On Wednesday, August 21st at 9PM, in the venue Between Churches, the play Maratonci trče počasni krug will be performed. This is a play by Dušan Kovačević, this time adapted and directed by Olja Đorđević. It is the production of the Croatian National Theatre (Osijek).
In the director’s preface, Olja Ðorđević has stated: “Taking upon oneself to direct such a brilliantly screened and well-known text, can easily turn into a disaster. Having been aware of all this, which could potentially become a stumbling block, I set aside all the notions about the brilliant movie and previous theatre adaptations of this masterful play. In this version of the play Maratonci trče počasni krug, we were all primarily concerned with the role of this Kovačević’s piece in the context of the contemporary society, and especially the questions of what it could offer us nowadays. When the writer is as grand as Dušan Kovačević undeniably is, it gives you the opportunity to see that work of art from the various different perspectives. What was Kovačević’s way of addressing the problems of the society in the past, can also be our way of doing the same thing today. The circumstances in the society might have changed, but the world in general remained the same place. Actually, the situation might even be worse than before. In the play, the members of the conservative male society, that are deep into bribery and criminal activities, don’t concern themselves with what they will have to do in order to obtain their goals. On the contrary, they actually hope for the downfall of the entire world, and that even including medicine. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
Along with Olja Ðorđević that stands behind the direction and adaptation, the authorial team also entails: Ljubica Petrović (scenography), Dubravka Skvrce (costume design), Saša Latinović (stage speech collaborator), Andreja Kulešević (choreography), Irena Popović and Nikola Dragović (music for the play), Danica Nikolić (the author of the additional songs for the play).
Cast: Aljoša Čepl, Mirosalv Čabraja, Duško Modrinić, Antonio Jakupčević, Ivica Lučić, Vladimir Tintor, Matija Kačan, Petra Bernarda Blašković and Ivana Soldo Čabraja.
The “Theatre City” Press-Office