[project rastko] the history of serbian culture - petar marjanovic the theatre

8/3/2019 [Project Rastko] the HISTORY of SERBIAN CULTURE - Petar Marjanovic The Theatre

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17/12/11 11:15 PM[Project Rastko] THE HISTORY OF SERBIAN CULTURE - Petar Marjanovic: The theatre

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Petar Marjanovic

The theatre

Chapter from the book"The history of Serbian Culture"

Courtesy of

Serbian Unity Congress Porthill Publishers

Theatre among Serbs has a tradition which is more than eight centuries old,although theatre life did not unfold without interruptions. Serbian theatre

performances in the Middle Ages had a basically secular and entertainingfunction (improvisations without written texts were staged in public places)and remained beyond the bounds and influence of the Orthodox church.Data from the religious literature of the thirteenth century reveal that churchauthorities forbade their congregation to attend gatherings where actorsshowed their performances. In the work Eulogy to Saint Simeon and SaintSava, Teodosije (1264-1328), a monk at the Serbian monastery of Hilandarand a writer, pointed out, as opposed to the heavenly beauty of the church,"the actor's odious theatre" which had been organised on the streets, thatpeople gathered, regardless of the weather, watched and listened insanely toharmful devilish songs and indecent, rude words all the way to the end. Thetraits of once staged scenes and old sport festivities lived on in the Serbianmilieu during the fourteenth century as well. In the fresco painting TheMocking of Christ, created between 1317 and 1318 in the monastery of StaroNagoricino, the endowment of King Milutin, three characters in long sleeves,together with several figures with unusual instruments, are seen in theforeground. Serbian rulers, who had a friendly and diplomatic relationshipwith Dubrovnik, sent their music and entertainment groups for thecelebrations of Saint Blasius (the patron of Dubrovnik) and artists from Zetaand Dubrovnik visited Serbia (1412 and 1413). Programmes consisted ofvarious musical, pantomime and jester's skills and exhibitions. At the end of

the fifteenth century, a convert to Islam, Ali-beg Pavlovic, who was certainlyof Serbian origin, sent his theatre group to Dubrovnik. It was led by Radoje
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Vukosalic, a Serb, and from the letter of introduction it can be concludedthat Vukosalic is the first known Serbian actor - the manager of that travelingtheatre group. Turkish rule (second half of the fifteenth century to thebeginning of the nineteenth century) interrupted the cultural development ofthe Serbs, and during that period only performances of religious characterwere staged from time to time. The only exception was Vojvodina, where asegment of the Serbian people, especially after the end of the seventeenth

century, had lived in the multiethnic culture of the Habsburg Monarchy.Thus, theatre activity was under central European influence.

Pera Dobrinovic as Kir-Janja in The Miser by Jovan Sterija

Popovic.

The first modern Serbian play was the so-called schooldrama: Traedokomedija by Manuil Kozacinski (1699-1755),by which recent dramatic literature among Serbs had begun,was performed in Sremski Karlovci in 1734. The schooldrama period lasted until 1813, when amateur actingcommenced. At the end of August, 1813, the first play was

staged in Pest: The Nutcracker Bird by Joakim Vujic (1772-1847), createdon the basis of a work by August Kotzebue. Actors-students from schooldrama plays were replaced by grown-up actors, three of whom wereprofessionals. After arriving in Serbia, Vujic founded the Prince's SerbianTheatre in Kragujevac (1835-1836), in which he worked as the manager,literary consultant, producer, leading actor, translator and adapter of dramaticworks. Due to his theatre activity, Joakim Vujic deserved the somewhatpathetic title "the father of Serbian theatre".

In 1838, the first professional theatre company among the Serbs was createdin Novi Sad. It was the Travelling Amateur Theatre, which had performed inNovi Sad, Zemun and Pancevo up to 1840; then, from June, 1840 to the endof 1841, in Zagreb (under the name "The National Theatre Company"). InFebruary of 1842 it merged with the Theatre at Djumruk (the custom's officein Belgrade, making a professional ensemble out of it. This theatre deservescredit for creating the first regular professional ensembles among SouthSlavs (Novi Sad, Zagreb, Belgrade) in the seventh decade of the nineteenthcentury.

