At times when the ship is sinking, people in their egocentrism do not care about the means to reach their own salvation. Some take over leadership, armchairs and thrones, few rebel, while mostly everyone blindly, naively and silently follows the (new) leader.
The realization that we carry within us all that we despise, that we fight against, that we become the same and that we slowly occupy the throne that we wanted to overthrow, while the contagious feeling of power swells, brings a strong emotional and moral turmoil, acceptance and facing who we are. Whether it's a win or a loss, it's definitely cathartic.
"In every defeat I saw a part of freedom", is the verse of Milan Mladenović from the song "Zemlja" by EKV. Milivoje Mišo Obradović, the actor, responded to the previous statement with this very line, after the premiere of the play "Gospoda Glembajevi" at the Montenegrin National Theater on Tuesday evening. Such, he says, is the fate of Leon Glembaj, whom he plays.
"That fate places him in an archetypal frame, in an ancient context which means that he cannot actually escape from it. It is a terrible reckoning with himself, torment and suffering throughout his life. In the end, the origin is like that. There are moments in life when a person has to meet the Glembay in himself, and the question is whether he can win or lose. No matter what it is, win or lose, the real question is what can he learn from it? Can he survive that?" Obradović said and added:
"We don't know whether life has made us happy when we think it has, or whether it has made us unhappy when we think it has made us unhappy. All that Leone had to go through is very inconvenient. Doctor of philosophy, painter, artist, intellectual, that intellectual who says what he thinks and does what he says, the question is whether he is ready to pay the price, to stand behind everything and take all the responsibility with all the losses... I was coming back to the question of what is the origin of an intellectual, one who shines with his logic and who knows what is moral and what is not. But the biggest problem is when it comes to practice, that remains an open question... That is absolutely why Glembej are alive today", concluded Obradović.
That it is really so, that the famous work of Miroslav Krleža and the Glembaj family live and breathe through every pore of our society and community, was shown by the play that Danilo Marunović put on the stage of the national theater.
"The responsibility to realize Krleža in the deciphered code of the present, without going too far, were the initial challenges. Describing the most current socio-political topics was particularly challenging. The work is more relevant today than when it was written, because Krleža wrote at the dawn of capitalism, while today we live in post-capitalism. So that all those thematic addresses that he addressed then exist today as much more attractive and potent for artistic interpretation and for the address that you provoke and choose", said the director after the premiere performance, which was accompanied by thunderous and long applause and a standing ovation.
In his recognizable style, Marunović adapted and presented a contemporary but archetypal story about a family and dysfunctional relationships within it, about hierarchy, economic power, about a woman in a system where she is "just a woman", about corruption, manipulation, interests, but about the pain and tragedy of one's own and collective failure, about the never-built father-son or parent-child relationship, about suffering and non-existent boundaries, about expectations, traditions, love and hatred, sincerity and remorse, and then again about power...
The Glembays are the embodiment of an elite that bases its wealth and power on exploitation, corruption and hypocrisy, and it is easy to recognize the parallels with contemporary society. A family permeated with secrets, conflicts, and violence, indicates the truth of Tolstoy's vision of the family, but also a true and profound allegory of every community and system in which moral decay is replaced by money and masked by surface shine.
The first scene, outside of every act and plot, acts as a clear edict to the state and everything that will come in the sequel, but never repeated. In a way, it is a summary of fornication and immorality in freedom behind closed doors.
In the slow introduction, we get to know the characters, and whether we like it or not, associations are awakened. We enjoy the scenography that effectively approximates the luxury and lifestyle of the Glembaj family, egocentric and manipulative individuals. Sophisticated and elegant emerald-green costumes are associated with nobility, royal status, power, wealth, prestige, but also with "Slytherin values" - ambition, cunning, leadership, resourcefulness, a sense of dominance and higher significance, readiness to do anything in the fight for personal benefit...
Little by little, as the denouement takes place from the very beginning, without a concrete plot, the actor's luxury will take over the scene. First there are Mišo Obradović as Leone and Svetozar Cvetković as Ignjat in the painful dialogue and confrontation between father and son.
