Creating an exciting, important public event in cultural life is not difficult at all. You only need to have a good plan with an idea of the needs of your viewers, excellent artistic content, precise organization and curious audience and guests. And to gather all the mentioned at the same time, in the same place. That's more or less all. So what is the reason why we don't have more such evenings, it will be a little mystery.
But that's exactly what happened on June 20 at the opening of Belef, the Belgrade summer festival. And a little more than that.
A play was performed in the "Duško Radović" Small Theater Mask "Grupa" theaters, in co-production with the Dubrovnik Summer Games and in cooperation with Scena Ribnjak and EXIT Theater. The author, director and performer is the award-winning actor Dražen Šivak, and the playwrights are extremely talented and also award-winning Carla Leko and Patrick Gregurec.
The authors of this monodrama take us on a detailed, stage-convincing and at the same time entertaining journey through the history of theater masks, from ancient drama, through commedia dell'arte, to the present day. Through a series of masterful transformations, Dražen Šivak brings to the stage the heroes of ancient dramas, Harlequin and Pantalone, Krleža's Petrica Kerempuh, Držić's Pomet and many others, to tell us together the story of the greatness and importance of the mask and the actors who wore them throughout history, masks that resemble some theatrical witchcraft covers the face and reveals everything else.
Dražen Šivak explained to "Vreme" that "for actors, the mask serves as a mirror." It does not lie, it shows our shortcomings and provides the opportunity for the valuable to shine. When the mask, i.e. let's put the theater in front of us, not ourselves in front of the theater, then that is a prerequisite for something to happen. Working with a mask is complex. I understand the mask not only as something that is put on the face, but worn on stage with the whole body and voice. It takes a lot of attention, interest and patience for it to become something that we consciously use in our work as actors. Otherwise, we rely on personal charm and small jokes, which have no lasting value".
He says that "the greatest danger to the mask as a mirror of the truth comes from the actors, ourselves." If we get into that guinea pig wheel where we run in place and it gives us that false glow around us, then we are failing our calling. In human terms, it is understandable. The only thing I don't know is whether the theater will forgive us".
A performance Mask is also "a tribute to many known and unknown fellow actors (and) becomes a celebration of the acting skill, transformation and power that the mask carries from prehistoric times to the present day." That approach returns the actor to a stage where only dedication to his work is recognized". In addition, there were unobtrusively and tastefully placed references to Belgrade's artistic and public life.
Šivak explains that "being fully present on stage as a man who knows where he is and why, and at the same time, does not take himself and others too seriously, is a lot. Then I don't deal with whether something is research or so-called. classical form, I'm generally not interested in that. I am only interested in whether there is life in what I am witnessing".
And that is exactly what, we believe, led the proverbial cold Belgrade audience, especially the premiere or festival audience, to greet Dražen Šivak with a standing ovation at the end. And that doesn't happen very often in Belgrade.
It's also not often that cocktail parties at similar openings are anything more than an opportunity for polite greetings on the way out and have a better time. On the occasion of the opening of Belef, the "Duško Radović" Small Theater organized a great recital by harpist Gordana Ćurguz, which certainly contributed to nice theatrical conversations among the guests and between the artists and the audience. Loud murmurs, exchanges of contacts, laughter and gesticulations in the theater foyer are the best sign that something important has happened in theater life.
After some years of wandering, the Belef organizers seem to have found an adequate model for this kind of festival. In recent years, the program has been moved to the very beginning of summer and condensed into less than twenty days, the focus is on theater programs (17 performances have been announced), guest appearances by very serious artists and theater companies from other countries, but also, what is especially important, domestic productions - seven of them, which have their premieres within the festival. Thus, Belef firmly positions itself not only as a revue, but primarily as a production festival, the influence of which does not last only for a few weeks during the summer, but extends over the entire theater season.
Allow us to make a small suggestion - we believe that a possible competitive component would bring additional quality to the Belgrade Summer Festival. This year Belef lasts until July 7, on several theater stages in the city, and more than twenty plays from four countries will be shown, within four programs. In all probability, an exciting theater summer awaits us, and thanks to this opening of the festival, it is safe to say that the bar has been set high.