A great playwright among Serbs was Jovan Sterija Popovic (1806-1856).After abandoning the schemes of pseudo-Classicism and nationalRomanticism, Popovic became the first Serbian author with the distinctivefeatures of the Realist approach to the literary and theatre substance, as wellas the basic mainstay of the repertoire of Serbian theatres from 1830 to 1870.Creating characters on the basis of living models and revealing the comicside of their nature and personality, he offered a lucid analysis of thementality and temperament of his fellow citizens, thus making it possible fordistinguished Serbian actors to give a series of convincing artistic creations,some of which became legendary. Even today Popovic's comedies preservetheir dramatic vitality and satirical topicality. This has been proved by the

following post-war performances: The Patriots, produced by Mata Milosevic(1949), The Upstart, The Marriages and The Patriots, produced by Dejan
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Mijac (1873, 1975, 1986), as well as Liar of All Liars and The Miser (Kir-Janja), produced by Egon Savin (1991, 1992). Popovic's works were notstaged that often during the second half of the nineteenth century, which wascharacterised by adapting both Serbian theatre and Serbian playwrights to theneeds and tastes of the audience. If one keeps in mind that the two regularSerbian ensembles, the Serbian National Theatre (founded in 1861 in NoviSad, in the region governed by Austria, later Austro- Hungary) and the

National Theatre (founded in 1868 in Belgrade, in the liberated Principalityof Serbia), had a predominantly patriotic function, along with constantfinancial problems, their unconditional devotion to the spiritual horizon ofthe audience becomes more understandable. Thus, until the end of thenineteenth century, the repertoire of Serbian theatres was governed by twobasic types of national dramatic work: the historical drama and tragedy oflate Romanticism, in which the patriotic feelings and the awakened historicalconscience of Serbs were stimulated; besides them, there were joyful countryplays "with singing" from folk life.

The National Theatre in Belgrade, in which the firstperformance was given on October 30, 1869

In 1850s and 1860s Laza Kostic (1841-1910) andDjura Jaksic (1832- 1878) gave Serbian Romanticist

drama and theatre new poetic expression and a new type of drama hero,characterised by psychological dualism. The stagings of Kostic's tragediesMaksim Crnojevic (1869), in which the worlds of Serbian national epics andShakespeare's tragedy were interwoven, and Pera Segedinac (1882), in whicha tragedy from the history of Serbian people was interconnected with theburning problems of Kostic's time, were theatre landmarks. The

performances of Jaksic's dramas Jelisaveta, the Princess of Montenegro(1868) and Stanoje Glavas (1878) proved his talent and passionate,rebellious temperament, but also his poor dramaturgical skills.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the dominant influence of Germanmodels in Serbian theatre decreased. With the return, especially to Belgrade,of the individuals who were educated in France, the influence of Frenchtheatre strengthened. Before the World War I, this was the influence ofComedie-Francaise and Paris boulevard theatres, rather than new theatretrends in France. Recent styles of European dramaturgy and theatre

(Naturalism, Symbolism, Expressionism) - and not only French - weresensed in Serbian dramaturgy and theatre. Borisav Stankovic introduced newsensitivity and new poetic tones in the Realist approach into the alreadyworn-out genre of popular folk plays "with singing", with his work Kostana(first performed in 1900), which has a cult following among Serbian theatresand audiences.

Branislav Nusic (1864-1938) left his mark on the entire twentieth century,dominating the repertoire of Serbian theatre. Devoting his life to the theatre,not only through his writing but also through his activities in the theatre (as amanager, literary consultant, producer, and as an actor as well in his early

years), he would listen carefully to see when the audience would laugh andthen used this experience in writing his comedies, which are characterised by
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the widest possible gamut of procedures and approaches to provoke laughter.Still up-to-date and vital, Nusic's works were fertile ground for severalextraordinary performances in modern Serbian theatre (The BereavedFamily, produced by Mata Milosevic, The People's Representative, producedby Dejan Mijac) and truly successful experiments with changes in genre (ASuspicious Person, produced by Sonja Jovanovic, Mister Dollar, produced byMiroslav Belovic, The Masses, produced by Dejan Mijac).

Dobrica Milutinovic in the title role of Shakespeare'stragedy King Lear, the National Theatre, Belgrade,

1924

Between the two world wars, the theatre-going publicwas enchanted by the performances of the visitingMoscow Art Theatre (1920-1921 and 1924), whichbecame the ideal. However, different stylisticorientations appeared in practice: from Expressionism

and Symbolist stylisation to Naturalism and psychological Realism. It shouldbe noted that, parallel to the elements of Romanticist diction in acting (as areflection of the nineteenth century), which continued to thrive in the firstpost-war decade, natural urban speech and modern sensitivity in theatricalexpression also appeared. At that time, Belgrade had an ensemble at a high,central European level of performance.

