Return to tenderness and silence

Gentle and fragile like youthful love, warm like polar whiteness in the moonlight, thin and trembling like birch branches, sincere and dreamy like a child's smile, and powerful like kindness and strong like true love - the play "White Nights" at the Nikšić Theater.

The premiere performance on Tuesday night brought the audience back to the true and eternal Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, his handwriting, time, space and feelings; his manners and values ​​that are thought about and experienced, slowly, quietly and calmly. The choice of text and approach showed that the Nikšić theater chooses and remains on its own path, different from everything that contemporary theater dictates or is expected of it.

Director Ana Djordjevic undertook the undertaking to stage such a theatrical piece in Nikšić, at a time when theater often chases spectacle, effect, speed and prefers a brutal, cruel, often sensational frame of the mirror of reality. Her adaptation of Dostoevsky is not and does not try to be contemporary, especially not at any cost. Telling a story about love, about a man and a woman, about friendship, about relationships between people, about virtues and empathy, altruism, emotions, reminding us of challenges and obstacles, Đorđević does not talk about who and what we all are today, where we have arrived and where we are going, but rather directs us to kindness, sincerity, joy, respect, love... It brings us back to something we have forgotten along the way, and without which we cannot move forward.

The play chooses simplicity over grandeur. There are no great, historical dialogues, but there are those that change the view of the world. The set and costume design are not the ones that remain in the memory more than the play itself or the words... Even the music will not encourage movement and remind us of the century we are in.. The return and orientation towards beauty, goodness, sincerity and feelings make this experience valuable. Thus, the play challenges us to follow, see, know and hear, relying on what we rarely have today, whether in theatre or life: a word, a conversation, a look, a pause, an emotion...

Nikšić's "White Nights" today - in a time of noise, even cacophony, they choose silence and emotion, leaving a trace in the snow, perhaps gentle and short, perhaps savior...

The play reminds, brings and revives an old time, not necessarily idealized, but certainly different. It takes us back to a time when conversation was the action, and silence was its integral part. It seeks attention and identification that existed before and did not wander. The play makes us truly feel time, and not waste or miss it. Time is certainly an important aspect of the play, on different levels - in the action itself, but also in the performance... Certain parts of "White Nights" seem drawn out when faced with the moment of play, but in fact they only return us to that slow pace of play and life.

We get to know the characters little by little, nothing is sudden and there are no jumps in rhythm or dynamics or in the story, which does not mean that there are no surprises or twists. The play sways - "gently, nicely, slowly"... Given this, one could say that this is a play that is shy in its poetics - like the love it talks about, the first, (un)requited, great... It is gentle and cold like the very idea of ​​white nights, so in that sense the atmosphere is consistent and built, we have a feeling of closeness and distance at the same time... By all accounts, this is not a play that seeks to impress the audience or viewers, but this is a play that wants to draw them in and keep them. It will encourage and, practically, force the audience to listen, both to the actors on stage, to others around them, and to themselves. And the actors on stage are young, gentle themselves, enthusiasts with their eyes in the distance, but convincing and firmly in the theater...

The cast is led by a Nikšić native Stevan Vuković who, at 28 years old, is the oldest in the cast. Since his first appearance on stage, he has been constantly on it, and with his mere presence he spreads the energy that is needed for us to be drawn into “White Nights”. His “freezing” in moments of listening and returning to the past functions as a silent witness to the action, someone who observes other people's memories and recollections and feels them deeply in the present. The strength of the ensemble, which seems to be dancing all the time, lies in his playing.

The young team is completed by Marta Scekic, Milica Kekic, Vuk Vucinic i Mina Micovic. It seems that they all breathe together, take steps that they think about in advance, taking care of themselves and their partner in the play. Occasionally, instead of a lively conversation, they seem to be saying lines or just saying words written down somewhere, which can weaken the dynamics and emotional intensity or actually enhance the very experience of the time in which the action is set. Here, the play balances on a fine line between contemplativeness, daydreaming and fatigue. However, the actors know when and how to react in order to break up those moments, provoke a measured smile and a sincere reaction, and when and how to convey everything that the heroes of FM Dostoevsky and Ana Đorđević bring...

It is important to emphasize that the director added a certain part of the text, but also added characters to the entire story, which nicely rounds out the play and its plot by showing how intertwined lives are and how much an individual does not depend only on themselves or others, but how much we are all as a society in the same setting and game that equally depends on everyone. At the same time, it shows that we can all make each other better people, more honest, less selfish and more grateful...

All of this together shapes the quality of the performance, which in a time of noise, even cacophony, chooses silence and emotion, leaving a trace in the snow, perhaps gentle and brief, perhaps savior... And all of this not because of grand stage or theatrical solutions, but because of a quiet reminder that conversation, closeness and attention are still important, appreciated, necessary, and sometimes even sufficient. In the end, the impression remains that one leaves the hall different. It would be pretentious to say that people leave better, but at least they are encouraged to try - to be better, to find, feel and share goodness, love and beauty.