Two books to think about theatre

Books dealing with theory are not in circulation, because they are generally not of interest to the so-called ordinary audience. And that's why those who write about them try to find some part in them that would be interesting to all readers, not just experts. This was often done forcibly and unconvincingly.

Now, if you thought that now after the previous one there is a sentence that says "well, but that's why this book is really for everyone", you were wrong. Because both of Svetislav Jovanov's books, which coincidentally appeared a few months apart, are drinkable and readable and dynamic. They just didn't. They are only for those who love theater, who know dramatic literature and stage practice, for those who learn about all this, or want to know more. In short, they are for those who need theater, who think about it.

Just a few words about Svetislav Jovanov: dramatist, editor at TV Novi Sad, director of Drama in the Serbian language of the National Theater in Subotica, dramatist at SNP, selector of the Sterija Theater, author of a dozen books, several plays... In short, a man of the theater.

Secondary resources

His first new book, Secondary means (elements of dramatic poetics), was published by the Academic Book from Novi Sad.

The book brings a double novelty to our theatrology, since in it new and often neglected dimensions of drama are considered in a new and provocative way. While, namely, most researchers deal with means such as conflict, character or action as the main ingredients of a dramatic text, the author of this book focuses on dramatic elements, that is, means that are most often considered secondary and today mostly overcome.

It is a group that includes six phenomena: prologue, messenger, chorus, spirit, deus ex machina (a force that resolves an apparently intractable situation) and drama within a drama. Using attractive dramatic examples from different periods in the history of drama, Jovanov illuminates in detail and in an accessible way not only the nature, basic functions and purposes of these devices, and their independent development, but also their mutual connections and intersections.

Such an analysis reveals to us, for example, the existence of different functions of the Messenger - from the transmitter of prophecy in antiquity, to the disruptor of action in Shakespeare, to the destroyer of the stage illusion in modern drama. On the other hand, the author presents the extent to which the chorus, the oldest element of dramatic art, has preserved its vitality and relevance to the present day - equally as a witness, actor or commentator of the dramatic action.

Finally, when examining the phenomenon of "drama within a drama", the author reveals to us the extent to which this tool, promoted as a new discovery, has been used for centuries as one of the main sources of dramatic tension. Thanks to this approach, with which the author manages to connect Aeschylus', Shakespeare's and Beckett's messengers, Sophocles', Schiller's and Brecht's choruses, as well as Seneca's, Moliere's and Ibsen's ghosts, with Euripides', Kleist's and Strindberg's "deus ex machina" and the process of "drama within a drama" from Aristophanes and Shakespeare to Pirandello and Weiss, in a unique story, the book Secondary resources can also be read as a kind of alternative and exciting story of European drama.

Medicine, poison, or criticism

The second book by Svetislav Jovanov is called Medicine, poison or criticism (Serbian drama and European context), and it was published by the Cultural Center of Vojvodina "Miloš Crnjanski" from Novi Sad.

It is a collection of reflections. In it, Jovanov brings one of the rare comparative analytical views of Serbian and European drama. Namely, the author examines the themes and motives that represent the main points of contact between our most important playwrights - from Steria and Nušić to Aleksandar Popović, Dušan Kovačević, Ljubomir Simović, Milena Marković and Maja Pelević - and the most important European playwrights - from the classics such as Shakespeare and Chekhov to contemporary playwrights such as Janus Glowacki or Roland Šimelfenig.

The comparisons that Jovanov offers are not mechanical or rectilinear, but can be traced primarily as a series of concentric circles, each of these circles showing a different relationship between the domestic drama and its European counterparts. Let's say, the theme of doubles, presented in detail first on the example of Shakespeare's top comedies (especially A Midsummer Night's Dream) and the problem of dramatic time, shown on the example of Chekhov's Three sisters, have, in relation to the plays of Todor Manojlović, Nušić and Dušan Kovačević, the role of unquestionable role models.

When it comes to the issue of time and the motif of utopia, the tragicomedy of Ljubomir Simović (Miracle in Šargan), critical allegories of Biljana Srbljanović (Supermarket) and symbolic plays by Milena Marković (Doll ship) are shown, according to Jovanov, to be almost completely equal in relation to similar tendencies in the plays of European contemporaries such as Glowacki, Oleg Bogaev or Steven Greenhorn.

Finally, when it comes to gender equality, market manipulations and pollution of the human environment, it turns out, as the author states in the final essay Serbian consolation, that the members of our younger generation of dramatists (Maja Pelević, Tanja Šljivar, Dimitrije Kokanov) often succeed in portraying this kind of issue more convincingly and provocatively than their European contemporaries.

So: you who enjoy breathing the air of the theater, read them. Both of these books by Svetislav Jovanov will point you to something you have not noticed until now. And it will be better for you.