|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PATRIOTS
Jovan Sterija Popović
Premiere 23 May 2003, JDP, Main Theatre
Duration of performance: approx. 2 hours |
|
 Cast and crew |
| About the author |
| About the director |
| Reviews |
|
Cast:
Žutilov: Voja Brajović
Nanička: Tanja Bošković
Malčika: Sofija Juričan
Eden: Rastko Vujičić-Marko Lončar
Šandor Lepršić: Nenad Jezdić
Mrs. Zelenić: Mirjana Karanović
Šebrulić: Janoš Tot
Smrdić: Boris Isaković
Gavrilović: Tihomir Stanić
Nadj Pal: Miodrag Radovanović
Set Design: Aleksandar Denić
Costume Design: Biljana Dragović
Choreography: Andjelija Todorović
top
|
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOVAN STERIJA POPOVIĆ was born in Vršac in 1806. A dramatist, novel writer and poet. Graduated in law in Slovenia. Had a key and initiating role in the development of the Serbian culture, not onlz as a writer, but as the founder of the two important cultural institutions, the Serbian Academy of Science and the National Museum. At one time Head of the Ministry of Education.
As still a young man, he tried his hand at writing tragedies with the Serbian history as the subject matter (Miloš Obilić), but his satirical comedies are especially significant: Kir Janja, Pokondirena tikva, Laža i paralaža, Zla žena, Beograd nekad i sad, Rodoljupci (The Patriots)...
top |
|
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
DEJAN MIJAČ graduated from the Theatrical Academy in Belgrade. Worked as a permanent director at the National Theatre in Tuzla, and then at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. Pokondirena tikva by Jovan Sterija Popović, directed by him in 1973, became one of the landmarks of the contemporary Yugoslav theatre. Taught drama at the Drama Studio of the SNT and at the Academy of Art in Novi Sad, and theatre directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Art. Currently directs at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (Vasa Železnova by Maksim Gorky, Pučina by Branislav Nušić, Putujuće pozorište Šopalović by Ljubomir Simović, Rodoljupci by Jovan Sterija Popović, Le Misanthrope by Moliere...). Also directed at all prominent theatres of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Introduced a series of innovations into the contemporary interpretation of Yovan Sterija Popović and Branislav Nušić. Received the highest professional and state awards.
He lives in Belgrade, as a retired university professor and still active director.
top |
|
REVIEWS
Message without Mercy
...Simply, Dejan Mijač solely exposes their double dealings, greed and egoism, shows to what extent they have become morally insensitive and how callously indifferent they are to everything they have brought about. To him, these characters are a disgusting group of war profiteers, whose characteristic features closely relate them to today’s bankers, owners of holding companies and television magnates… he makes the story of ‘The Patriots’ extremely topical both by the anachronistic use of costumes and props and particularly by emphasizing those parts of the dialogue, and even segments of the plot, that remind us of how something that happened here long ago has recently repeated itself.
Vladimir Stamenković, NIN
From Life and Newspapers
While interpreting this given topic (and ‘The Patriots’ is precisely that), Dejan Mijač, together with the other ‘authors’ of the performance, focuses mainly on the satirical layer of the play, related to (current) social trends and existing customs. In connection with this one can say that, with all its digressions and deviations towards explicit stylization, the play is a sort of a poster (and deliberately so). An obvious picture of today’s circumstances, created on the basis of, as Sterija himself says, ‘life and newspapers’. As for the performers of the score called ‘The Patriots’, they are a harmonious orchestra who respect the ‘conductor’s main intonation…
Željko Jovanović, BLIC
top
|
|
|
|
|
