Entering dreams consciously

Tomi Janežič, one of the most renowned theatre directors from the region of the former Yugoslavia and laureate of this year's Sterijino Pozorje award, directed The Šopalović Travelling Theatre that premiered at Atelje 212 in early October.

By Vesna Knežević Baletić
Photo by Milan Melka

The famous Slovenian director Tomi Janežič directed The Šopalović Travelling Theatre, a drama by Ljubomir Simović that premiered on October 25.

Several seasons ago Janežič directed King Lear, featuring Ljuba Tadić in his last role, and in 2006 he directed the now anthological production of Milena Marković's drama Simeon the Foundling, which was a co-production of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad and Sterijino Pozorje. This year's production of The Šopalović Travelling Theatre has brought Janežič the Sterija award for Best Play, Best Direction and Best Set Design.

Tomi Janežić (b.1972) enjoys a reputation as one of the most talented directors from the region of the former Yugoslavia. He graduated Theatre and Radio Direction at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and TV in Ljubljana, where he also received his MA in 2001. His advanced studies include participation at many theatre seminars, symposiums and workshops (Mikhail Chekhov, Lee Strasberg, Jerzy Grotowski, Thomas Richards, the Odin Theatre…), especially in the field of acting techniques.

He also teaches at the Academy in Ljubljana, in Osijek and at the University of Art in Belgrade.

We caught up with Tomi between rehearsals for The Šopalović Travelling Theatre at the end of Bitef, for which he served as a member of the jury.

- Why have you chosen to direct Ljubomir Simović's The Šopalović Travelling Theatre?

- I've chosen this text because I was impressed by Ljubomir Simović's opus. Several years ago I saw his play The Miracle in Šargan at Atelje 212 and realized that he was an artist of international stature. This is when I decided that I wanted to direct one of his dramas. Actually, after seeing that play I began reading his poetry and prose. He is one of the rare authors whom I wanted to meet personally. This happened and Simović left a strong impression on me.

- Why did you ask Simović to read his text at the first rehearsal? What was that like?

- Like in the old days. You know that Chekhov used to read his plays. I first got the idea when I directed Milena Marković's Simeon the Foundling at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. I wanted to do the same thing with The Šopalović Travelling Theatre. I thought that it might be important for us to hear the author reading his text. And it really was an amazing experience. It was exciting to listen to Simović laughing at certain places and being serious at others… And his impeccable reading… really, this meant a lot to all of us. Here! Your director Boris Liješević, assistant director of the play, sent me an SMS saying, "The whole day I've wanted to thank you for this, to tell you that the experience of hearing Simović read his text was the most wonderful theatre event in my life".

- How do you read The Šopalović Travelling Theatre and what is your main point?

- To me, this text gives the opportunity to deal with questions in which I had already been interested. What is acting? What is theatrical performance, what is really happening during a theatrical performance? Searching for answers to these questions, I've done research on the relationship between spectator and actor. This is one level. On the second level, because the plot takes place during a time of war, a time of extreme violence, the topic is connected with war and violence, and the play poses the question of how evil actually arises in man. Violence, especially when we consider its extreme forms that occur in war, is something that I cannot understand. I can interpret it, but I cannot understand it.

- These are two key topics of the play. But this play also has a strong poetic dimension. There is the question of whether life is primarily material and what imagination is. Is imagination less real than what we call reality? These are very exciting and essential questions and it is therefore really a challenge to direct this play. I want to remove from the play everything that is superfluous and to reduce it to its essence. In that, I want to reexamine all theatrical means.

- You teach at three universities in three countries. How do you feel about this?

- Learning is very important to me. I am constantly trying to learn. During work on a play one can learn a lot while examining oneself, the actors, associates, atmosphere, group dynamic or the truth on stage – we learn. I appreciate that there are people interested in this. It means a lot to me. We learn together. I have a specific relationship with students at the Academy. It is different, but I feel great being involved in this pedagogic process, in working with students.

- You teach theatre direction and acting as well as set design. Is this a field that interests you the most aside from your basic activity?

- Yes. Although I don't like to use the word "scenography" as I don't like to say – scenery. I usually say: "the scenic space". I don't think of myself as a scenographer, but as someone who shapes the scenic space. My perception of space originates from the work of professor Meta Hočevar, under whom I studied. She is a great set designer, but this subject is no longer called "scenography" but "play space". It seems very precise to me. A play always has rules and one of these is always its space. To organise a play, you must first define the space in which something is going to happen. This space then determines how something will happen. If football was played on a different terrain, it would be a different game. Thus, one of the exciting things is to find a space that will determine how the play will develop.

- How does world theatre look today?

- I think that in the 20th century art has become unbelievably heterogeneous. In previous centuries art periods lasted longer, but the 20th century was fast and many more things were happening and there were a lot of changes. The question is whether this has led to art moving forward? What has essentially happened? Basically, all this diversity points to the fact that everything primarily happens on the surface. The world in which we live has all the symptoms of a certain disintegration. It reminds me of the period of the fall of the Roman Empire. This is also reflected in art, so today's theatre resembles that period in a certain sense. At that time, spectacle was also in demand. Also, theatre in that period went so far in its attempts to fascinate the public that they organised plays in which people were really killed on stage. The public liked it. This dimension of spectacle and the attempts to make something really happen on stage very much resembles today's time. The limits of what can occur on stage to excite the public are being extended. Fascination by violence is just one of its parables.

- What do you especially love in theatre?

- Rehearsals. This is when the creative atmosphere is constructed, people begin acting, living in the given fictional conditions and expressing themselves as humans through their roles, and in a certain sense, theatre then disappears. There are no spectators to judge a performance. Exact expression is desired. Then a rather painful transition follows when we return to the theatre and come out in front of the audience. I would like it if the public could be present during this process of creating a performance during rehearsals. They would see something genuine, something human and intimate. The fundamental question for me is how this sort of intimacy and truth is established in theatre.

- You are considered a director who has a specific method of working with actors. How do you work with actors? - Perhaps the matter is in understanding the process of acting. Is acting presenting or is acting experiencing? For me these are different experiences. It is about, let's say, entering a certain role. We all act in life. I don't think that there is anything bad in this.

I don't like it when acting is perceived as something insincere and phony. People say, "Don't you act to me!" As if this were something bad. This is said to someone who is not convincing. Shakespeare says that the whole world is a stage. To me acting is something very beautiful. Acting is a play. To me acting is an experience with imagination. What happens when we consciously enter our dreams? This occurs during times of intense experiences and some of them can change our lives.