REVIEWS | Oslobođenje
Davor KORIĆ
SEARCHING THROUGH MOVEMENT AND MASK
Iva Kostović-Mandić and Petar Mandić: “Somebody has Killed the Play” • Performance Theatre »Maska i Pokret« from Sarajevo • Eden von Horvat: “Don Juan returns from the War” Performance Yugoslav Drama Theatre from Belgrade • Director: Paolo Madeli
On the seventh day, the 22nd Festival of Small and Experimental Scenes of Yugoslavia moved from the deadlock it reached, thanks to the inventive and inspiring play “Somebody has Killed the Play”, whose complete authors are the young married couple Iva Kostović-Mandić and Petar Mandić. It can be stated without hesitation that Festival received the play tailored to its needs, experimental, exploratory, and innovative, and Sarajevo a new theatre, called “Maska i Pokret”.
By what they demonstrated in front of the spectators of Collegium Artistcum, theatre devotees and enthusiasts Iva and Petar Mandić, completely proved the importance of their research, a segment of theatrical means of expression, limited to examining the function and possibilities of mask and movement in theatre. Realising Craig’s visionary dream of an actor-marionette, they went a step further in their research work. By not reducing the mask to a type definition of the character, they brought it into an organic connection with the plot.
The synthesis of the mask, movement, and music in their play outgrow into a system of theatrical signs and symbols, by which is realised dramaturgy, the story of good and evil, life and death, poetry and nothingness. The poetic-thought core of their idea is realised with a simple, suggestive, and always thoughtfully chosen stage sign. By consciously limiting and reducing the choice of theatrical means to mask, movement and music, the authors achieve the maximum of connoted content and meaning, bringing these means into an array of combinations and organic coupling. Skillfully modelled and visually expressive masks come to life with choreographically refined movement and a particular dramaturgy which is certainly suggested by music as well. The use of musical leitmotifs intensifies the action and movement, and the mask acquires character traits and expressiveness so that the viewer gets the impression that the Pirandellian fixed mask changes the face expression according to the structure of the suggested moods. The scene of the burial of a bird and its sprinkling with earth, or the scene in which man seeks to resurrect a bird, proves in the most impressive way the expressiveness of these skilfully used means of expression.
The play “Somebody has Killed the Play” completely breathed in the freshness, the charm of the seeker, and a dose of courage to this year’s festival.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Eden von Horvat’s play “Don Juan Returns from the War” by the Yugoslav Drama Theater from Belgrade. After “Twilight”, which with its significance and superiority masters the experiences of modern theatre, imposed itself on this festival, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre performed “Don Juan Returns from War” in which, despite all the qualities and highly nurtured professionalism, we cannot recognise a new and exciting theatrical act.
The German writer Eden von Horvat (1901-1938), otherwise a typical product of the Austro-Hungarian national mixture, discovered only in the 1960s, is obviously very inspiring for director Paolo Magelli. After directing “At a Good Look” in Atelier 212, he also directed “Don Juan Returns from the War” by Eden von Horvat, a writer engaged against conservative and irrational forces and against the spiritual and moral constitution of the petty bourgeoisie. In Horvat’s work, Magelli is primarily interested in the cross-section of the moral state of today’s world, its metaphysical limitations, a certain stage atmosphere and an attractive theatrical form. The theme of Don Juan, often varied throughout the European thought tradition, gained an ironic base in von Horvat’s, and served Magelli to initiate a subtle mechanism of theatricalisation.
Magelli manages to form a stylistically clean, scenically suggestive, and washed-out play, in which certain stage solutions, an atmosphere of bitterness and melancholy, refined changes of scene, and refined acting expression captivate, but which at the same time does not bring a dramatic charge and arouse deeper emotion.
The play impresses with the imperceptible flow of scene into scene, highly creative scenographic and costume design solutions of Duško Ristić and Božana Jovanović, as well as the suggestive music of Zoran Simjanović, and especially the play of Stojan Dečermić and six actresses Dubravka Perić, Olga Savić, Branka Petrić, Zorica Šumadinac, Radmica and Ljiljana Medješa, who bring to life thirty-five female characters in less than two hours, but the impression is that the play does not have enough strength to cross the ramp of the National Theatre in Sarajevo and reach the audience eager for festival excitement.
Davor KORIĆ
PRIKAZI | Oslobođenje
Davor KORIĆ
TRAGANJE KROZ POKRET I MASKU
Iva Kostović-Mandić i Petar Mandić: »Neko je ubio pjesmu« • Predstava Teatra »Maska i pokret« iz Sarajeva • Eden fon Horvat: »Don Žuan se vraća iz rata« Predstava Jugoslovenskog dramskog pozorišta iz Beograda • Režija: Paolo Madeli
Sedmog dana, 22. Festival malih i eksperimentalnih scena Jugoslavije je pokrenut sa mrtve tačke do koje je dospio, zahvaljujući inventivnoj i nadahnutoj predstavi »Neko je ubio pjesmu«, čiji su kompletni autori mladi bračni par Iva Kostović-Mandić i Petar Mandić. Bez dvoumljenja se može konstatovati da je Festival dobio predstavu po svojoj mjeri, eksperimentalnu, tragalačku i inovatorsku, a Sarajevo jedan novi teatar, nazvan »Maska i pokret«.
