Ljubo is a hero of our time, not the past, like every pop icon.

Every victory has its own symbol, and Cedomir Ljubo Čupić is a symbol of victory in World War II and as such, like any symbol, it easily wears the costume of a (pop) icon, so today it is the only pop icon in Montenegro.

This is stated by the playwright, director and writer in an interview for "Vijesti". Obrad Nenezić announcing the premiere of the musical play "Smile for Marija Mihailović", based on his novel of the same name, which brings a different perspective on the famous folk hero from Nikšić.

The musical drama was co-produced by the Podgorica City Theatre and the Bar Cultural Centre, and will premiere today, at the 39th edition of the Bar Chronicle festival, at 9:30 p.m., on the Summer Stage of the Cultural Centre. The story is inspired by Čupić's character and work, but, Nenezić points out, guided by ancient drama, he imagined a life that could have been and did not deal with history, biography and known facts, but with what makes art and man...

"In every man there lives both a hero and a cautious man. Even in Ljubo," Nenezić tells "Vijesti".

The text and direction are by Obrad Nenezić, who also calls this piece an anti-musical, emphasizing that it is not a war drama, but an anti-war drama. The compositions were written by Slobodanka Bobana Dabović Đurić with whom Nenezić collaborated, worked on the project for about a year before rehearsals officially began. The costume designer is Katarina Vukcevic, stage designer Darko Music, a Vjera Nikolić As a repetiteur, she gave her strong and authentic stamp to actor's singing. The play features: Lazar Dragojevic, Marija Djuric, Vukan Pejovic, Milo Perovic, Sejfo Seferovic, Omar Bajramspahic, Simo Trebjesanin, Ivona Rakovic, Davor Dragojevic, Zoran Dragicevic, Katarina Krek.

"Inspired by the character and work of the national hero Čedomir Ljubo Čupić, whose photograph of a defiant smile before his death traveled the world and entered World War II museums, this musical wants to remind us that anti-fascism is not an ideology of the past, but a value of the future," the City Theatre's announcement states. theaters.

Obrad Nenezić talks to "Vijesti" about his novel, play, theater, but also the hero and (pop) icon Ljubo Čupić himself, and anti-fascism today.

The play “Smile for Marija Mihailović” begins with one of the most famous smiles in the history of Montenegro, and reaches the present day, a time that rarely smiles, especially in this way. What does this stage play tell us about and is “Smile for Marija Mihailović” more of a play about the past, about us today or about people-heroes? How would you, as the author, announce the play and what does the Montenegrin theater scene gain from this work?

With this work, the theater scene in Montenegro will gain a musical drama in terms of genre. I can probably also sign it as an anti-musical, because it represents the exact opposite of what we know as a cheerful, playful and cheerful musical. The imagined character of Ljubo Čupić, in collaboration with other partners on stage, will make viewers imagine who the national heroes were, whom we mostly saw as untouchable characters in the era of socialist realism, until it collapsed, and a new era of freedom arrived, that freedom that is so limitless that it threatens the freedom of others. I don't know how much we need heroes and smiles in the selfie era, full of egoism, but there are still people for whom value systems matter. In a time when convicted war criminals are being declared anti-fascists, I think it's the right time for true national heroes to appear at least on the theater stage, because there are not two anti-fascisms, at least not in Montenegro, but the real one and the opposite one. Ljubo is the personification of the real one. But, let me emphasize right away - this is not a war drama, but an anti-war drama. And I would be ashamed as an author if I made Ljub Čupić, regardless of his abstraction, a populist, popular character, in the musical style of the new era, who would raise the adrenaline of the masses. He is a man of flesh and blood, a warrior by heritage and belief, with virtues and flaws, prone to fall, but also an idealist, who wants to build a new, more beautiful and better world..., who goes headlong through the wall, but also falls before the first human obstacle. Because he is well-intentioned. Ljubo is a hero of our time, not of the past, like every pop icon.

Exactly, in your work, you do not approach Ljubo Čupić as a historical figure and folk hero, but as a man, one who loves, doubts, questions, makes mistakes... Why was it important for you to "return" him from myth to humanity?