After World War II, the theatre in Serbia started developing rapidly. In spiteof the many negative effects of administrative management in the theatre, amore self-conscious and serious relation toward creative work was shapedand artistic ambitions increased. However, the early post-war years were

characterised by the Soviet influence and Stanislavsky's dogmaticallyunderstood Method. Serbian imitators combined the aesthetics of theMoscow Art Theatre - which belonged to a particular, specific period, andwas thus condemned to be ephemeral - with the essence of Method, which isbased on the questioning, confirmation and further development of theeternal laws of the very nature of performance on stage. The only exceptionwas the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, founded in Belgrade in 1947, whichgathered the best actors from all over Yugoslavia. Thanks to its artisticdirector Bojan Stupica (1910-1970) and the theatre's orientation toward theimprovement of artistic skills and professionalism, this theatre turned out to

be an outstanding European theatre in the first decade of its activity. Thiswas proved by its success at the Theatre of Nations in Paris, withperformances of Uncle Maroje by Marin Drzic, in 1954, Egor Bulichov byMaksim Gorky, in 1955, The Bereaved Family by Branislav Nusic and TheDiscovery by Dobrica Cosic, in 1964. This can be illustrated with the reviewin the newspaper "Le Figaro", written by Jean-Jacques Gautier: "The way inwhich the Yugoslav Drama Theatre from Belgrade performed Egor Bulichovis most praiseworthy... We have a homogenous ensemble in front of us... fullof the spirit of unity, which acts with a high level of consciousness andemanates dignity." At that time, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre staged anational and international repertoire, including modern dramas whose valuehas been acknowledged. Realism was the credo of Serbian art at that time,but the primary determination in the performances of this ensemble was to
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master the genre and style of the play and to broaden the Realist approach.They aimed to achieve authenticity of interpretation and stood up againststereotypes, banality and vulgarisation, which thus led to the highprofessionalism of the ensemble. An idolatrous attitude toward the tasks oftheatre was invoked: "The actor was an artist, the set designer - a master, theproducer - an artiste remarquable; rehearsal was a celebration, and theopening night - a historical event.

Milivoje Zivanovic in the title role of Maksim Gorky's dramaEgor Bulichov

After 1951, when Yugoslavia began to open up toward theWest, a more tolerant and artistically more productiveatmosphere was created. The Belgrade Drama Theatre, withits new repertory profile, distinguished itself among thetheatres in Serbia. Between 1951 and 1958 it staged the playsof Arthur Miller (The Death of a Salesman, The Crucible,

View from the Bridge), Tennessee Williams (The Glass Menagerie, Cat on aHot Tin Roof), John Osborne (Look Back in Anger), and other westernauthors. Based on this kind of drama, a new type of acting appeared, whichwas characterised by anti-academism and by privatisation in the utilisation ofthe means of expression. After the performance of Beckett's Waiting forGodot (the Belgrade Drama Theatre, 1955) was banned, a new era of Serbiantheatre began. Due to their youthful stubbornness and a combination offortunate circumstances, the producers and actors of this performancemanaged to show the performance on the stage of the newly establishedtheatre Atelier 212 in 1956. The aesthetic barrier was overcome and theauthorities were forced to reconcile themselves to a certain degree of artistic

freedom, under the condition that political boundaries were not overstepped(it was the first performance of Beckett's play on an Eastern European stage).From 1956 to 1960 Atelier 212 performed the plays of Jean-Paul Sartre(Huis Clos), Eugene Ionesco (The Chairs), Albert Camus (Le Malentendu),Harold Pinter (The Caretaker), Slawomir Mrozek (The Policemen), alongwith other works of modern international drama, both from the West and theEast. The stage of Atelier 212 disentangled itself from aspirations towardverism and became real theatre - not hiding that fact from the audience, butrather presenting itself as such. The epitome of this acting style was thepopular actor Zoran Radmilovic (1933-1985). After the establishment of the

Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) in 1967 - whose spiritusmovens was Mira Trailovic (1924-1989), the manager, together with JovanCirilov (1931), the literary consultant of Atelier 212 - this theatre has turnedto the national repertoire (discovering new playwrights or dramatising theprose of celebrated national writers), a trend which has been a noticeablepeculiarity of its repertory policy to this day. The National Theatre, theoldest one in Belgrade, continued to play the role of the theatre of nationalculture. Having a traditionally good acting ensemble, it staged nationally andinternationally standard authors, and occasionally plays which belong to themodern repertoire (The Forest by A. N. Ostrovsky in 1947, The CaineMutiny by H. Wouke in 1956, both produced by Hugo Klajn, and Krleza'sdrama In Agony in 1959, produced by B. Stupica, were representativeperformances in the first post-war decades). The Serbian National Theatre
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from Novi Sad had a distinctive role in the theatre life of Serbia. Its "goldenage" - from 1953, when it gathered a group of young producers, led byDimitrije Djurkovic (1925), to 1974, when the "team of producers" finallydisintegrated - is remembered for its search for new ways of dramaticexpression in Serbian theatre. They were: the ironic lyrical theatre, insistenceon the physical aspect of acting expression, the repertoire's orientationtoward the sensitivities of the young, educated audience, the motto that the

actor and space of acting are the elementary signs of theatre language,theatre which aims at social intervention and the presentation of the darksides of our epoch and of socialist society. The activity of the NationalTheatre from Subotica in the last decade should be mentioned as well. It hasa multi-ethnic ensemble which, according to Ljubisa Ristic (1947), itsartistic director, decisively shapes the character of theatre production itself -precisely because of the mixture of various cultural influences and traditions.

Mija Aleksic and Mira Stupica in Uncle Maroje by Marin

Drzic, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, 1949

In the first half century of Serbian professional theatres, thejob of producing was done by one of two persons: theatremanagers (most often writers by vocation) selected plays forthe repertoire, did the critical elaboration of the text and thecharacter analysis, made decisions about assigning parts(respecting the conventions of European theatres about the

division of the ensemble into acting specialities) and were responsible for thepurity of language and orthoepy on the stage. On the other hand, prominentand experienced actors took care of the technical-scenic aspects of theperformance. Production as an autochthonous artistic act began in Serbia in

1914, with the engagement of the first professional producers: AleksanderIvanovich Andreyev (1875-1940), who came to Belgrade with the reputationof being Stanislavsky's student and a member of the MAT, and MilutinCekic (1882-1964), who was a disciple of German directors Carl Hagemannand Max Reinhardt.

Theatre direction on Serbian stages between the two world wars was markedby three producers of entirely different poetics: Mihajlo Isajlovic (1870-1938), Jurij L'vovich Rakitin (1882-1952) and Branko Gavela (1885-1962),during his four-year guest engagement in Belgrade. Isajlovic studied in

Germany and was a follower of the Meiningen Players and Max Reinhardt;his theatrical poetics was based on doing scrupulous service to the dramaticwork. Rakitin, on the other hand, as a follower of the Russian avant-gardedirector V. E. Meyerhold, showed an inclination toward theatricalism,luxuriant acting expression, "physical acting", clownery and, whenever itwas possible, he chose the genre of the grotesque, using abundant andinventive quick-witted directing. Gavela was the first producer among theSouth Slavs to create his own poetics, which united theatre classics withinnovation, the cult of classical beauty and harmony with modern vivacity ofimagination and spirit. The four years which he spent in Belgrade (1926-1929), in the prime of his creative elan, brought a new spirit into Serbiantheatre direction. Gavela turned rehearsals into true "liturgies" of art, creatinga fascinating university of theatre, at which many Serbian actors were
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educated in the best possible way.

Mata Milosevic (1901), Miroslav Belovic (1927) and Dejan Mijac (1934)distinguished themselves after World War II, and the work of Bojan Stupica,a Slovene, in Belgrade's theatres should be especially emphasised.Milosevic's stagings were characterised by a studious approach to the play,which is intended to explore the truth about life and man, by a balanced

manner, by rationality and rich and refined scenic imagination - lucid andinnovative. Patient and experienced in working with actors, he is one of thecreators of natural and authentic acting, together with his aspiration to realisea collective performance of high artistic level (some of his bestperformances are characterised by an approach which could be called"stylised Realism"). His best stagings are: Egor Bulichov by M. Gorky, KingLear by W. Shakespeare, The Bereaved Family by B. Nusic and At Wit'sEnd by M. Krleza.

