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

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

Full Press Coverage

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 1982

  • KAMERNI TEATAR 55 – PREMIERE
    Sarajevo (YU), 03 March 1982

  • 23 FESTIVAL M.E.S.
    Sarajevo (YU), April 1982

  • TV SARAJEVO – Mme LEOPOLDINES MEMOIRES TV ADAPTATION
    Sarajevo (YU), April 1982

  • CANKARJEV DOM
    Ljubljana (YU), 24 April 1982

  • THEATER NOVA GORICA
    Nova Gorica (YU), April 1982

  • SHAFFY THEATER
    Amsterdam (NL), 30 April 1982

  • PROVADJA
    Alkmaar (NL), 08 May 1982

  • CC TILBURG
    Tilburg (NL), 21 May 1982

  • DE KOEPELKERK
    Purmerend (NL), 28 May 1982

  • STADSSCHOUWBURG DE BLAUWE ZAAL
    Utrecht (NL), 02 June 1982

  • FESTIVAL OF FOOLS BIJLMER BAJES
    Amsterdam (NL), 05 June 1982

  • FESTIVAL OF FOOLS SARPHATI PARK
    Amsterdam (NL), 06 June 1982

  • SPLITSKO LJETO
    Split (YU), 28 July 1982

  • FESTIVAL MOT MLAD OTVOREN TEATAR
    Skoplje (YU), 12, 14 August 1982

  • DUBROVNIK SUMMER FESTIVAL
    Dubrovnik (YU), 08 August 1982

  • XV 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 1983

  • MELKWEG
    Amsterdam (NL), 27 December 1983

  • MELKWEG
    Amsterdam (NL), 02, 03 February 1984

  • PROVADJA
    Alkmaar (NL), 25 February 1984

  • THEATER APPELMARKT
    Amersfoort (NL), 02 March 1984

  • PAARD VAN TROJE
    Den Haag (NL), 05 May 1984

  • THEATER CAFÉ
    Rotterdam (NL), 25, 26 May 1984

  • WAAGTHEATER
    Delft (NL), 01 June 1984

  • GALERIE THEATER BIS
    Den Bosch (NL), 17 June 1984

  • ZOMERSPEKTAKEL
    Boxtel (NL), 24 June 1984

  • VLISSINGEN STRAATFESTIVAL
    Vlissingen (NL), 28 July 1984

  • GAUKLERFEST DER PHANTASIE
    Berlin (DE), 03 – 20 August 1984

  • BEURCHT EL CID
    Leiden (NL), 17 August 1984

  • KUNSTMIN
    Dordrecht (NL), 25 August 1984

  • EFFENAAR
    Eindhoven (NL), 06 September 1984

  • V MUESTRA INTERNACIONAL DE TEATRO DE VALLADOLID
    Valladolid (ES), 13, 14 September 1984

  • D’N EGELANTIER
    Tilburg (NL), 28 September 1984

  • KRUITHUIS
    Den Bosch (NL), 27 Oktober 1984

  • THEATER ‘T HEMELTJE
    Wageningen (NL), 16 November 1984

  • THEATER VERA
    Groningen (NL), 17 November 1984

  • CC MAASTRICHT
    Maastricht (NL), 01 December 1984

  • HOOFTSTRAATTHEATER
    Alphen a/d Rijn (NL), 05 Janury 1985

  • THEATER GIGANT
    Apeldoorn (NL), 15 February 1985

  • THEATER CIRKEL
    Sittard (NL), 23 February 1985

  • EXPRESSIECENTRUM MAGAZIJN
    Den Helder (NL), 02 March 1985

  • WAAGTHEATER
    Delft (NL), 09 March 1985

  • WITTE ZAAL
    Amersfoort (NL), 12 April 1985

  • FESTZAKTHEATER
    Vlissingen (NL), 19 April 1985

  • NOORDHORN THEATER
    Noordhorn (NL), 28 April 1985

  • PUMPWERK THEATER
    Wilhemshaven (DE), 02 June 1985

  • STADTHALLE
    Baunatal (DE), 04 June 1985

  • ZENTRUM ALTENBERG
    Oberhausen (DE), 05 June 1985

  • ZECHE KARL
    Essen (DE), 06 June 1985

  • HALLE MÜNSTERLAND
    Münster (DE), 07 June 1985

  • FOLK & FOOL FESTIVAL
    Moers (DE), 08 June 1985

  • THEATERFEST/STADTTHEATER
    Kassel (DE), 09 June 1985

  • ZELTFESTIVAL
    Freiburg (DE), 10, 11, 13 June 1985

  • KIELER WOCHE
    Kiel (DE), 22 June 1985

  • HELDERSE JUTTERSMARKT
    Den Helder (NL), 30 July 1985

  • BÜRGERHAUS
    Troisdorf (DE), 17 August 1985

  • KAMPNAGEL SOMMERTHEATER
    Hamburg (DE), 21, 22 August 1985

  • FESTBÜHNE POSTPLATZ
    Brake (DE), 25 August 1985

  • LIMBURGS STRAATTHEATER FESTIVAL
    Limburg (NL), 23 August – 01 September 1985

  • STUDIO RATHAUS
    Essen (DE), 14, 15 September 1985

  • THEATER SALZGITTER
    Salzgitter (DE), 16 November 1985

  • NIEUWPOORT THEATERFESTIVAL
    Gent (BE), 22 July 1986

  • KULTURSOMMER KREFELD
    Krefeld (DE), 10 September 1986

  • AUF DER IDAR
    Idar Oberstein (DE), 27, 28 September 1986

  • WINTERTHEATER
    Hannover (DE), 13, 14 December 1986

  • MELKWEG
    Amsterdam (NL), ? 1987

  • STADSSCHOUWBURG HAARLEM
    Haarlem (NL), 14 February 1987

  • DIE WERKSTSTATT DÜSSELDORF
    Düseldorf (DE), 21 Oktober 1988

  • THEATERBÖRSE FREIBURG
    Freiburg (DE),  19 – 21 April 1989

  • THEATERBÖRSE KLEVE
    Kleve (DE), 26 April 1989

  • FÖHN THEATER
    Kontanz (DE), 27 April 1989

  • THEATERBÖRSE YVERDON
    Yverdon (CH),  29, 30 April 1989

  • THEATER ECHO
    Utrecht (NL), 10 May 1989

  • ZECHE CARL
    Essen (DE), 01 – 04 June 1989

  • KLEINTHEATER GRENSCHEN
    Grenschen (DE),  11 Oktober 1989

  • AULA DU LYCEE
    Porrentruy (CH), 25 Oktober 1989

  • STADTTHEATER
    Cuxhaven (DE),  20 February 1990

  • KULTURFORUM
    Kampen (DE), 21 September 1990

  • FLOTTMANNHALLEN
    Herne (DE), 10 November 1990

Further Readings

> THEATRE MASKA I POKRET
> FULL PRESS COVERAGE

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