IN THEIR OWN WAY.
Iva Kostovic-Mandick & Petar Mandick are two artists, theatre makers, authors and performers who devoted more than three decades of their life making their own theatre.
The artists originate from Sarajevo where they finished their studies (Petar is a accomplished ballet dancer; Iva is a dramaturge) and launched their career as theatre “Maska i Pokret”. They have been working internationally ever since, and since 1984 home-based in Amsterdam.
Although both with a classical theatre background, soon after finishing their studies they choose not to proceed their career in a traditional theatre, but to go their own way.
WORKING TOGETHER.
For more than three decades they have been working together, blending their different experiences, approach, backgrounds and interests concerning visual arts, theatre, movement, mask and music and creating the new connections between these various elements. Complementing each other and moulding it all in what has become the blueprint of their own theatre aesthetic.
They have been making their own productions in which they feature as complete authors, from writing the story, creating scenario and choreography to staging and designing of all visual elements. Finally being the protagonists in most of their own plays as well.
COMPANIES & PRODUCTIONS.
Constantly reinventing themselves and always exploring out of the comfort zone, they succeeded to express themselves in various fields of theatrical performance, be it theatre on stage, interaction among the audience, or even happening on street.
They founded Theatre Maska i Pokret (1981) – later named Theatre The Mask; Nieuw Symbolistisch Theater (1986); Mr. Image Theatre (1995); and chocolate brand “My Mask” (2009).
They have created and produced a number of award-winning productions that have been played in theatres and theatre festivals throughout Europe.
RESPONSE.
From the very beginning, they have been spotted and supported by a respected circle of theatre scholars. Reviewed in The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre as an emerging new form of non-institutional theatre with a specific aesthetic orientation in searching the way of using mask and movement as a medium for theatrical expression. Their work has been followed by prominent theatre critics a. o.: Dalibor Foretić, Dževad Karahasan, Marko Kovačević, Slavko Milanović. Numerous essays, reviews and critiques have been written about the dramatic use of masks in their theatre productions.
They won a few prestigious theatrical awards a. o.: Cau Ferrat Award for masterful use of mask, and VEN Award 3 Golden Star for the most meaningful experiment.
All their theatre productions were filmed and adapted for TV Sarajevo.
THE MASK IN THE WORKS OF IVA & PETAR.
In their works, the mask was never understood as a prop or as a mere decorative attribute. On the contrary, the mask as a dramatic instrument has always occupied an important place in their productions and has been the most important feature of their theatre language.
They have explored the mask as a powerful theatrical instrument in various theatrical situations: as a dramatic instrument of action/carrier of dramatic action (Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires); as an archetypal symbol (Somebody has Killed the Play); as comedy/grotesque (Le Triomphe de la Fidélité); as interaction (Mr. Image); and as an instrument of illusion (Project Kloon). Each production represents a different aspect of exploring the use of a mask in theatre.