening," said Sarap, emphasizing that Bernhard's characteristic and virtuosity is his monotonous disgust that not only bites, but also succeeds.
The director previously stated that it is a story about three people who are "waiting for retirement in a basement and celebrating the birthday of a significant historical figure from the Nazi opus of human evolution."
“Although it doesn’t sound particularly joyful or humorous, their elemental instincts make them look ridiculous in their own violent attempts to survive with each other. We are all mad, and there is no escape from that madness: society continually and repeatedly fails in its attempts to cure this collective disease of the soul, and nature is an even greater madman. That is the whole dark humor of our existence,” she wrote.
At the press conference, Milićević reminded that Thomas Bernhard had not been produced in Montenegro before and explained why she decided on this work.
"The reasons for staging Bernhard today, in Montenegro and the national theater, because his work has always been related to work in national theaters, are that he talks about a post-war society that has still not come to terms with the past, and which today has actually transferred to everyday life and the everyday perception of crime that has not stopped. We live in a world of the extreme right and our attempt was to find an answer to the question of what is it about the personal in the political that guarantees us that fascism is, apparently, inevitable; and is it at all?" said the director.
She also touched on the symbolism - Bernhard was born on February 9, 1931, and today, on the day of the premiere of the play "Before Retirement", marks the 37th anniversary of his death (February 12, 1989). While thanking the CNP for the opportunity to do her master's degree at the national theater, Milićević stated that she believes that the team responded to the task, which was not an easy one.
"We struggled a lot with his lines, with his dramaturgy, and I hope we managed to somehow answer that task. I would like to thank the entire cast for their patience with both my inexperience and some of the beginner's steps I am taking with this play," said Milićević.
This was also confirmed by the playwright. Milana Matejić, emphasizing that he is a complex writer with complex thoughts.
“We ended up dealing with that piece in a certain way. The preciousness of working on this happened beyond the artistic part - there were some things that happened in the process between the people working on the material, and at the end of the day, that's what theater is for,” she said.
The cast includes: Jelena Djukic, Dejan Ivanic i Mirjana Spaic. She is a scenographer Ivanka Vana Prelevic, she is a costume designer Mia Đurović, and executive producer Nela Otašević.
Spaić emphasized that the process was so challenging that she will remember it as a completely new experience.
"Bernhard is an extremely complex writer, difficult to stage... We were looking for an adequate way to respond to that, and it was some sweet torment. I got a lot out of this process, both professionally and personally. I hope the play will live on and that we will perform it beautifully," she said.
Đukić said that people often talk about the importance, beauty, and challenges of working on new plays, but that this time, something was really different for her, both in form, expression, interiority, in living with the text that is visible, and in the way she created her character.
"Building a woman like Vera was very challenging for me. It is important that we see Vera and recognize her, and to ask ourselves how many people around us are what she is. These are people who have suppressed all their human instincts and emotions, who are ready to destroy everything so that their mechanism can continue. These are people on whose shoulders the most dangerous mechanisms were created and the very people who maintained them. In addition, they have a kind of twitch that resembles a human, but it is not, because there is nothing human about it, no matter how much they try to be human. So, if anyone ever recognizes themselves in my Vera, it will be wonderful, although sometimes she seems unrecognizable, but in fact we have a lot of people like her around us," explained Đukić.
Actor Dejan Ivanić noted that a lot has already been said ahead of the premiere, and that the play should be seen, so he concluded the press conference by inviting everyone to come and see what "Before Retirement" brings.
The reasons for staging Bernhard today, in Montenegro and the national theatre, because his work has always been linked to work in national theatres, are that he talks about a post-war society that has not yet come to terms with the past, and which today has actually transferred to everyday life and the everyday perception of crime that has not stopped. We live in a world of the extreme right and our attempt was to find an answer to the question of what is it about the personal in the political that guarantees us that fascism is, apparently, inevitable; and is it at all?” said director Milićević
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