With the awarding ceremony for the best and the performance of the great play "Traveling Theater Šopalović" produced by the Yugoslav Drama Theater, which Jagoš Marković directed by the text Jealousy Simović, this year's 19th edition of the International Mediterranean Theater Festival "Purgatorija" in Tivat ended on Saturday evening.
Among the ten performances of theater companies from the countries of the region of the former Yugoslavia, which is the selector of this year's "Purgatroja" Boris Liješević included in the competition of the festival, by the unanimous decision of the jury that made up Lily Blagojevic an actress from Serbia as president of the jury and members Željka Turčinović playwright from Croatia i Zoran Rakočević director from Montenegro, the play "Oedipus" of the Yugoslav Drama Theater from Belgrade was declared the best play.
"This play is an excellent and significant example of the reinterpretation of an emblematic ancient drama that has acquired some new connotations without losing its primary meaning, which is reflected in the tragic fate of the main character who unknowingly enters into an incestuous relationship with his mother. Apart from personal tragedy and all kinds of stumbling, the performance of the drama strives for the truth, no matter how fatal it may be, but at the same time it gives a picture of society in relation to democracy and the relation to the government. The metaphor of an inn/tavern becomes a metaphor for a society in which the search for truth turns into a tragedy for the individual and society," the jury explained in its decision.
The newly introduced festival award for the best director named after the famous director Jagoš Marković, who died early, was awarded by the jury with a majority of votes. Tatjani Mandić Rigonat for directing the play "Mirandolina" produced by the Tivat Culture Center.
"Although we could say that the theater piece 'Mirandolina' is a commonplace of world drama, the director brings it in a vehement and dynamic interpretation, focusing on the innkeeper Mirandolina as a strong and wise woman whose intelligence does not allow her to be reduced to a likable female Eros, but to her qualities transforms into female activism/feminism, and wisely places his directorial thought in the great interpretation of the actress katarine Markovic. Her direction corresponds with today's struggle of women for the same status in society without canceling authentic female qualities, and she is particularly successful in working with actors she recognizes as more or less potent interpreters of their roles. In this play, the special creation, skilled director's craft and professionalism resulted in a likable and repertory important play for both professionals and theater lovers/audience", stated the members of the jury.
The new theater piece produced by the Tivat Culture Center received another festival award - the one for the best female role, which was unanimously awarded to Katarina Marković for the role of Mirandolina.
"There is almost no actress with the ambition to work in comedy who does not fantasize about the character of the innkeeper Mirandolina. Katarina Marković's Mirandolina is fast, gentle, light-footed, precisely because the actress recognized the Mediterranean comic nerve and completely identified with the character, recognizing all its comparative advantages. She captivates on stage with her energy and appearance, causing joy and laughter in the audience. With an analytical approach and acting intelligence, she avoided all the pitfalls of cheap erotica, primitive calmness, a superficial approach to the character, and any condescension to the audience that belongs to a sell-out comedy. Her Mirandolina is authentic, wise, intelligent and contemporary. She is kind, lovely and cunning, thin and strong, gentle and determined. He likes to conquer, push boundaries, but he is a deeply emotional and noble being. In the word of a woman. With a capital Z", the jury pointed out.
"He won the award for the best male role unanimously Milan Maric for the role of Oedipus in the play of the same name by the Yugoslav Drama Theater from Belgrade.
"Oedipus performed by Milan Marić is proof of fantastic energy, exceptional charisma and already achieved artistic maturity at a relatively young acting age. His Oedipus is deeply emotional, tense, impressive. He plays it thoughtfully, eruptively, ancient and contemporary. He has a fantastic command of thought and word, which is one of the acting tasks of ancient drama. Oedipus placed in a pub with the sounds of turbo folk very boldly and today very accurate. Marić's Oedipus shows us that people and times do not change.
A mechanism that forces people from power to plunge their own people and the world into darkness for the sake of power and power. And behold miracles, all the same from antiquity to the present day. Marić's Oedipus is beautiful, modern, fast, arrogant, domineering, haughty, ready to remove any obstacle he encounters for the sake of power without choosing any means. Noble articulations, clear thoughts, precise procedures, precise actions. True. Recognizable. Contemporary. Without cheap politicking, a trap that hardly any actor would avoid. The prize is in the right hands," the explanation states.
They unanimously awarded the award for acting bravura to the collective performance of the play "My Husband" in the production of the Drama Theater near Skopje.
"That the art of acting still has its own authentic space in relation to the director's and dramaturgical concept is an indisputable thing, but that the acting division in one piece as one organism, one complex mind, one organized machinery, in totality is able to fundamentally understand and repel harsh modernity , the interpersonal chasm that opens up between those closest to you, is the ultimate mastery that is seen less and less. The actors in this play are in themselves a sufficient critical mass for an excellent theater, consciously connected to their own psychological stratification, electrified by personal complaints, ready to cancel and be reborn from the inside, revealing to the viewer the old-new therapeutic truth about the human conscience," the decision reads. the jury.
The special award for the most successful visual and technical innovation was unanimously awarded to the play "Address to the Nation" produced by Atelje 212 from Belgrade.
"The director's sign is so clear, rounded and functional, that all other theater pores open easily and accept the seed of the game. As a result, the performance becomes both painfully engaging and genre-wise wickedly salty, that in the interpretation of the surrealist picture we are looking at, the overall visual and ethical impression we receive, from seemingly harmless monologue whispers, unsuspected paradigms have opened before our eyes: the little man has shrunk, human cocoons everything is tighter, corruption is a human right, ideology is idiotized, human lives have no content.
The scenography, costume, light and sound of the eight-handed play follow such a director's impulse and skilfully contribute to the dystopian and helpless nature of our ghostly destinies, dissolved in sea foam and dry leaves," said the members of the jury.
The president of the Municipality of Tivat presented the awards to the best at the festival Željko Komnenović, while he is the director of the Tivat Culture Center Goran Bozovic Cetinje actor Momchilu Otašević presented a special recognition for his total work so far - a plaque bearing the name of a late deceased Montenegrin actress Ivan Tomicic.
Božović pointed out that this year's "Purgatory" with as many as ten performances in the competitive selection and four special dance performances were the most serious so far, as well as that during the duration of the festival from June 1 to August 31, four premieres of new theater performances were performed in the complete own or co-production of the Tivat Culture Center.
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