A scene from Branislav Nusic's comedy The

Bereaved Family, a performance of the Yugoslav

Drama Theatre

Miroslav Belovic built his distinct directing profileon a comprehensive education in prestigious

directing schools (Leningrad, Stratford-upon-Avon, Belgrade). A gifted andversatile author (playwright, poet, essayist, actor, professor), he interpretedplays by trying to put the actor in the foreground of his performances. Themost striking quality of his productions is their poetic Realism (The Ploughand the Stars by S. O'Casey, The Hostage by B. Behan, You Never Can Tellby G. B. Shaw, Uncle Maroje by M. Drzic and The Noble Glembays by M.

Krleza in the Vahtangov Theatre in Moscow). Belovic is credited for savinga series of neglected works of South Slavonic dramaturgy from falling intooblivion. A new approach to the national dramatic heritage (especially ininterpreting works of Jovan Sterija Popovic and Branislav Nusic) havecharacterized Dejan Mijac, who is today the leading Serbian director. Hisuse of a variety of sources in preparing the performance and hismeticulousness in utilizing them ensure his authority in the acting ensemble,which is carefully chosen and put together by him. (And even more: in spiteof the differing abilities of individuals, he is capable of making actors awareof the performance as a whole, thus achieving brilliant individual creations

and the highest of artistic levels by the entire ensemble.) He has apronounced sense for the rhythm of the performance and for the dynamicsand the cadence of actor's speech in grading conflicts on the stage - often inthe dynamics of mis-en-scene. In deciphering his production style ingeneral, one must proceed from a comprehension of theatre according towhich the starting point is the author, and the final one - the actor in front ofthe audience. His best performances are created on the basis of the nationaldrama corpus (The Upstart by J. S. Popovic, The Masses by B. Nusic, TheSpawning of Carp by A. Popovic, The Sopalovic Travelling Theatre by Lj.Simovic). Of the performances staged from the international repertoire thefollowing should be mentioned: Vasa Zeleznova by M. Gorky, Uncle Vanyaby A. P. Chekhov, The House of Bernarda Alba by G. Lorca, Even a WiseMan Stumbles by A. N. Ostrovsky.
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Bojan Stupica was not only the producer of significant and thrillingperformances, but also an artist who aimed to create his own theatre. Heaccomplished this in the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade, where heproduced outstanding performances from 1947 to 1955 - Le BaruffeChiozzotti by K. Goldoni, Wolves and Sheep by A. N. Ostrovsky, FuenteOvejuna by L. de Vega, Leda by M. Krleza, and the crowning achievement

of Serbian theatre in the first post-war decade - the Renaissance comedyUncle Maroje by Marin Drzic (1508-1567), which was presented toaudiences in Paris, Moscow, Leningrad, Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw, Venice,and other European cities. Stupica was a producer of exuberant imaginationon stage, temperamental and fanciful, so that every staging had the artisticstamp of his personality: the acting, setting, lighting, music. It has been saidthat, for him, the art of theatre was a manifestation of life principles, ratherthan an abstract artistic law.

Branko Plesa and Marija Crnobori in An Ideal

Husband by Oscar Wilde, the Yugoslav Drama

Theatre, 1961

In 1860s and 1870s (with the necessary support ofthe press and the elite of Serbian intelligentsia,

which gathered around the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad) actorsimposed themselves upon society as significant exponents of national ideasand as an important cultural factor. The Romanticist epoch of Serbian actingwas marked by: Tosa Jovanovic (1845-1883), an actor of marvellous, virilestature and resonant voice, who was the interpreter of the classical repertoire;Milka Grgurova (1840-1924), the best Serbian actress of the tragic style,

and, as the last vestige of Romanticist acting, Dobrica Milutinovic (1880-1956). He was the most beloved actor in the history of Serbian theatre, anartist who possessed a distinctive individuality, a handsome and beautifulstature, an enchanting voice and a temperament which was matchless in itsstrength and in its lyrical emotional quality. He accomplished the highestartistic achievements in his characterisations of W. Shakespeare (Romeo,Mark Anthony, Othello, Shylock, King Lear), P. Corneille (Le Cid), J. F.Schiller (Don Carlos), F. Dostoevsky (Raskolnikov), L. Tolstoj (FedjaProtasov), and, in the national repertoire, B. Stankovic (Mitke) and I.Vojnovic (Orsat the Great).

A Realist phase in Serbian acting began with Aleksa Bacvanski (1832-1881), and it was continued in a striking manner by a pleiad of great actorsof the National Theatre in Belgrade: Milorad Gavrilovic (1861- 1931), SavaTodorovic (1862-1935), Ilija Stanojevic Cica (1859-1930), and DimitrijeGinic (1873-1934). The most significant actor of the epoch and theperformer of the ultimate artistic level in the history of Serbian acting wasPera Dobrinovic (1853-1923). Dobrinovic was an actor of luxuriant talent,although he did not possess natural predispositions for the roles of heroes: hewas short, fat, with a physiognomy in which almost nothing of his talent wasdiscernible, except in his vivacious eyes, and his voice possessed neither

great volume nor a seductive timbre. Yet, due to his innate intelligence,intuition, inexhaustible imagination and outstanding diligence, during his
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long-lasting, brilliant theatre career he created several hundred variouscharacters in the field of comic, characterological and dramatic expression,which were interpreted in an excellent way. Even in insignificant andmediocre plays he was able to create memorable roles, which elevated thevalue of the play and the performance in general. Through all of his roles heoffered - as was correctly noticed by Milan Grol - that which is most worthyin the art of acting - a deep, human content. He performed roles in the plays

of W. Shakespeare (Richard III, Iago, the Fool in King Lear), J. B. P.Moliere (Orgon, Geronte), P. Calderon, J. W. Goethe, J. F. Schiller, V.Hugo, N. V. Gogol (the mayor in The Inspector General), A. P. Chekhov, O.Mirbeau (Isodore Lechat in Business Is Business), R. Bracco (title role - DonPietro Caruso), in the plays of national authors, J. S. Popovic, K. Trifkovic,L. Kostic, B. Nusic, as well as in many performances of "popular plays withsinging" and operettas. Dobrinovic was the first Serbian actor to get a publicmonument (in Novi Sad, 1982).

A scene from the performance L'Illusion Comique by

Pierre Corneille, set design by Miodrag Tabacki

The period between the two world wars brought thefinal domination of Realist expression in Serbianacting. Besides a pleiad of the old generation of

actors, which was still active in the first decade of this period, two actorsshould be singled out: Zanka Stokic (1887- 1947), the most serene Serbianactress, and Rasa Plaovic (1899-1977), a great actor of modern sensitivity.Zanka Stokic introduced an abundance of authentic life details into herperformances. Her heroines were complete human beings, always possessingan expression of her artistic individuality (her greatest theatre successes were

the roles in comedies of B. Nusic, above all the unforgettable Zivka fromThe Cabinet Minister's Wife). The first step in modernising Serbian acting,on its way to contemporary European expression, was done by R. Plaovic,who created the two greatest roles of that period in Serbian acting (Hamlet inShakespeare's tragedy and Leone Glembaj in Krleza's drama The NobleGlembajs). Intelligent, educated, intuitive and emotional, he was constantlystriving to bring more creative spirit and verve into performances, withoutrenouncing matters pertaining to life.

The magisterial line of Serbian acting, represented by Tosa Jovanovic -

Dobrica Milutinovic - Pera Dobrinovic - Milorad Gavrilovic - Zanka Stokic -Rasa Plaovic, was continued after World War II by Milivoje Zivanovic -Mira Stupica - Branko Plesa. Milivoje Zivanovic (1900- 1976) was one ofthe last representatives of the pleiad of actors who were bards, heroes andmissionaries. He was characterized by an outstanding and powerful actingtemperament, supplemented by a distinctive stature and expressive voice. Ininterpreting characters from all kinds of genres, he sculpted them from oneblock, like a huge rock, with great inspiration and elementary strength in hismomentum (title role in Egor Bulichov by M. Gorky and King Lear by W.Shakespeare, Father in Prisoners of Altona by J. P. Sartre, Agaton in TheBereaved Family by B. Nusic). The landmark in the post-war Serbian theatrewas Branko Plesa (1926), who introduced Serbian acting into the moderntrends of European theatre expression. His handsome stature, impeccable
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diction - which stimulated his faster and more modern speech rhythm,unseen beforehand on Serbian stages, together with broad education - whichenabled him to move masterfully through the works of classics and the mostmodern writers of our time, made him a unique actor in the contemporarySerbian theatre (Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov by F. M. Dostoevsky,Marquis de Posa in Don Carlos by J. F. Schiller, Shakespeare's charactersEdgar and McDuff, the anthological role of the villain in At the End of the

