Ulysses Theatre, Brijuni

Miroslav Krleža

Moj obračun s njima (My Showdown with Them)

Rade Šerbedžija

A play considered one of the most famous monodramas in the history of Croatian and Yugoslav theatre in general. The aforementioned monodrama was first performed in 1974. It was directed by Dino Radojević, in collaboration with Rade Šerbedžija. From its premiere till 1991, the play was performed the fascinating 2000 times.

There are actors whose primary concern is the role they had taken up and then there are those who strive to speak the facts of life  through their acting.

What made Rade Šerbedžija, who stayed consistent in performing this same play for over half a century, and the text famous is not the fact that the text was a classic, but the reason was that it dealt with universal human topics.

My Showdown with Them (Moj obračun s njima) came to be out of intolerable anger. It was a sort  of Krleža’s clash with everyone at that time who lied, kept their silence when they were supposed to speak, trembled in front of authority and would have done anything to achieve their goal. His topics encompassed  the ones regarding the literary mafia, the mediocrity having power at that time as well as hypocrisy masked under the veil of patriotism. Krleža’s work was written in 1932 but it seems like it could have been written yesterday, taking the relevancy of the topics into account.

Šerbedžija took upon himself the task of bringing the topics Krleža had written about to the stage and had stellar success. The play found its way to the generations of different audiences and was performed two thousand times. People had been coming to see the play more that once because they could always learn something new or recognize something they would rather forget about themselves. Krleža’s writing has that capacity to hold a strong grip on the listener and to strike one at the core of his/her being. It  finds  you in your moments of silent reflection, compromise and the one’s where you again slipped back and did the thing you had promised not to do ever again.

There is only one actor on the stage, without décor which derives attention. No unnecessary tricks of the trade but the voice, body and the text that is self-explanatory. Šerbedžija is not only impersonating Krleža’s writing- he lives it. Rade has also gone through exile, rejection, and  paid the price  for not wanting to budge an inch . There is no divide between him and Krleža and much less between him and the audience.

The play is not intended for those looking for fun.

This play is for those still using their critical thinking and having the ability to really get angry at the state of things, remembering  what’s it like to have a  strong backbone.

A single voice and the question which will remains in one’s  head long after the play has finished: Whose side are you on?