SVIJET | PRECEDENT AT MESS
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WHAT IS UNDER THE MASK OF MASK
In the official competition of the oldest festival of small and experimental scenes in our country
Žika has a huge head. How does he just walk, how does he go down the stairs with that big wobbly mass?
— Let’s try to record how Žika coming down the stairs – says Pop, author of photographs accompanying this text.
— Alas, please don’t – says Iva.
— Why, is that impossible?
— No, you know, it’s a little inconvenient…
— ?
– Our neighbours consider us a little crazy. Or even more than a little bit, you know…
And when you think about it, it is really a fortunate circumstance that, since we persuaded Iva, not a single neighbour went up the stairs at that moment. It would not be easy to meet Žika so suddenly. Imagine, one big-headed puppet with tiny living legs sways towards you down the stairs. It wouldn’t be easy, it wouldn’t…
‘PATIENT – SAVED’
Well, what, it is not easy for Iva Kostović-Mandić and Petar Mandić, a young married couple, whose creation is Žika’s. Neither to make Žika and other puppets and masks, nor suffer that they consider you crazy because of that. Nor to live from this “madness” all dedicated to it, in a time when people work, in a time when they don’t work, when they sleep, when… But, there is also a saying – “All things come to those who wait”!
Because, at this year’s MESS, Sarajevo’s oldest festival of small and experimental scenes in our country, the audience will in the official competition see the married couple, whose guests we are right now. “Maska i Pokret”, as they are officially called, will present themselves with the play “Somebody has Killed the Play”. We will see what it is and how far it has come; until then, we trust the official selectors, who in a large offer gave their votes for Iva and Petar and their endeavour. In order to get to MESS it was needed to cross some road, make some effort, shed some tears, deserve some smile, some applause, and everything that goes with it. What is it like and how long was this road?
Iva is now a graduated dramaturge, Petar graduated from the ballet studio of the National Theatre in Sarajevo. They are not employed, they do not have time from their love, their work – masks and movements. It’s been like that for five years. Since five years ago, they have been making a series of plays, they have always collaborated with young people whose enthusiasm had a similar direction. Now they are alone, with masks, with their play that somebody has killed. Neither at the end nor at some new beginning of his research. They are simply on the path they have chosen…
GROTESQUE PHASE
— My father is a sculptor – says Iva, — and I grew up in an atelier. In an atmosphere where faces were formed from clay, where it was important to capture the expression, character, and meaning of the message that the face carries. It seems to me that the most mark on me has left, that the closest to me in understanding inner person is, the grotesque phase, let’s call it like that, of turning clay into a man. Hence, most likely, my inclination, my need to deal with the mask, first trying to shape it and then to use it in the play, in narration, in cooperation with the world, in conveying some of my own or interpreting some other messages and meanings. … Of course, that part of the narration that makes up the body and its capabilities is mostly Petar’s job.
And so intimate world, almost a game of two young people, enters a serious circle of official and serious festivals, in competition with those who do their work, such and similar, professionally, recognised and for money.
Exactly, how do these two young people, how and from what do they live, do their performances bring them any income? Almost none, but still, mostly, they make a living from it.
They guest appear in cultural centres and some gatherings in the city, but also outside of it and outside of the Republic. Most performances, however, were played in the attics of the city, for the crowd, just like that. They also played in their room…
There would always be, they told us, somewhere a box with a hole in which a voluntary donation could be inserted. And it would always literally be empty unless there was someone of close relatives at the performance, someone “in charge” to help them.
But, they are persevering and hoping to be able to prove that they have made something new, become official.
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SVIJET | PRESEDAN NA MES-u
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ŠTA JE POD MASKOM MASKE
U zvaničnoj konkurenciji najstarijeg festivala malih i eksperimentalnih scena u nas
Žika ima ogromnu glavu. Kako li samo hoda, kako silazi niz stepenice sa tom velikom klatećom masom?
— Hajte da to probamo snimiti, kako Žika silazi niz stepenice — veli Pop, autor fotosa uz ovaj tekst.
— Jao, nemojte molim vas — kaže Iva.
— Zašto, je li to neizvodljivo?
— Ne nego, znate, malo je nezgodno…
— ?