Road by Marijan Matkovic, as well as a series of comical and lion charactersin the works from the international repertoire). Right next to Zivanovic andPlesa stand Ljubisa Jovanovic (1908-1971) and Ljuba Tadic (1929), withremarkable performance qualities and valuable artistic achievements.Jovanovic was characterised by great power of transformation, a handsomevirile stature and a specific sensitivity which made it possible for him toadjust spontaneously to the modern international repertoire and new theatretrends better than any other actor of the generation between the wars(Falstaff in Henry VIII by W. Shakespeare, Neschastlivtsev in The Forest byA. N. Ostrovsky, Danton in Danton's Death by G. Buechner, Jack Boyle in

Juno and the Peacock by S. O'Casey). Tadic's acting is distinguished by avigorous temperament, suggestiveness and concentration, in his greatprotagonistic roles: his creation of Hoederer in Les Mains Sales by J. P.Sartre (magnificently produced by Bora Draskovic) is at the very peak of thebest creations of Serbian acting. The most distinctive actress in the first twopost-war generations was Marija Crnobori (1919), a tragedienne of theclassical repertoire (Sophocles' Antigone, Racine's Phaedra, Goethe'sIphigenia). The entire period after World War II has been marked by MiraStupica (1923), an actress of great talent with a broad creative gamut.Possessing an abundance of natural gifts, she has imbued all her theatrecreations with genuine emotionality (Petrunjela in Uncle Maroje by M.Drzic, Sasa Negina in Wolves and Sheep by A. N. Ostrovsky, Danica in TheLove of Your Life by Milan Djokovic, Grusche Vahnadze in The CaucasianChalk Circle by B. Brecht).

Zoran Radmilovic and Maja Cuckovic in theperformance Ubu-Roi by Alfred Jarry

In the period between the two world wars a circle oftheatre set designers and costume designers, whodiscarded the restraints of European illusionistic

scenography, began its activity in Belgrade. Two of themshould be singled out: the painter Jovan Bijelic (1884-1964), who accomplished the transition between fine arts

and the art of set design in Serbian set designing, and Vladimir IvanovicZedrinski (1899-1974), who successfully brought together the Realism of theRussian set design school and modern tendencies toward stylisation. AfterWorld War II, set design and costume design were incident to all changeswhich the theatre in Serbia went through. The most distinguished designersin the first decade were Milenko Serban (1907-1979), a set designer ofRealist orientation and Milica Babic- Jovanovic (1909-1968), a costumedesigner whose works were characterised by a refined perception of styleand temperance in utilizing colouristic effects, folklore elements andornamentation. New tendencies have appeared in the set designs of Vladimir
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Marenic (1921), distinguished by monumental but functional solutions whichsuggestively revived the ambient set. The same was characteristic for theworks of costume designer Mira Glisic (1918-1965), which were marked byrich colourism and lucid inventiveness. The most significant set designertoday is Miodrag Tabacki (1947), who departs from the directors'conceptions, giving them his own connotations and his fundamental ideas.The first lady of Serbian costume design, Bozana Jovanovic (1932), is less

preoccupied with precision of costume cuts and details, but her values liveand vibrate together with the script, creating a piercing atmosphere on stage.

A scene from the performance - The Village ofSakule in Banatby Zoran Petrovic and Dimitrije

Djurkovic

The most important theatre institution in Serbia isSterijino pozorje (established in 1956 in Novi Sad),

in the framework of which the Yugoslav Theatre Festival - a festival ofperformances created on the basis of the national drama heritage - is heldevery year. For almost four decades, the performances shown at this festivalhave made a valuable contribution to the affirmation of Serbian and southSlavonic writers. The performance Heaven's Detachment (1956), by twodbutants, Aleksandar Obrenovic (1928) and Djordje Lebovic (1928), wasthe turning-point in the Serbian post-war dramaturgy. It is a soul- stirringstory about seven prisoners in the Nazi camp Oswiecim (Auschwitz), whoagree to murder their co-sufferers in order to prolong their own lives forthree months. The play negated Socialist Realism, revived Realism andcourageously opened up discussion about morality and human nature. In thenext decade, theatres began staging the works of the national drama corpus

more and more, and the characters and situations in them becamepsychologically more complex, closer to the problems of modern society.Historical analogies and Aesopian language were used, in order to explainthe contemporary social situation and the current historical process.Important moments of that decade were the performances of dramas writtenby Borislav Mihajlovic (Banovic Strahinja), Velimir Lukic (The Long Lifeof King Oswald) and Zoran Hristic (Savonarola and His Friends). A newturning- point was a series of performances of the plays by AleksandarPopovic (1929). He has radically reexamined the basic normativepresuppositions of Aristotle's dramaturgy. He has placed the language values

at the forefront, which then intrusively take control over almost all dramaticexpression. In the most successful early stagings of Popovic's works(Ljubinko and Desanka, The Hundred Loop Stocking, The Pig's Trot), theproducers followed the lead of the writer. Even more successful theatreproductions were accomplished by Branko Plesa and Dejan Mijac, in thoseof Popovic's plays which offered criticism of social reality (TheDevelopment of Boris Tailor, The Spawning of Carp, Rooster without a Tail,Coffee with Cream). Besides Popovic, the most respectable modern Serbianwriters are Ljubomir Simovic (1935) and Dusan Kovacevic (1947). Thestagings of the best Simovic's works (Hasanaginica, The Miracle in Sargan,The Sopalovic Travelling Theatre) revealed his moral sensitivity, the melodyand rich quality of his language, and his extraordinary gift for humorousimagination. In his popularity among audiences, Dusan Kovacevic succeeded
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Branislav Nusic, although he is a playwright who, taking for granted all thevirtues of his own people, unsparingly ridicules all their shortcomings,fallacies, baseness and foolishness (The Marathoners' Victory Lap, TheCollection Centre, The Balkan Spy and Saint George Slaying the Dragon).The activities of Sterijino pozorje have contributed to the internationalrecognition of Serbian playwrights. A great number of Nusic's plays wasperformed in the theatres of the Soviet Union (the biggest success was The

Cabinet Minister's Wife, staged in the theatres of 27 cities), the CzechRepublic, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries. Simovic's dramaThe Sopalovic Travelling Theatre was shown in France (Paris), Poland, theCzech Republic and Slovakia. The comedies of Dusan Kovacevic werestaged in theatres in Germany (Berlin, Nuernberg, Potsdam), Poland(Warsaw, Cracow), Hungary (Budapest), Great Britain (London), the USA(San Francisco), Ukraine (Kiev), the Czech Republic (Prague) and Slovakia(Bratislava).

Ljubisa Jovanovic, Ljuba Tadic and Misa Janketic in

the performance When the Pumpkins Blossomed byDragoslav Mihajlovic

A special emphasis should be placed upon theInternational Theatre Festival BITEF, thanks to

which, as it has been already mentioned, Belgrade was incorporated into thetheatre map of Europe and the whole world. It also made it possible forSerbian theatre to be directly informed of significant international theatreachievements. It should not be forgotten that some performances in the earlyyears of BITEF shocked the public with their nudity, the lavishness of eroticscenes and the aggressive behaviour of the actors. However, it was a

privilege to see, on Belgrade's stages, the authors who have made their markon the recent history of international theatre (Peter Brook, Ingmar Bergman,Jerzy Grotowski, Anatolij Efros, Tadeusz Kantor, Peter Stein, Luca Ronconi,Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Robert Wilson, Eugenio Barba, Pina Bausch andothers). In the following years BITEF became an important stimulus in thecreation of an international intellectual theatre climate in Serbia, and theexperiences of BITEF were incorporated by distinguished authors in Serbiantheatre. Serbian productions appeared more frequently in the programme ofthis festival and some of them proved to be up to European and internationalstandards (the performance of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre Happy Days or

Tarelkin's Death by Suhovo-Kobilin, produced by Branko Plesa, shared thefirst prize of BITEF with performances of Bergman and Efros in 1974, andin 1990 the performance of the same L'Illusion Comique by Corneille,produced by Slobodan Unkovski, shared the first award with theperformance of the theatre Ultima Vez from Brussels).

Thirty-five professional theatres are active in Serbia today, as are threeinstitutions of higher education (the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade,the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and the Faculty of Arts in Pristina), andtwo theatre museums (the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia in Belgrade andthe Theatre Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad). Five publicationsspecialising in theatre are also being published (the periodical "Scena",renowned throughout Europe, "Pozoriste" ("Theatre") and Zbornik Matice
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srpske za scenske umetnosti (Matica Srpska Proceedings for Theatre Arts) inNovi Sad, and "Teatron" and "Ludus" in Belgrade.

Space will not allow a discussion of the activity of children's theatres, puppettheatres, music and dance theatres, or an analysis of the work of composersof stage music, or of theatre critics and theatre experts. They have allcontributed, in their own way, to the diversity and high merit of theatre life

in Serbia.

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[project rastko] the history of serbian culture - petar marjanovic the theatre

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