Art Aimed For the Public

Oscar-winner Jiri Menzel, who deserves the most credit for the fame of Czech film, directed Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor at the National Theatre of Belgrade, which premiered at the end of March.

By Vesna Knežević Baletić
Photo Milan Melka

Celebrated Czech director and Oscar winner Jiri Menzel directed Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor at the National Theatre in Belgrade, featuring Milan Gutović, Aleksandar Srećković, Nataša Ninković, Dušanka Stojanović Gild, Jelena Helc and Nada Blam in the leading roles. The play had its premiere on March 29th and is expected to have a long run, considering Menzel’s theatre productions in the Czech Republic have run up to 20 years, and his films Closely Watched Trains, My Sweet Little Village, Larks On a String, Cutting it Short and Capricious Summer have numbered among the most watched films in Europe.

Menzel came to Belgrade at the invitation of Boba Đurović, director of the National Drama, who is also a Prague student and long-time friend of the great director. "In an apathetic society like our contemporary society, laughter is necessary. That’s why this text was offered to Menzel. In European theatres few directors who know how to make a comedy, and I know of nobody better than Menzel. And I know no artist who is more subtle than Jiri Menzel," says Đurović.

To the broader public, Menzel is better known as a film director, though he is also a writer, actor and theatre director. His first theatre direction was Machiavelli’s (La) Mandragola, in 1965, which he did three years after graduating from Prague’s Film and Theatre Academy. The production ran nine years and was performed at the 3rd Bitef in Belgrade in 1969. Immediately after (La) Mandragola he was invited to work in Switzerland, which launched his international career. The rest is history. Today Menzel directs in theatres throughout Europe and lives in Prague with his 29-year old wife Olinka, a producer.

We interviewed Menzel ten days before the premiere, which was quite a feat considering that Menzel was strongly focused on his work, and was not disposed to engage in anything that was not related to his work. As Menzel is not a man of cafes and clubs, the interview was conducted in the director’s office, in front of the reception desk inside the National Theatre, in a car and a Dorćol workshop that was finishing the stage scenery, and finally, over hot veal soup. Professional, strict and demanding, Menzel is at the same time spirited, endlessly witty and a youthful looking and charming man who loves simplicity and avoids mystifications of any kind.

Mr. Menzel, what is the quintessence of acting? -Let’s put it this way: to enter the stage, say what you have to say and leave. I cannot believe it is so simple. - It is simple. Stanislavsky is a cheat. To listen to and answer a partner – that’s all. And to be honest and true. It is crucial that you understand what you are talking about and to believe it. Do you act because you enjoy it or because you respect the profession? -I enjoy it. Whenever I acted, I was "a substitute". Regardless of whether I or someone else was the director, and someone fell ill or was unable to perform for some other good reason, then I substituted.

I don’t know how to act. As an actor, I’m an amateur and have no responsibility

-(He laughs. He knows that we know that for some of these roles he has won international recognition, and that some performances in which he demonstrated acting bravura have been running for 16 years.)

And what is the job of a director?

-The director is the first spectator, who is there to correct acting and performance. Also, he is in charge of everything, to ensure that the performance becomes an organic whole. The performance has to be natural, and it must give the impression that it is possible, that everything "sprouted on its own". And, indeed, everything is directed. In this lies the naturalness of a performance. It is most difficult to make the work of the director invisible. A spectator shouldn’t wonder, "Why?", or ask questions like "Why is Polonius in a jersey?" It should be clear from the performance and one should believe that that’s the only possible way. The performance should be done so that a spectator lives with it and doesn’t ask himself why it was conceived in a particular way.

I haven’t seen any of your theatre productions but I have seen your films and I love them because of your recognizable signature, your humour, the gift to recognize a detail and to show a character in a single movement.

-You saw that because you wanted to see it. An ordinary spectator doesn’t recognize the director.

Geroslav Zarić, Jirži Mencl, Boba Đurović

How do you approach directing? -Very simply. I "see" the text and help actors to see the same thing. I like when it is simple. However, today people enthusiastically call art everything that is incomprehensible. Such art is created by people who decided to work in this way because they hated getting up early and going to work from 9 to 5. Today, art is made for artists and not for the public. Today, the celebrated artist is someone who knows how to attract attention. "I know this artist, but I don’t what he has done."

What is the difference between a director’s work in movies and in theatre?

-It is easier to work in theatre. It is more intimate. I like contact with the public and I learn from it. I listen to reactions.

Is that why you’ve mostly worked in theatre in recent years?

-No. I haven’t had any appropriate film offers. I worked in the Barrandov Studios that stopped working in the nineties. Films are made by people who can secure financing. I don’t know how to do that.

Perhaps that’s fate. You began studying film direction because you were not accepted to study theatre direction?

-True. I wasn’t accepted and they accepted Boba here. So now you can see what sort of school it is. (He laughs and embraces his friend Boba Đurović).

The Prague Academy of Film and Theatre is highly appreciated here and, indeed, worldwide. It has produced many good directors. What is its secret?

-It was really outstanding. This is no longer true. The foundation of the Prague Academy was established by Professor Otakar Várva, and he deserves the greatest credit for its success. The Academy had an excellent curriculum and brilliant teachers who lived in a relatively liberal regime. For example, Milan Kundera, my good friend, taught comparative literature. Among the students were some of your directors, Emir Kusturica, Goran Marković, Goran Paskaljević… Professor Várva is now 96, he is well, and he recently attended the premiere of my new film I Served the King of England.

Are you engaged in teaching? -No, it’s boring. You were responsible for the fact that a Yugoslav film was mentioned at an Oscar awards ceremony? -Yes. Actor Danny Kaye opened the envelope and said, ‘"The award goes to the Yugoslav film…", and then Saša Petrović, director of The Feather Gatherers stood up, overjoyed.

But then Kay continued … Closely Watched Trains by Jiri Menzel. Later, Petrović told me smilingly that he had almost had a heart attack …

What has the Oscar brought you, and has it deprived you of anything?

-It brought me prestige and a higher salary in the film studio where I worked. However, it also brought me a great number of enemies. People are envious. And when the Russian tanks entered Prague, I was the first who could no longer work.

What kind of Shakespeare are you preparing for us in the National Theatre in Belgrade?

-Uh… I guess that will be a performance that both actors and the audience will enjoy. Actually, I see the sense of theatre and film in that people enjoy them. Film and theatre also have other functions, but a spectator has to find them on his own. It shouldn’t be forced. I am offended when I feel that a film or a performance is trying to give me some sort of moral. Whose right is it to impose an opinion on me? I want to have fun, but also to have something to think about afterwards.

What is contemporary in Merry Wives of Windsor, what is interesting to today’s audience?

-Characters in the play are living people, with human virtues and flaws. They are like us. There are no great ideas. This is Shakespeare’s only play that is not historical. It has elements of burlesque theatre.

What is the difference between working in Belgrade and theatres in Paris, Moscow, Zurich, Berlin, Sofia, Zagreb and Dubrovnik, where you have worked in recent years?

-The difference between a Serbian and Swiss theatre, for instance, is identical to the difference between two Belgrade theatres. In the majority of theatres, actors are paid better than your actors. Your actors are good, but are not accustomed to discipline.

Should art be engaged? -Engaged art is boring and pretentious. What is the most important element in order to make a good film or a good drama? -A good screenplay and good casting. Are you deliberately omitting direction?

-That’s how I feel. I am a director, I live that, I make a living in that trade and I feel alive with it, which is most important. Every human work is creative – making handles, making shoes, the service of a waiter in restaurant… But not every creative work has a mass public and the recognition of the public. Mine, as it happens, has that, but these are only external effects in which I am not especially interested.

Will you come here again?

-If you have money.