Throughout Centuries of Philistinism

By adopting for stage Carl Sternheim’s trilogy The Heroic Life of Citizens, directed by Iva Milošević, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (JDP) from Belgrade confirmed its elitist approach to theatre arts and its devotion to its avant-garde role – to always be an astute observer of our reality and all its traps.

By Vanja Savić
Photo by Courtesy of JDP

It seems as if the crisis repeats cyclically in our industrial age that has already extended through three centuries. It feels as if a market value-system and the postulation of economic power and authority as a primary goal have been almost imperceptibly permeating the entire social life, attacking the very core of the middle-class society – family, human consciousness and moral principles.

As the brilliant director of the Sternheim’s trilogy (The Underpants, The Snob and 1913), Iva Milošević said, the very unveiling of the forces affecting modern people challenged her to work on this theatre production.

– The issue of success and climbing the social ladder is the matter of our assuming power over others in order to decrease the power of others over us. Or, more precisely and brutally, it is all just the matter of the degree of humiliation.

I believe that our social moment is marked with a philistine philosophy and various mechanisms used to keep in motion the philistine spirit, and I feel it is crucial to expose that mechanism – wrote director Iva Milošević.

The three hour story about upward path of the Maske family male members during the war makes observable all the philistine and false morale, which has been omnipresent especially after the invention of a steam engine and the technological revolution. The German expressionist drama from the first decade of the 20^th century was so adopted for theatre to expose all its glamour and glow including a criticisable, sarcastic and tragicomic expression.

Along with brilliant acting of Dragan Mićanović, who once again proved his talent by transforming himself into different characters, the cast presenting the German family development includes Predrag Ejdus, Jelena Đokić, Nada Šargin, Rada Đuričin, Anđelika Simić, Marko Baćović, Nikola Vujović, Marinko Madžgalj and Began Lazarus.

The stage design was excellently done by Gorčin Stojanović, the costume designer is Leo Kulaš, and the composer is Vladimir Pejković.

Through the Pain to the Absolute Beauty

The classical drama The Glembay Gentlemen written by Miroslav Krleža and directed by Jagoš Marković was premiered at the Atelje 212 Theatre.

By Ivana Kladarin Panić
Photo by Courtesy of Atelje 212 Theatre

One of the most performed dramas written by Miroslav Krleža, the great Croatian writer of the 20th century, seems to have attracted the attention of audience with its new cast. Even though one needs to make an effort to follow the play due to ‘Krleža’s specific language’ the play can definitely keep audience’s attention for whole two hours. According to Jagoš Marković, the main aim of this theatre production is to achieve catharsis through the highest level of pain which at the end turns into an absolute beauty.

The plot of this classical drama is set at a summer night of 1913. The central conflict is expressed through a relationship between Ignjat Glembay and his son Leon, who after eleven years of journeys from one European city to another, decided to return back to Zagreb because of his mother’s death and his father’s wedding with baroness Castelli. The tragedy culminates in the death of baroness Charlotte Castelli, Leon’s former lover and stepmother whom he murdered with a pair of scissors.

The audience had different views about this theatre production, but when it comes to the quality of the play the audience was delighted by the magnificent performance of Nikola Ristanovski who played Leon Glembay. The leading actor of the Macedonian National Theatre did not portray a romantic person who lived among unsympathetic people expressing his own drama and his family’s drama in a pathetic manner. Instead, his subtle performance led to the rather quiet and self-conscious person.

Boris Kavazza, doyen of Slovenian Theatre appeared in the role of a banker Ignjat Glembay, the head of the family and "a killer and criminal". A complex role of his wife, immoral and beautiful baroness Kasteli was played by Anica Dobra.

Apart from the actors mentioned the cast also includes Vlastimir Đuza Stojiljković (Titus Andronicus Fabriczy-Glembay), Svetozar Cvetković (Silberbrandt), Branislav Trifunović (Puba Fabriczy) ,Tanasije Uzunović (Paul Altman), Jelena Djokić (Angelika Glembay) and others.

Miodrag Tabački’s bare stage was created to define a dualism of the characters that are at times inside dark and diaphanous cubes made of Plexiglas which multiply and decompose their reflections at the same time. The white-and-black stage and elegant costumes in black and white colours, designed by Zora Mojsilović, emphasize the characters’ personalities and their relationships revealing their tragic destinies even before the first line is uttered.

Krleža’s trilogy The Glembay Gentlemen was written in 1929 and it includes three dramas – In the Agony, The Glembay Gentlemen and Leda. This trilogy follows a book of prose titled The Glembays which comprises novels, fragments and literary portraits of the Glembay family members.