Bastards and princesses from the people

Dusan Kovačević wrote a new one comedy, but if you thought we got a new one Balkan spy, only blacker and worse (according to the times we live in), you are mistaken. In contrast to Branislav Nušić, who grew darker with age, Dušan Kovačević is softer, more humane and with a lot of understanding for human imperfections. The widow of a living man is a humorous situation comedy with elements of black comedy. The theme of the comedy is black that black cannot be - intimate partner violence against women. When you hear what the topic is, you can't help but think: what could Dušan Kovačević write after the topic has been covered by so many writers of the latest generation? New, young writers approach this problem from the point of view of criticism of the patriarchy that exploits not only women but also nature. All these pieces, plays and performances have an ideological basis in the so-called contemporary feminism. third wave and gender studies. Dušan Kovačević starts from a different point of view. He believes that thugs are not representatives of patriarchal society, but the most ordinary rascals. And being that way, they lie, steal, gamble, cheat anyone they manage to cheat, and of course beat women when they try to stand up to their thuggishness.

Kovačević is not interested in rascals as such, but observes the whole "case" from the point of view of women who live with rascals or leave them anyway. The main character, Marta, is a respected professor at the medical faculty and a doctor. She was hit by her husband when she stood up to him because he sold her car because of gambling debts. Marta (Jelena Đokić) is socially well-connected, financially independent and has no reason to put up with a scumbag next to her. Through the story of the breakup, the writer, in fact, shows us how a beautiful, smart, educated, successful and financially independent woman ended up in a relationship with a rascal. Observing her relationship with her mother Sofia (Nela Mihailović), her father, a retired soldier (Miodrag Miki Krstović) and her husband's younger lover Teresa (Sunčica Milanović), Kovačević points out that the wrong choice of partner is "rewritten" from generation to generation, that the product insufficient self-esteem, confusing passion and love and impulsiveness with spontaneity. Such persons very easily become victims of malicious manipulators. You can conclude that based on this piece, but you can also read it in numerous manuals for psychological self-help. Dušan Kovačević was not interested in delving deeper into the problem because, in all likelihood, he is not interested in exposing major social problems and correcting injustices. He believes that the theater should excite us, to watch the characters with whom we suffer or with whom we laugh and forget the problems at home even for a moment. Maybe it's not the kind of theater we think it should be, but Kovačević has the rights to his theater and he is right when he writes in the play's program that such a theater has survived for centuries and will very likely survive even modern challenges.

The widow of a living man it will certainly have its audience and the ticket will be sought after more because it is an effective situational comedy based on a wife claiming that her husband is dead (to her) when in fact he is alive. U To the widow of a living man Dušan Kovačević once again showed his brilliant ability to make one linguistic pun after another and create humorous situations with many unexpected twists. The intensity of the comedy increases from beginning to end. Just when we think that the entire dramaturgical construction will fall apart, Kovačević performs the last twist in style two ex machina and the piece ends in a way that may not be quite logically implemented, but it is effective and successful because the audience leaves the theater satisfied, and that was the goal.

The center of the plot is Marta, played by Jelena Đokić. With the role of Marta, the writer gave the actress a thankless task because she has to play the situation - Marta is sick with a serious illness, her husband beat her, but despite that she has a lot of human compassion for the plight of others, especially her ex-husband's pregnant lover. Such a setting of the character makes Marta rather passive and almost melodramatically sensitive in a play that is a comedy. The comic engine is not the main character, but her mother, who is a much more active character. At the same time, the mother loves her husband passionately and is constantly in conflict with him, which easily turns into an incident. The character of Sofia's mother, Soja, is very reminiscent of the character of Julka from Hilarious tragedies or the character Danica from Balkan spy - both characters were played by Nela Mihailović in the settings of Kovačević's plays at the National Theater. Maybe even the way Nela plays Julka and Danica was the inspiration for the writer to write this kind of Sofia. Whether our assumption is correct or not, we can't escape the impression that the character is "as if tailor-made" for Nela, who both in the theater and in TV series "practiced" to play warm, free-spirited and warm-hearted women from the people (more on that here "lady" from the people). Miodrag Miki Krstović played Marta's father Vojin as an ambivalent character. On the one hand, he has something of a macho man - carries a gun, fights in bars, attacks everything feminine, but on the other hand, he should also be charming, capable of being a gentleman, a brave knight and a big, protective dad your little girl. Miki Krstović has the basis for this ambivalence, but we hope that he will develop it even more during the game.

The writer found a balanced way to portray the Roma family, which consists of the mentioned Tereza (Sunčica Milanović), Nana (Anđelika Simić) and Bata (Dušan Tomić). He managed to give the characters something typical, mental, but also to avoid a stereotypical attitude towards the Roma and to present them as warm, sincere and direct people. All three actors painted their characters very well with their language and gestures so that they seem both comical and direct at the same time. The young actor Dušan Tomić has successfully "taken down" the way street musicians sing and play, and two of his musical numbers are effective breaks before the grand finale of the piece.

Director Dušan Kovačević carefully followed all the requirements of the text - the tempo and rhythm of the acting are good, the characters and relationships are clear, and the witty lines were successfully placed. The scenography by Vladislava Munić Cunnington is such that it allows for good "traffic" on the stage, but it is a shame that it does not contribute more to the individualization of the character of Marta, but instead represents a modern civic salon/dining room that seems to have been taken out of a furniture salon. Danica Laušević's costumes are colorful, but they seem to be more oriented towards making the actresses look beautiful, and only then to individualize the characters. But all that does not hinder this play, on the contrary, it contributes to the feeling that you are watching a pleasant play that promises a pleasant evening in the theater during which you will most likely forget about your problems.