Several minutes of standing ovations and strong applause at the premiere proved that the play "The Green Choja of Montenegro", based on the motifs of Momo Kapor's novel in collaboration with Zuk Džumhur, directed by Nikita Milivojević, was not only the central event of the 35th Grad Theater festival, but also that this co-production is really the way Grad Theater should go.
This premiere in the amphitheater of the monastery of St. Trojice u Stanjevići, after twenty years, Nikita Milivojević, whose name is associated with the festival and cult plays such as "Karolina Nojber", "Banović Strahinja" and "Ivanova", returned to Grad Teatar... The play is a co-production of JU Grad Teatar, Gradski Theater from Podgorica and the Belgrade Drama Theatre.
The director always feels good when he sees that there were no mistakes and unforeseen circumstances, which was the fear that Milivojević also had before the premiere. However, that fear was replaced by joy.
"The actors played in good form, the audience reacted nicely the way I would have liked it to react. After a whole long adventure that we stopped and continued and changed actors, it is now a special joy that we have reached the premiere. I found it especially interesting and provocative how the audience would react on their home turf, and I'm almost certain that it will be similar at the premiere in Belgrade," said Milivojević.
He also pointed out that he was always interested in stories that mix time and space, those when you are not entirely sure where fiction ends and a real historical event begins.
"On that border, space is always opened up for the director's imagination, so for me the novel 'Zelena choja Montenegra' has always been fantastic, because of all those interesting mixing of times and incredible characters. I tried to keep that spirit from the novel and transfer it to the play," said Milivojević, who, in addition to directing, also adapted the text and stage design.
The director of JU Grad Theater Milena Lubarda Marojević pointed out that she is extremely satisfied that this project has been brought to an end.
"This is the right space to tell the story of the members of the Petrović Njegoš dynasty, and it turned out to be a phenomenal theater space, and not just a spiritual one. You could see from the reactions of the audience that she read the play exactly as it should, as a story about a great friendship. I am very excited and happy that we had this premiere," she said.
Montenegrin actor Miloš Pejović played Prince Nikola Petrović, whose character, he says, he researched a lot while working on the play.
"The text supported us, and we researched Nikola and realized that he had a lot of comedic moments and that he was quite a funny man. Apart from that, we didn't worry too much about the historical context, the facts. We built it together, the director and I, in the end those two tracks came together, one historical and the other which is ours, that's how we got the prince, and later King Nikola," he explained.
The character of Princess Milena, who does not appear in the novel but was created in the process, was portrayed by actress Maja Stojanović.
"We are very pleased and happy. Somewhere we sensed that the audience would be this satisfied, both because of the novel itself and because we euphorically announced the premiere. My character does not appear in the novel, so I had complete freedom to play. By the way, the director's concept was to play games, from darts to cards, you've seen some. And I came up with that hot-cold game that worked between Miloš Pejović and me, we all love that scene," said Stojanović.
In addition to Pejović and Stojanović, the following also play in the play: Emir Ćatović (narrator and duke Vukašin), Andrija Kuzmanović (Osman Pasha Sarhoš), Dejan Đonović (Skender), Simo Trebješanin (Serdar Filip), Jelena Simić (Majdžori Evans), Branimir Brstina (Hansen), Marko Živić (Varočelo, Tahir-bey), Milorad Damjanović (Tomel), Ivan Zablaćanski (Sergejev) and Stefan Radonjić (Belimarković). In addition to the acting ensemble, applause also went to costume designer Jelena Stokuća, composer Aleksandar Srebrić, Amalija Bennett for stage movement and Srđan Jovanović for lighting design.
The performance is scheduled every evening until August 13, and transportation is provided for the audience from the "Mediterranean Express" station (in the city) at 19.30:XNUMX p.m., and there is a parking space near the monastery.
Responsibilities that man should have towards humanity
Actor Andrija Kuzmanović portrayed the character of Osman Pasha Sarhoš in an unusually emotional way.
"I think that we also understood this character lightly in reading and somewhere in history, that he was a man who loved gambling, alcohol, women, he comes from Turkey, everything goes well for him, he is a pasha at the same time. I agreed with Nikita not to play first-ball, regardless of the fact that I'm always with some tompus and a drink in my hand. After all, he is a man who just lost a war, and I think he is responsible for many souls. As much as he enjoys life because he cannot do without vices, he is simply aware and wakes up every day with a great burden. I can tell you that for the first time I dug deeply into some thoughts, emotions and responsibilities that a person should have towards humanity", stated Kuzmanović.
Ćatović plays two characters
The famous actor Emir Ćatović played the narrator and duke Vukašin, and with both leagues he collected all the sympathy and smiles of the audience.
"Considering that I play the narrator, I always have that specific relationship with the audience in which I lead them through the story, and then we needed that kind of partner from the audience. We broke the ice. The role always finds its way to the actor, to my great pleasure I got the role of the narrator and Duke Vukašin. It's always interesting to switch from one character to another, which is complicated, but when you conquer that material it's always interesting to play. A lot of things came out of our improvisations, many scenes were created that way", said Ćatović.
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