— Naše komšije nas i onako smatraju pomalo ludim. Ili još više od pomalo, znate…
I kad se bolje razmisli, zaista je sretna okolnost što, pošto smo Ivu ipak nagovorili, stepenicama u tim trenucima nije prošao ni jedan susjed. Ne bi se bilo lako susresti sa Žikom tako iznenada. Zamislite, jedna velika glavata lutka sa malecnim živim nogama klati se prema vama niz stepenište. Ne bi bilo lako, ne bi…
STRPLJEN – SPAŠEN
Pa, šta, nije lako ni Ivi Kostović-Mandić i Petru Mandiću, mladom bračnom paru, čija je rukotvorina lutka Žike. Ni praviti Žiku i druge lutke i maske, ni trpiti da te zbog toga smatraju ludim. Niti živjeti od te »ludosti« sav joj posvećen, u vremenu kad ljudi rade, u vremenu kad ne rade, kad spavaju, kad… Ali, ima i ona — »strpljen — spašen«!
Jer, na ovogodišnjem MES-u, sarajevskom najstarijem festivalu malih i eksperimentalnih scena u nas, publika će u zvanićnoj konkurenciji, vidjeti bračni par čiji smo upravo gosti. »Maska i pokret«, kako se zvanično zovu, predstaviće se predstavom »Neko je ubio pjesmu«. Vidjećemo šta je to i dokle je došlo; do tada vjerujemo oficijelnim selektorima koji su u brojnoj ponudi dali svoje glasove za Ivu i Petra i njihovo sočinjenije. Valjalo je do MES-a preći neki put, uložiti neki napor, proliti neku suzu, zaslužiti neki osmijeh, neki aplauz, i sve ono što ide uz to. Kakav je i koliki ovaj put?
Iva je sada diplomirani dramaturg, Petar je diplomirao baletski studio Narodnog pozorišta u Sarajevu. Nisu zaposleni, nemaju vremena od svoje ljubavi, svoga posla — maske i pokreta. Već pet godina tako. Od prije pet godina pravili su niz predstava, uvijek su sarađivali sa mladim ljudima čiji je entuzijazam imao sličan smjer. Sada su sami, sa maskama, sa svojom pjesmom koju je neko ubio. Ni na kraju niti na nekom novom početku svojih istraživanja. Oni su, jednostavno, na putu koji su odabrali…
GROTESKNA FAZA
— Otac mi je kipar – kaže Iva — i odrasla sam u ateljeu. U atmosferi gdje su od gline nastajala lica, gdje je bitno bilo uhvatiti izraz, karakter i smisao poruke koju lice nosi. Čini mi se da je na mene najviše traga ostavila, da mi je najbliža u shvatanju čovjekove nutrine, groteskna faza, da je tako nazovem, pretvaranja gline u čovjeka. Otud, najvjerovatnije, i moja sklonost, moja potreba da se bavim maskom, najprije pokušajima da je oblikujem a, potom, i da je upotrijebim u igri, u kazivanju, u saradnji sa svijetom, u prenošenju nekih vlastitih ili interpretiranju nekih drugih poruka i smislova… Naravno, onaj dio kazivanja kojeg čini tijelo i njegove mogućnosti, to je većim dijelom Petrov posao.
I tako intimni svijet, skoro igra dvoje mladih ljudi ude u ozbiljni krug zvaničnog i ozbiljnog festivala, u konkurenciju sa onima što svoj, takav i sličan, posao rade profesionalno, priznato i za pare.
Baš, kako li ovo dvoje mladih, kako i od čega žive, da li im njihove predstave donose kakav prihod? Skoro nikakav, ali ipak, uglavnom, od toga žive.
Gostuju po domovima kulture pa i nekim skupovima u gradu ali i van njega i van Republike. Najviše predstava, ipak, odigrali su na tavanima u gradu, za raju, onako. Igrali su i u svojoj sobi…
Uvijek bi, rekoše nam, tu negdje bila kutija sa rupom u koju bi se mogao ubaciti dobrovoljni prilog. I uvijek bi ostala doslovno prazna ukoliko na predstavi nije bilo nekoga od bliže rodbine, nekoga »zaduženog« da im pomaže.
Ali, istrajavaju i nadaju se da će uspjeti dokazati da su napravili nešto novo, da postanu zvanični.
Enver DIZDAR