"That scene is really the heart of the play," says Cvetković.
"If there wasn't that scene, there wouldn't even be the whole play, because that scene breaks the story, exposes everything that we and our fathers failed to do or that our children failed to analyze with us as fathers the way Krleža analyzed it. I think it's actually something that we dealt with the most, what we fought with the most, and that's not fitting in," said Cvetković, who convincingly caricatures the oldest Glembaj, the one to whom everything belongs, but who truly has nothing. Rejecting the truth, it comes to light, as well as facing oneself...
The fantastic Kristina Obradović as the strong and uncompromising Baroness Kasteli will dominate the stage and unleash all those restrained feelings, repressed thoughts and premonitions that, through the struggle with oneself and the world, are buried somewhere deep inside a person. Entering the story full of self-confidence, she already at the very beginning of the play has a very clear reference to the position and experience of women, both in that time and in today's society. Aware of the established androcentric system, she exploits it and consciously manipulates it, not only to survive, but also to get what she wants.
"Here, gentlemen, I may not know, I am only a woman... Perhaps you will explain this whole situation to me," says the Baroness, who until the third act mostly observes, remains silent, flirts, while through it all Obradović demonstrates the range and height of his non-verbal acting means, reminding that "every one of us carries something in us that would make people stone him"...
"She plays with it. She plays with the fact that she lives in such a society. At least that's what I wanted to do. She is very aware of the society she lives in, but she is also aware that she is leading the game with that society from the background. Maybe now my grandmother would intervene and say that every smart woman actually always does this: she knows when to nod, when to withdraw, and when to glorify. The baroness is of a different kind, in that sense she is closer to me, more direct, and she has her power in that house, especially over the one who actually holds the main power, indisputably, that is, she lives her life as if she has it... eventually discovered that all of this is very murky and that a lot of things are actually dirtier than what is physical in us," Obradović summed up.
The Baroness's confrontation with Leone opens up a new dimension, not of the story, but of the play. The acting couple on stage raises tensions, creates energy and an atmosphere that could be cut in the auditorium due to the tension and density, causing noise and convulsions among the audience. Like a hurricane swirling through the scene, it sucks in and throws around both facades and branches and foundations and roots, leaving behind a wasteland - emotional and human, they open up, expose, lay bare, suck everything out of themselves...
Interruption. Like some kind of thunder. Everything disappears except the dilemma "the church or the bloody knife" and panic, panic, because "the ship is sinking"... So the climax of the drama comes at its end... Because, in the moments when the ship is sinking, he doesn't care about the means.
All production aspects of the play are done at a high level
Among the large audience was a large number of dignitaries from the public and cultural life of Montenegro and the region, representatives of the diplomatic corps and the media. The director of the MESS International Theater Festival from Sarajevo, Nihad Kreševljaković, expressed his enthusiasm for this important premiere of the Montenegrin National Theater.
"It is obvious that we have the opportunity to watch exceptional actors, that all production aspects of the play are done at a high level, so my impressions are very positive," said Kreševljaković.
The dramaturg of the play is Božo Koprivica, the adaptation is signed by Bojana Mijović and Danilo Marunović, who is also in charge of the music selection, the costume designer is Vanja Ciraj Džudža, the set designer is Valentin Svetozarev, the stage movement was done by Tamara Vujošević-Mandić, the stage speech is by Dubravka Drakić, and the executive producer is Nela Otašević.
Cast: Svetozar Cvetković, Kristina Obradović, Mišo Obradović, Una Lučić, Danilo Čelebić, Lazar Dragojević, Stevan Vuković, Emir Ćatović, Kristina Mrkić and Predrag Pavićević.
Director Danilo Marunović expressed great satisfaction that he got the opportunity to stage the cult work at the Montenegrin National Theater.
The performance of "Lords of Glembajevi" is also in the repertoire tonight on the Big Stage, starting at 20 p.m. All tickets are sold out.
Bonus video:
