Ivan Jevtović, actor Atelier 212, he walked with students to Inđija, was at a protest in Kragujevac with his colleagues, participated in a walk from theater to theater during the week when theaters stopped working, which, he says, was historic - for the first time, all theaters in Belgrade stopped. It turned out to be a good decision that helped the artists to be heard better and start to communicate more openly.
"First, there was great uncertainty in our theater and in other theaters in Belgrade and throughout Serbia. Is it even possible, since it never happened? I have been in business professionally since 1995, everything happened in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, but apart from the occasional cancellation of performances, there was never a stoppage of work. Now it turns out to be a serious undertaking whether there is a possibility to agree on something within the artistic ensembles."
And they agreed. All Belgrade theaters and numerous other theaters in Serbia stopped working for seven days during February.
"Our communication has become more effective, inspired by the legendary stories about the student plenum, that is, the possibility of new communication," continues Jevtović. "Perhaps others have a different impression, but it seems to me that much more was heard in this and in many other theaters, which is good. Before the one-week work stoppage, we had a constructive conversation with our management, because that is the moment when you wonder if you will find understanding within the institution regarding the delicate moment and our needs. I think the work stoppage has absolutely succeeded. We did it out of solidarity with the students, in agreement with what they are doing. We will continue to work, we will see in what form, taking care to be within the legal framework, not to harm anyone and that no one has a lower fee due to this suspension, to be endangered. The impulse came from students who have four very logical demands, the fulfillment of which implies the renewal of faith in the functioning of the system - it is then up to us to solve things in our own backyards. After this, we are united and have communication channels so that we can act more efficiently."
"WEATHER" How old are you?, as a collective, were united in their decision to suspend work?
IVAN JEVTOVIC: We talked and there was also a different opinion - that it is better to play and send a message through performances. In the end, we unanimously voted to suspend. We said that we will go together with all the theaters, that is what was asked of us. That was good pressure, right spot. We have made progress and look more optimistically at the next trials. Young actors from our country are most deserving of that. There is a group of students who pulled us. It's amazing to me that we older people were in favor of it.
We saw a walk from theater to theater, but what was the strike like inside the collective?
There were no rehearsals. People from the strike committee had a legal obligation to be in shifts every day. Everyone who was supposed to play in the repertoire on those days was obliged to come to the theater during the performances. But there was no work. On the other hand, since we are artists, these are the moments when we can talk about new plans, ideas. When we canceled the performances at the end of January due to the general strike, the audience did not cause any problems. Especially since they are aware, and this is very important to us, that we will play those shows, that the box office will not suffer, that all the people who paid for the ticket will get not only one, but more shows.
Apart from solidarity with students, why did the theaters stop??
We are in a very bad moment regarding the attitude of the state towards culture, where 0,67 percent of the budget allocated to culture has decreased to 0,5 percent. So, if a shortfall for some investments appears again, we can only go towards zero or into the red.
As for all Belgrade theaters, the technical sector has been neglected for decades. When I started three decades ago, at the "Boško Buha" Theater, after a few days of rehearsals, I found out where the men's tailor's shop was, where the women's tailor's shop was, the cobbler, the whole team of props, decorators, lighting, sound engineers. All theaters at that time had what was necessary to be able to function. Since the year 2000, due to the carelessness of the authorities, the artistic sectors have also suffered, primarily the technical sector. We are talking about the lack of investment in culture, it cannot work like this, a different redistribution must be made and culture must receive more. That with much larger investments and a changed relationship, a position for younger people is provided, the possibility of opening new productions, new houses, possibly new state and city cultural institutions.
You walked with the students to Indjija, You were in Kragujevac.. What do you think of the whole atmosphere?, students and what their actions show us?
I get a pleasant chill just thinking about it. This is completely cathartic and unexpected. We are all spinning like terns and we don't know when we will stop. Tern has counter-acceleration, and this is getting faster and faster. I have always been an optimist; and when I was younger, I loved when justice wins, that is, when a positive thesis proves that it is right. This is really "An unexpected force that suddenly appears and solves the matter". This generation is an incredible surprise to me.
I regretted a million times that I scolded my students - both previous generations, and those with whom I worked until the blockade, and children in youth schools. I was getting more and more angry that they were absent, that they were not interested in anything but the Internet, I asked them where they were, what brought them together. And suddenly, they show us that this is a reflector that can point out world problems and that the reflector that they pass on as a relay idea to other societies can point out what is pressing on them and the whole world. Dennis Anders, who I listen to often, points to the oligarchs and the massive corruption that is, in fact, breaking the planet. There is no difference, as far as the populists are concerned, across the ocean, in the European Union and here. Crazy idea about capital that grinds people and turns us into numbers.
I'm not saying that the students were inspired by the theses I'm talking about, but they, with the four demands and the merciless struggle, the decision that this will last until it's over, opened the possibility for a new day. I think that there are more and more people every day and that it will continue to spread as a kind of new belief, new possibilities, the "third Serbian uprising" or simply that it is possible and I believe that it is possible, that things can be solved. They will talk about the generation that started not a revolution, but an evolution. This is a civilizational, evolutionary step. We, the older ones, have forgotten that it is possible.
You also participated in protests in the nineties. What makes today's student protests different?
I told my friends more than once that at that time we were at Autokomanda, at marches, in Novi Sad, in Kragujevac - bands would come out, suddenly Autokomanda would become a small Exit, which is completely wrong. Even today there is music, but it's not dominant, it's not in front like it was before... No, that doesn't matter now, they're together. Music has its place, but we must not be exalted, we must be careful. I don't know who their Master Yoda is, but this one is amazing. Some blame the students for spinning piglets on a spit. So what? Whatever they spun, they cleaned everything, not one bag was left. This means that they are constantly aware of why they are here. I saw that many times on the hike to Indjija.
Aleksandar Vučić said several times that people in the protest quickly forgot the victims under the canopy and started creating a carnival atmosphere and parties and blocking the roads.
Well, it's not like that. It proves that he and others from the ruling structures never got off and walked, and that would be useful. No one will harm them. Take a walk to see that it's not a fair. When we already mention the president and the government - which I do not consider mine - they should understand that people voluntarily attend meetings and stand in silence for fifteen minutes. It's not politics, it's emotion and sympathy with what happened. For those in power, the main motive is, allegedly, to go down in history. But that is impossible. These protests are a historic event. The solution will be in fulfilling four requirements. Whenever, but it has to happen. The students are adamant and we are with them until that date, whatever the date, when everything will stop.
And when will that happen??
When these four requirements are met, only then must the spotlight that the students have turned on work. We have a devastated country, so much loss of sovereignty in every possible sense. Really, when these requirements are met, we will have to deal with Nedeljice and Savamala and other things, because then it will be possible, because then the system will work. Multipractice has started to work. It will have to.
I think that this generation, students, high school students, elementary school students, will have a call to freedom loaded into their heads. They will know they can ask for something. That was not the case before. One of the key things - there is no leader. It's a team. That's why I think it's important for the opposition to understand that there will be no leader, whatever the options are in those elections, whenever they happen - a team must emerge that will have to come up with a plan to deal with, that success will depend on that. Finally, we come to what I argued with my family about back in the nineties when I heard that Serbia must have a strong leader. Those strong leaders who fell out of the people really broke us.
Many of your colleagues are part-time workers in theaters. How do you make a living from that??
It's quite difficult. In this period, we also meet more people from independent scenes, different troupes, independent artists, that's more quality meetings that were important as knowledge. Realistically, the average salary in the municipality of Stari Grad, where we are located, is almost twice as high as our salaries. At the same time, I am grateful to every worker in this country who, through taxes, enables us to turn on the spotlights. But it is very difficult to survive. Many colleagues, even from my generation, have serious problems. Life has become more expensive. It is impossible to play in only one theater. A man has to work several jobs to be able to make some economy. There must be changes. Especially when I think about my students and young artists, I'm really worried. I try to affirm them. I tell them that they have chosen a nice job, but in very difficult circumstances. The attitude towards culture really needs to change, primarily because of them.
In this sense, how important is it that actors and people from culture got involved in the story of the protest as celebrities?
That's one of the key things celebrities can do. To be honest, I didn't have a positive opinion of Madonna before, until the moment she published the video from Novi Sad. Where does she get the motivation to do such a thing, why would she do it? It does not mean that I expect some of our people to do that. To me, it is a completely correct move that Slaven Došlo thanked Beovision this year. The key is that we react. On the day when the first march to Novi Sad started, I had no obligations and realized that I had to be with the students, first of all as a professor. Ditto for this. What good is popularity if you don't use it in a situation like this? This is an opportunity to show the heroes.
I believe that theater and art can be teachers of life. I think that the entertainment function of the theater is the least important, that the future of the theater is the ability to have direct interaction with the audience as actors, transmitters of the writer's and director's ideas.
Numerous historical events have been the inspiration for films, performances. Can you imagine a play on today's protests?
Why not? It could be a fantastic musical like Hair, but that it takes place in Belgrade and that the story is adapted everywhere in the world. Students are already collecting pollen like bees and the synthesis will be phenomenal. We are now in uncertainty as to when and how. But when all these things are settled, we have to see how to do it all as best as possible. Surely, all these events will influence cinematography and writers, poets. We will see later what happened to the bands and the music after this.
