Theatre for Life

The 40^th Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF), which counts itself among the most respected theatre festivals in the world, was held from September 15-30. The winner of the Mira Trailović Award went to the Hungarian play "The Seagull" directed by Arpad Schilling. For the first time in its history BITEF produced a performance from the official selection; the play "Circus History" directed and choreographed by Sonja Vukićević was well received and has been invited to a theatre festival in Austria.

By Vesna Knežević Baletić
Photo by Courtesy of BITEF

The play "Ballet for Life" by Maurice Bejart, staged on September 30^th at the Sava Centre by the Bejart Ballet from Lausanne with music by Queen, and with costumes designed by Versace, closed the Festival and began the music festival. BITEF has finished and Bemus has begun. BITEF's art director and selector Jovan Ćirilov says that "one can almost say that Bemus started on the first day of BITEF and that BITEF ends the last day of Bemus." His remark refers to the full connection and permeation of words, music and movement in today's theatre as well as to the frequent absence of words, which BITEF has supported from its inception 40 years ago.

This year, on the anniversary of the 40^th consecutive BITEF, the Festival was conceived as an artistic recollection of previous festivals, which also implied a creative survey of contemporary theatre tendencies and a selection in which every artistic affinity found its highest expression. During sixteen full and prolific days with nearly as many performances from 12 countries, a large number of eminent guests and a rich accompanying programme in which "Showcase" could be singled out for its presentation of domestic theatre to foreign and domestic guests, the 40th BITEF lived up to its reputation and once again justified its status as one of three most prominent theatre festivals in the world.

Actually, the reputation of the Festival that has "for years persisted on the theatrical exploration of the new has lived to see that which was once avantgarde become classic; has endured political pests, coups, social reforms and reformers, hunger and poverty. It spreads over two centuries, two millenniums and three states, and all this while surviving in the same city and with the same art director," said Vida Ognjenović, President of the BITEF Council in her opening address.

"Seagull"

Awards

It seems that this year's rich and diverse selection posed no dilemma for the festival jury as, according to the official statement, the jury unanimously decided to award first prize to a play that was sold out on the first day that tickets went on sale. This is no doubt due to BITEF's well-informed audience. They were treated to an exciting artistic event, one of the most successful interpretations of Chekhov in which actors don't seem to act but live in the play. The 40^th BITEF's jury, whose members included presiding Dino Mustafić, Egon Savin, Igor Đorđević, Daša Kovaćević and Miloš Sofrenović, unanimously voted that the Mira Trailović Award should go to "The Seagull", directed by Arpad Schilling and performed by the Krétakör Theatre from Budapest (Hungary), for staging, excellent direction and acting that has found the key for the greatest literary enigma of the 20th century, confirming that Chekhov is indeed our contemporary. BITEF's Special Award went to "It Only Seems That I Am Dead", a play performed by the Hotel Pro Forma Theatre from Copenhagen (Denmark), in the direction of Kirsten Dehiholm, for a virtuoso and sophisticated scenic form of musical content. The Audience Award went to the play "The Languages of the Walls" performed by the Forum For New Dance of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, while the Politika Daily Award for Best Direction went to Maurice Bejart, one of the initiators, founders and creators of modern ballet and dance.

"It Only Seems That I Am Dead"

In the Words of the Director

"I have always thought that BITEF was good if I saw two to three really good performances. We haven't yet seen all the performances at this year's BITEF but even now I can single out four performances. Let's start from the most extreme: "A Story about Ronald, a Clown from McDonald's" by Rodrigo Garcia, which is a big hit at festivals, then "Cargo Sophia- Belgrade", and there is also Schilling's "Seagull" and Constanza Macras with the performance "Big in Bombay". I am extremely happy to have seen "Barren Soil" at Ada Huja. I haven't seen anything similar until now, says Nikita Milivojević, theatre director and director of BITEF, adding:

"One of my objectives with this year's BITEF was to fill auditoriums for Showcase performances, which is designed to present productions by our theatres. This actually happened. We started Showcase last year and there were not enough spectators because it ran parallel to the Festival. The rhythm was no good. This year we reduced it to three days and invited numerous and influential people from the world of theatre, with an accent on those engaged in marketing performances. On its first day, we had thirty eminent guests. One result was that Marrie Zimmerman invited the performance "Circus History", produced by BITEF, to an important festival in Austria. Other invitations are also expected. I am proud of this. As so many eminent people come to BITEF, it's fantastic that guests have the opportunity to view productions by Serbian theatres. Many key people from all over Europe now have an insight into our work. I would like to better engage these guests next year - in the media and at creative workshops."

"Ballet for Life"

Common Denominator

Emcee and moderator of this year's BITEF, Bojan Munjin, a theatre critic from Croatia has, by the nature of his job, a good view into both the performances and the audience response to them. About the 40^th BITEF, Munjin says:

"In my opinion, the most important aspect at this BITEF is a sort of, let's call it a social nerve that is present in the majority of performances. Artists have infused into them various kinds of poetics in order to speak quite boldly about the world around them. This is obvious in performances like "A Story About Ronald…", "Big in Bombay", "Circus History", "Barren Soil"… I see that directors from Serbia, whose performances were shown at Showcase, experience our era in the same way. I must conclude that after all of the different political theatres, the various theatre manifestos of the seventies, we have nothing like that today. Today, in my opinion, we have a feeling of responsibility, so artists look life in the eye and speak about it. It is not difficult to recognise what they see: they see today's world as a place that, despite being bathed in comfort, is not really the best place for living. Because on the one hand we have a sort of comfort "levelling" and on the other we have violence. There is also the issue of loneliness. People have never been as lonely as they are today. I think that this is the preeminent poetic and moral characteristic of performances at this year's BITEF, and it is realised, in an aesthetic sense, by applying all possible artistic techniques. Judging from what these artists also said, many boundaries are being erased. Primarily the boundaries between life and death, but also between different instruments that artists use. Thus, I think that in the artistic sense this is a good situation, a vital aesthetic moment".