Yugoslav Drama Theatre

Jean-Luc Lagarce
Rules of Good Manners in the Modern World

Translated from French to Serbian by Andjelka Nikolić


Premiere: March 14, 2008 on Studio YDT Stage at 8.30 p.m.
It lasts approx. 1h 15’.

Cast:

Lady:

Sound Designer:

ABOUT PLAY

The more the Lady demonstrates and shows that life is liable to organisation and that such an approach can guarantee a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction, the more the question of how much she herself believes in that link imposes itself. She actually finds viewers necessary in order for her to be able to, by convincing them, convince herself she is right. Reality, what really goes on around her, denies it and even more so what goes on within herself, surfacing sporadically. Moments of her utmost sincerity are the breaks in her sentences, the slips she makes, the moments when she seemingly loses touch with the play she’s in. Moments of her being lost in emotions she doesn’t know how to handle. These are not necessarily negative emotions, and this is the saddest thing about this play. As if insisting on the formal aspect of life – events and rituals related to moments of an individual’s initiation into society – is what both happiness and misery are programmed on, leading to both feelings becoming fake. Thence the strange feeling that one observes one’s life from aside, instead of living it. The biggest problem the rules bring along might be an inevitable loss of spontaneity. From my point of view, the play is about a manic attempt to prove the meaning of existence and the existence itself. The more it is proved, the more elusive this meaning gets. And turns into the meaningless. Into a void.

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Jean-Luc Lagarce (1957-1995) is the most frequently produced contemporary playwright in France. Simplicity of his vocabulary, his depth of thought and originality of expression make him a classic of contemporary literature. His plays were translated into many languages and performed in different countries. He wrote twenty five plays, such as The Last Regret Before Oblivion, The Pretendents, I Sat At Home and Waited for the Rain to Fall, The Very End of the World, Us, the Heroes, Faraway Land… He also wrote prose and essays on theatre that attract both critics’ and directors’ much attention. Lagarce's theatre focuses on language, whilst plots of his plays are relatively reduced. His voice abounds with inserted sentences; the characters continually try to clarify what they have just said. Even though he insists on maximum precision, the text, paradoxically, grows ever more vague. A significant theme of his plays is questioning the possibility of conveying anything by means of language.

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ABOUT DIRECTOR

Andjelka Nikolić
Born in 1977. Graduated from the department of Theatre and Radio Directing of Faculty of Dramatic Arts, in the class of professors Slavenko Saletović and Ljubomir Draškić, as well as from department of French Language and Literature of Faculty of Philology in Belgrade.
Her work as a director includes: Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright (Gallery Progres, Belgrade), The Deceived after Jovan Sterija Popović (National Theatre Vršac, Romanian Stage), Vučjak by Miroslav Krleža, Wedding by N.V. Gogol (National Theatre Kikinda) and Dusk by Ivo Vojnović (Bitef Theatre).
With Radio Belgrade, she directed numerous radio plays – by Vladimir Simić, Ivo Vojnović and Danilo Kiš.
Awarded Best Director and Best Play prizes at the Festival of the Classics in Vršac.
She translates from French and English.
She is a member of artistic company Hop.la!

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Reviews

Luck with Lagarce

Because she completely understands the importance of speech mechanisms, the director grants herself the liberty to be as imaginative as she wants, enhancing the structure. She does so by expanding (i.e. tripling) the Lady’s monologue using choreographed parts enacted by roles of two Models, as well as by singing parts of a Male and Female vocals. In doing so she achieves multiple things, apart from scene dynamics and attractiveness and a very playful effect she also achieves additional metaphoric meanings... The director’s treatment of the play can be easily understood, the audience can follow it without much effort, yet it’s most prominent effect is its dynamism, humour and witty entertainment... The actress Djurdjija Cvetić describes the various psychological states of this character...

Social standards are not here only to terrorize spontaneity and freedom, but also to ease the acceptance of the final confrontation. Rules are meant to make life more difficult, and to ease moment of death... This must be a civic illusion – The lady does not seem to be very calm and ready – but recognizing this aspect of the play, this transition from social themes to metaphysical ones, from Ionesco to Beckett, is surely another quality of this play. This amazing play.

Ivan Medenica, Vreme, March 20th 2008

Rules, rules...

In our time, rules are dictated by many, in the household, at the workplace, on television, on the internet... there is always someone telling you exactly what to do, what to say, how to dress, and you can bend to those rules or break them, consciously or unconsciously. Your life will pass in this fashion. And so, this play, Rules For Good Manners In The Modern World,actually depicts our lives in a very simple way

The success of this play has been confirmed by critics and audiences alike. What's interesting is that its creators are all young people that are yet to conquer the theatre. A star of our theatre life, Đurđija Cvetić, helped these young artists in a very modest fashion. She says it was a real pleasure to participate in this play, and even more so to act in it.

The art director of Rules For Good Manners In The Modern Worldis Vesna Štrbac, and the costume designer is Dejan Došljak.

Emilija Radibratović, Studio B,  April 12th 2008

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