Project Description
THE INNER LIFE OF MASK
If earlier performances of theatre Maska i Pokret confirmed that the mask is a THEATRICAL MEANS, that is, a sign that develops through the action, and not a finished art form, then “Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires” shows that the mask also has its “INNER” LIFE. The character (mask) is no longer merely an instrument of action, its “physical sign”, but also the creator of its own destiny.
The Leopoldine mask is already expressing a dominant psychic state in its artistic design. As this expression is fixed and does not change as in the case of a live actor, the movement here also gets a new function. In “Leopoldine” the movement nuances and varies the psychological value of the “inner life” of the mask.
By choosing the basic “mood” of the mask, the authors suggest the emotional attitude of the viewer towards the character and events. In other words, by doing so, they suggest to the viewer one possible (or: only possible) feeling of the world.
THE STORY OF LONELINESS
The dramaturgy of this play excludes “immense moves”, no “big” events, no jumping in the action. In the play, which is based on a simple story, enough space is given for the gradual development of the character.
Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires is turned to a psychological descent into the dramatic secrets of life: loneliness, a cruel lack of love, self-indulgence leads the human being toward ritualisation of his own life and towards ultimately falling into his own ego.
What do man and human life boil down to in “Leopoldine”? The whole reality is reduced to repeating sections of the action, to a monotonous mise-en-scène movement that seems to reduce the whole space of life to a few square meters. Leopoldine persistently wipes the stain on the floor in vain, prepares the birthday table, this is hindered by her nephew (representative of the intrusive outside world), she expects some desired guest, and this one appears in the form of herself (Emilia, her ‘sister’). At the end, this guest disappears (Emilia packs Leopoldine in a suitcase and leaves the stage, where?, maybe to death, where she probably came from).
TRAGICOMIC DUALITY OF THE PERFORMANCE
Neither mask, movement, nor music have semantic autonomy in their performances; only by intertwining their expressive possibilities it comes to fruition a new, from reality not imitated, but that why precisely deeper stage reality (comes true).
Hence the tragicomic duality of the play, its “cruel joy”, its extraordinary ability to cancel out the cruel details (such as killing dolls) with comic relief and to show the comic details (such as “falling unconscious of fatigue” when cleaning the stain from the floor) to the full extend of the cruelty that comic always imply (because when she falls unconscious of fatigue, Leopoldina acts like an insect, like Kafka’s Gregor Samsa).
This grotesque ambivalence, simultaneously tragedy and comicality of the play shows that, on the architectonic level, “Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires” achieves a very high degree of unity and a maximum measure of internal consistency.

MME LEOPOLDINE’S MEMOIRES
ONE-ACT PLAY WITH MASKS
The play, dramaturgy, choreography, masks and performance:
IVA KOSTOVIC-MANDIC & PETAR MANDIC
Characters:
Leopoldine
Emilia, her sister
Oskar, their nephew
Music fragments by a.o.:
Stockhausen, Genesis
Premiere:
KAMERNI TEATAR 55, SARAJEVO
Awards:
XV MUESTRA INTERNACIONAL DE TEATRO DE SITGES, SPAIN
AWARD FOR MASTERLY USE OF MASK
Duration: 45 minutes without intermission
PRESS ARTICLES
“With Theatar Maska i Pokret, the theatre went in one unexplored direction beyond the touching simplicity of Peter Schumann and his “Bread and Puppet”. And in concluding a new stage reality, two young theatre artists may be on the lookout for that stage miracle that Craig once called “übermarionette”.“
– Dalibor Foretić, theatre critic
“For two years, the married couple, Iva and Petar Mandić, have been creating performances in which, through a combination of masks and their own bodies, they achieve a fantastic, surreal, poetic stage reality.”
– Dalibor Foretić, theatre critic
“The basic symbol is made up of large masks and classical ballet – perfect, musically fixed movements which make something of the human body which is at the same time ‘above and under man’, because with its mechanical/musical symmetry of the body, it deprives life’s individuality, but at the same time it is the highest level that the body can reach.”
– Dževad Karahasan, author, philosopher
Mme LEOPOLDINE’S MEMOIRES – PLAYLIST
Mme Leopoldinne Memoires was created in the period from October to December 1981 and premiered on 03.03.82. in Kamerni Theater ’55 in Sarajevo. It has been in repertoire until the end of 1990 and during that period it has been played with great success at numerous theatres and International Theatre Festivals in Yugoslavia, The Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. Mme Leopoldine was awarded a prestigious theatre award Cau Ferrat for magistral empleo de las mascaras at XV Festival Internacional de Teatro de Sitges.
MELKWEG
Amsterdam (NL), 28, 29, 30 January 1982KAMERNI TEATAR 55 – PREMIERE
Sarajevo (YU), 03 March 198223 FESTIVAL M.E.S.
Sarajevo (YU), April 1982TV SARAJEVO – Mme LEOPOLDINES MEMOIRES TV ADAPTATION
Sarajevo (YU), April 1982CANKARJEV DOM
Ljubljana (YU), 24 April 1982THEATER NOVA GORICA
Nova Gorica (YU), April 1982SHAFFY THEATER
Amsterdam (NL), 30 April 1982PROVADJA
Alkmaar (NL), 08 May 1982CC TILBURG
Tilburg (NL), 21 May 1982DE KOEPELKERK
Purmerend (NL), 28 May 1982STADSSCHOUWBURG DE BLAUWE ZAAL
Utrecht (NL), 02 June 1982FESTIVAL OF FOOLS BIJLMER BAJES
Amsterdam (NL), 05 June 1982FESTIVAL OF FOOLS SARPHATI PARK
Amsterdam (NL), 06 June 1982SPLITSKO LJETO
Split (YU), 28 July 1982FESTIVAL MOT MLAD OTVOREN TEATAR
Skoplje (YU), 12, 14 August 1982DUBROVNIK SUMMER FESTIVAL
Dubrovnik (YU), 08 August 1982XV FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE TEATRO DE SITGES
Award Cau Ferrat for magistral empleo de las mascaras
Sitges (ES), 15 – 24 Oktober 1982
DOM KULTURE ZAGREB
Zagreb (YU), November 1983MELKWEG
Amsterdam (NL), 27 December 1983
MELKWEG
Amsterdam (NL), 02, 03 February 1984PROVADJA
Alkmaar (NL), 25 February 1984THEATER APPELMARKT
Amersfoort (NL), 02 March 1984PAARD VAN TROJE
Den Haag (NL), 05 May 1984THEATER CAFÉ
Rotterdam (NL), 25, 26 May 1984WAAGTHEATER
Delft (NL), 01 June 1984GALERIE THEATER BIS
Den Bosch (NL), 17 June 1984ZOMERSPEKTAKEL
Boxtel (NL), 24 June 1984VLISSINGEN STRAATFESTIVAL
Vlissingen (NL), 28 July 1984GAUKLERFEST DER PHANTASIE
Berlin (DE), 03 – 20 August 1984BEURCHT EL CID
Leiden (NL), 17 August 1984KUNSTMIN
Dordrecht (NL), 25 August 1984EFFENAAR
Eindhoven (NL), 06 September 1984V MUESTRA INTERNACIONAL DE TEATRO DE VALLADOLID
Valladolid (ES), 13, 14 September 1984D’N EGELANTIER
Tilburg (NL), 28 September 1984KRUITHUIS
Den Bosch (NL), 27 Oktober 1984THEATER ‘T HEMELTJE
Wageningen (NL), 16 November 1984THEATER VERA
Groningen (NL), 17 November 1984CC MAASTRICHT
Maastricht (NL), 01 December 1984
HOOFTSTRAATTHEATER
Alphen a/d Rijn (NL), 05 Janury 1985THEATER GIGANT
Apeldoorn (NL), 15 February 1985THEATER CIRKEL
Sittard (NL), 23 February 1985EXPRESSIECENTRUM MAGAZIJN
Den Helder (NL), 02 March 1985WAAGTHEATER
Delft (NL), 09 March 1985WITTE ZAAL
Amersfoort (NL), 12 April 1985FESTZAKTHEATER
Vlissingen (NL), 19 April 1985NOORDHORN THEATER
Noordhorn (NL), 28 April 1985PUMPWERK THEATER
Wilhemshaven (DE), 02 June 1985STADTHALLE
Baunatal (DE), 04 June 1985ZENTRUM ALTENBERG
Oberhausen (DE), 05 June 1985ZECHE KARL
Essen (DE), 06 June 1985HALLE MÜNSTERLAND
Münster (DE), 07 June 1985FOLK & FOOL FESTIVAL
Moers (DE), 08 June 1985THEATERFEST/STADTTHEATER
Kassel (DE), 09 June 1985ZELTFESTIVAL
Freiburg (DE), 10, 11, 13 June 1985KIELER WOCHE
Kiel (DE), 22 June 1985HELDERSE JUTTERSMARKT
Den Helder (NL), 30 July 1985BÜRGERHAUS
Troisdorf (DE), 17 August 1985KAMPNAGEL SOMMERTHEATER
Hamburg (DE), 21, 22 August 1985FESTBÜHNE POSTPLATZ
Brake (DE), 25 August 1985LIMBURGS STRAATTHEATER FESTIVAL
Limburg (NL), 23 August – 01 September 1985STUDIO RATHAUS
Essen (DE), 14, 15 September 1985THEATER SALZGITTER
Salzgitter (DE), 16 November 1985
NIEUWPOORT THEATERFESTIVAL
Gent (BE), 22 July 1986KULTURSOMMER KREFELD
Krefeld (DE), 10 September 1986AUF DER IDAR
Idar Oberstein (DE), 27, 28 September 1986WINTERTHEATER
Hannover (DE), 13, 14 December 1986
MELKWEG
Amsterdam (NL), ? 1987STADSSCHOUWBURG HAARLEM
Haarlem (NL), 14 February 1987
DIE WERKSTSTATT DÜSSELDORF
Düseldorf (DE), 21 Oktober 1988
THEATERBÖRSE FREIBURG
Freiburg (DE), 19 – 21 April 1989THEATERBÖRSE KLEVE
Kleve (DE), 26 April 1989FÖHN THEATER
Kontanz (DE), 27 April 1989THEATERBÖRSE YVERDON
Yverdon (CH), 29, 30 April 1989THEATER ECHO
Utrecht (NL), 10 May 1989ZECHE CARL
Essen (DE), 01 – 04 June 1989KLEINTHEATER GRENSCHEN
Grenschen (DE), 11 Oktober 1989AULA DU LYCEE
Porrentruy (CH), 25 Oktober 1989
STADTTHEATER
Cuxhaven (DE), 20 February 1990KULTURFORUM
Kampen (DE), 21 September 1990FLOTTMANNHALLEN
Herne (DE), 10 November 1990