I am not the biographer of Čedomir Ljubo Čupić. I grew up in Nikšić below Trebjesa and, then and now, I often pass by the monument erected in his honor and in the glory of other patriots who laid down their lives for our freedom. And I have carried that idea for decades. But theater and art are something else. Not dry history. The most dramatic thing in his life is the trial and execution. That lasts a few minutes. While he is being tried and executed by domestic traitors, and the Italians are filming the series. But the smile is a moment. And the rest is life. That life interests the viewer because the trial and execution are already familiar. That life and humanity were necessary for me to make a drama, and we know the culmination. Then I listened to my teacher Aristotle, and the entire ancient drama: that history is what was, and a work of art is what could have been. And he imagined that life. But that is nothing new. Aristotle and the greats of antiquity had myths from which they created Western dramaturgy, and we have pop icons. And Ljubo Čupić is the only pop icon in Montenegro.

What turns a historical figure into a pop icon, and what is needed for them to remain so for generations that may no longer know the historical context?

Well, I guess, value. We are descendants of socialism, born from World War II. From victory. And every victory has its symbol. Ljubo is that symbol. And a symbol easily dons the costume of a (pop) icon.

The premiere takes place during a holiday that reminds us of the uprising and the fight against fascism. Does this give us the opportunity to revisit, revive, and experience the character of Ljubo Čupić and his comrades, reflecting on the anti-fascist heritage and values?

Our national July 13th Uprising is fascinating, which amazed the Europeans of that time. I think that today's generations are not aware of this heroic act of our ancestors. It was precisely this wave of freedom and defiance that threw out heroes like Ljubo, but also thousands of others who left their bones and ideas throughout the Yugoslav countries. If we forget that, we do not deserve a first name, middle name, or last name... We only deserve a number. However, I think that generations are coming who do not care. Which does not necessarily mean that it is bad. From our point of view, it is..., but what if our point of view is wrong?

In the last ten years, the attitude towards the anti-fascist legacy in the former Yugoslavia has changed significantly. Do you think that “Smile for Marija Mihailovič” will be experienced by some of the audience as an artistic act, by others perhaps as a call to resistance or even as a political statement? And is it possible to talk about Ljubo Čupić today without it being a political act?

Divisions of all kinds are our destiny. But, I stated a long time ago that Ljubo reconciles all differences. Everyone wears T-shirts, caps, tattoos... with his image on them. That's why he's a pop icon. This is also a political drama, but war politics is at stake, so it's universal. There's no room for local politics. There's fascism and anti-fascism, everything else is marginalized and unnecessary to this play. There will probably be those who will say that they would have done it better. I agree. And I can't wait for them to do it, if they haven't already.

One of the novel's particularly interesting and beautiful ideas is that, perhaps, Ljubov's famous smile was not directed at death, nor at the enemy, nor at history, but at a woman. How important was that dimension to you and in what way, and to what extent can art fill in the gaps that history cannot confirm, or reconstruct events for the sake of a work of art?

History is the mother of deception, and art of deception. Both have their target groups, which they act on in a way that suits them. Mine is the “nobler” one - artistic. And in it I have no obligation to justify myself to anyone except poetics and aesthetics. And considering the decades I have invested in that story, I completely stand by the position that that smile was not directed at the domestic traitors who shot him, and the occupiers who ordered that execution. We know that, the rest we don't. But I am not bound by historical facts, but by aesthetics and poetics. And the deconstruction of the idea itself is something that as a postmodernist I always use. I believe that Ljubo encouraged someone with that smile. Maybe his mother, sister, or some girlfriend, who knows... I chose a woman - but only I believe in that, and those readers of my novel and tomorrow's viewers of the play.

The novel was published more than ten years ago, the story was in the making for almost two decades, and the play is coming to us now. How did this particular moment crystallize as the right one? Has your relationship to the work itself changed in the meantime?

Some say that every work has its moment. I, however, think that behind everything is work. When you work, you meet people, you talk to them, and that's how ideas are created. Like this one about the play that was created in Bar at the Cultural Center, and later developed at the City Theater. Each medium has its own language, its own semantics and semiotics, so I added what was necessary for theater, and took a lot away from the book, because a book is reading, and a play is rhythm. The pop icon is always alive. And so is Ljubo Čupić. The novel broke the prejudices about the hero who is untouchable. In every man lives both a hero and a cautious man. And so does Ljubo. Ljubo is captured on Kablena glavica, and later he shouts for freedom at the shooting. So much drama in just one man and his life. In the novel I had space to explain, in the theater I did not. However, the act of shooting itself is more effective on stage than in any novel. Just as it would be much more effective in a film than in the theater.