Onim što su demonstrirali pred gledalištem Kolegijum artistikuma, pozorišni zanesenjaci i entuzijasti Iva i Petar Mandić, u potpunosti su dokazali značaj njihovog istraživanja, jednog segmenta pozorišnih izražajnih sredstava, ograničenog na ispitivanje funkcije i mogućnosti maske i pokreta u teatru. Ostvarajući Kregov vizionarski san o glumcu-marioneti, oni su u svom studioznom radu odmakli korak dalje. Ne svodeći masku samo na tipsko određenje lika, oni su je doveli u organsku vezu s radnjom.
Sinteza maske, pokreta i muzike u njihovoj igri prerasta u sistem pozorišnih znakova i simbola, kojim se ostvaruje dramaturgija, priča o dobru i zlu, životu i smrti, poeziji i ništavilu. Jednostavnim, sugestivnim i uvijek promišljeno odabranim scenskim znakom ostvaruje se poetsko-misaono jezgro njihove ideje. Svjesno ograničavajući i redukujući izbor pozorišnih sredstava na masku, pokret i muziku, autori ostvaruju maksimum konotiranog sadržaja i značenja, dovodeći ova sredstva u niz kombinacija i organsku spregu. Vješto modelirane i likovno ekspresivno izrađene maske oživljavaju koreografski dotjeranim pokretom i određenom dramaturgijom kojoj sugestivnost svakako daje i muzika. Upotrebom muzičkih lajt-motiva intenziviraju se radnja i pokret, a maska dobija karakterne osobine i izražajnost, tako da gledalac stiče utisak kao da pirandelovski fiksirana maska mijenja izraz svog lica prema strukturi sugerisanih raspoloženja. Scena sahrane ptice i njeno posipanje zemljom ili scena u kojoj čovjek nastoji uskrsnuli pticu, na najupečatljiviji način dokazuju ekspresivnost ovih spretno upotrebljenih izražajnih sredstava.
Predstava »Neko je ubio pjesmu« je u potpunosti udahnula svježinu, draž tragalačkog i dozu hrabrosti ovogodišnjem festivalu.
Na žalost, slično se ne može reći i za predstavu Edena fon Horvata »Don Žuan se vraća iz rata« Jugoslovenskog dramskog pozorišta iz Beograda. Nakon »Sumraka«, koji se svojim značajem i superiornošću kojom ovladava iskustvima modernog teatra, nametnuo ovom festivalu, Jugosiovensko dramsko pozorište je izvelo i predstavu »Don Žuan se vraća iz rata« u kojoj pored svih kvaliteta i visoko odnjegovane profesionalnosti ne možemo prepoznati nov i uzbudljiv teatarski čin.
Njemački pisac Eden fon Horvat (1901-1938), inače tipični produkt austrougarske nacionalne mješavine, otkriven tek 60-ih godina, očigledno je veoma inspirativan za reditelja Paola Mađelija. Nakon režije djela »Kod lijepog izgleda« u Ateljeu 212, on se javlja i sa režijom djela »Don Žuan se vraća iz rata« Edena fon Horvata, pisca angažovanog protiv konzervativnih i iracionalnih snaga i protiv duhovne i moralne konstitucije malograđanstva. Mađelija u Horvatovom djelu prije svega, interesuje presjek moralnog stanja današnjeg svijeta, njegova metafizička omeđenost, određena scenska atmosfera i atraktivna pozorišna forma. Tema donžuanstva često varirana kroz evropsku misaonu tradiciju dobija kod Horvata ironičnu osnovu, a Mađeliju služi da pokrene suptilni mehanizam teatralizacije.
Mađeli uspijeva da oblikuje stilski čistu, scenski sugestivnu i umivenu predstavu, u kojoj plijene pojedina scenska rješenja, atmosfera oporosti i melanholije, rafinirane promjene mjesta radnje i oplemenjen glumački izraz, ali koja u isto vrijeme ne donosi dramatičniji naboj i ne budi dublju emociju.
U predstavi imponuje neosjetno pretakanje scene u scenu, visoko kreativna scenografska i kostimografska rješenja Duška Ristića i Božane Jovanović, kao i sugestivna muzika Zorana Simjanovića, a posebno igra Stojana Dečermića i šest glumica Dubravke Perić, Olge Savić, Branke Petrić, Zorice Šumadinac, Radmile Radovanović i Ljiljane Međeši, koje oživljavaju u nepuna dva časa trideset pet ženskih likova, ali se stiče utisak da predstava izmještanjem iz scenskog prostora »Bojana Stupice« ne posjeduje dovoljno snage da pređe rampu Narodnog pozorišta u Sarajevu i dopre do publike željne festivalskih uzbuđenja.
Davor KORIĆ