The play will premiere at the Bar Chronicle, under the open sky. Is this a regular premiere for you or a second life for a story you have been carrying with you and within you for a long time, and perhaps a need to unite it all in an expression that is closest to you and thus continue the conversation with the audience and the protagonist himself?

Honestly, summer festivals are a necessity of tourism, not theater. But wherever there is one, and not so many thousands of spectators, theater is happy to exist in those circumstances. So, I, and my associates, are very pleased to be at the Bar Chronicle, to which I am bound by dear and important memories for my career. It is true that when a play is performed under the open sky, it is closer to its origins, to its beginnings. But, we are used to buildings and box scenes. However, we have set it up to function equally on both stages.

Does and to what extent does this festival ambiance and summer scene change the way you think about rhythm, emotion, and the encounter between the performance and the audience?

The beauty of theatre is precisely in the fact that every new performance is a new experience, both for the actors and for the audience. Perhaps this is the factor that is crucial for me and many others who are dedicated to theatre, and that is that a theatre performance takes place here and now, and that moment, atmosphere and poetics will never be repeated in the same form. For this reason, I believe that this performance, at the Summer Stage in Bar, which we know well, will also be unique.

You say that the play is neither historical, nor biographical, nor war drama, but above all an anti-war story. How important is it today, in a time of new wars, divisions, and growing extremism, to talk about this and how challenging is it to make an anti-war play in general?

War never ends, so it is always the right time for an anti-war story and action. No matter where. Somehow I consider it my obligation as a creator. I left the public space and populist activities a long time ago, but I have never stopped being a creator and working on “righting the crooked Drina”. My works are full of this “futile work”, because theatre has not been a mass medium for a long time. However, even for that small part of the huge population on the planet, it is necessary to influence, debate and create for the next theatrical generations; because theatre, like no other medium, will not die, but will flourish.

You say you avoided a socialist realist approach and opted for fragmentary dramaturgy and postmodern aesthetics. How will this be felt in the play itself and was it a way for Ljubo Čupić to approach a younger audience or simply an honest approach to telling this story today? Did you adapt the text to the man of 2026, and to what extent?

In the play I have a narrator, a musical one, we also have a dozen interludes that break the form, and the actors during the play arrange scenographic elements, thus spoiling the magical illusion of the theater... These are some of the manners of postmodernism that I use in the play. However, I believe that something else will attract young people, and that is the team, namely, Ljubo and two other young men who live like all young people today and always, drink, love, lose, fight, make up, etc., but also dream of fame... But that fame brings them unforeseen circumstances and destinies...

Our national July 13th Uprising is fascinating, as it amazed Europeans of that time. I think that today's generations are not aware of this heroic act of our ancestors. It was this wave of freedom and defiance that brought out heroes like Ljubo, but also thousands of others who left their bones and ideas throughout the Yugoslav lands. If we forget that, we deserve neither a first name, nor a middle name, nor a last name...

Do you have any expectations from this author's work, what do you wish for when it comes to the audience and the life of "Smile"?

It largely depends on the production. Today, even the best plays have a short life. Why and how - I don't know. Maybe because modern man quickly gobbles up everything. Everything has become instant. Even feelings. Judging by the novel that is still sold in bookstores after ten years, I hope that there will be great interest.

The fight against the commercialization of everything and anything in instant catharsis

Considering that you call the play an anti-musical, and the music of Slobodanka Bobana Dabović Đurić has a special place in it, what does the music bring to this piece and what does the prefix “anti” mean in an artistic sense?

One of the most important rules of dramaturgy is that the idea, or rather the work, must be different. That is why I decided on a symbiosis of music and text. Now that the play is finished, I am aware that I was right. And Bobana and I have already done the anti-cabaret “Gentleman”, which returns to its original form of cabaret, before its evolution into commercialism. Somewhere in this play we retain our creative attitude and fight against the commercialization of everything and anything in instant catharsis. We know from experience that music does not call for happiness and joy, but has its own deeper, spiritual, spiritual and other effects and spells. This is the aesthetic we strive for, and we are sure that we have established it, because this process lasted a year, as far as Bobana’s and my work is concerned, and a little later we were joined by: costume designer Katarina Vukčević, set designer Darko Musić and professor Vjera Nikolić as a repetiteur, and gave a strong stamp to the actors’ singing. Also, that Bobanin and my approach is slowly and surely turning into a style, so I believe we will continue in that direction.