The Sombor National Theatre/The Serbian National Theatre, Novi Sad

Igor Vuk Torbica’s authorial project  written in accordance with the motifs of the original play by Moliere-Tartuffe

Tartuffe – comical represented as a part of the classical

Author and director: Igor Vuk Torbica

Scenography: Andreja Rondović

Costume design: Jelisaveta Tatić Čuturilo

Composer: Vladimir Pejković

Cast: Saša Torlaković, Hana Selimović, Ninoslav Đorđević, Tijana Marković/Danica Nikolić, Marko Marković, Biljana Keskenović, Danica Grubački, Marko Savić, Dušan Vukašinović, Nemanja Bakić, Milorad Kapor, Dragana Šuša

Glimmering in the darkness

The new version of the play Tartuffe, Ivan Vuk Torbica’s authorial project, premiered in Sombor. It is the co-production of the Serbian National Theatre(Novi Sad) and the Sombor National Theatre. Taking as the starting point Molier’s  exquisite comedy that ruthlessly takes the mask off the hypocritical society, Igor Vuk Torbica created a brilliant, precise, truthful and completely contemporary play. The play doesn’t skip anyone in its critique. It targets the men’s inconsistent morals, irresponsible gullibility and the agreement to the unacceptable way of life.

The play opens with the bright lights shining on the auditorium. The actress Hana Selimović, impersonating Dorina, addresses the public directly. Her performance is on one hand spontaneous and delicately attractive in terms of the comic effect while on the other it is exposing to the  very core. From the very beginning the actress establishes a key direct communication with the audience and will   continue in this manner to the very end of the play. This makes the audience an inseparable part of it and also in some way responsible for the complete disarray ensuing afterwards. The whole ensemble is convincing in impersonation and the performance as such is truthful, precise, multi-layered and subtle. The play on the whole is borderline between irony and tragedy. Saša Torlakovic is magnificent as Tartuffe who is  secretly manipulative with Mephistophelian sweetness and seductiveness. The scene design is precise when it comes to functionality and is in sync with the mood of the performance. The events are presented as a form of a spectacle that has a shiny surface but is rotten underneath. Tartuffe’s taking over the stage reminds one of pompous realities. The letters in the background form his name, shining like town lights in the darkness. When the horrors of Tartuffe’s vicious bewitching of Orgon’s family reach their boiling point, the part that as opposed to Moliere, Torbica stretched to a great degree, there comes the confetti. They become a strong metaphorical mark of a kitsch in today’s society. It is in fact a superficial glow trying to camouflage the fact that modern people have become zombies. The Tartuffe running in Sombor subtly exposes the omnipresent social lies. It is an extremely socially engaged play with a carefully thought through and highly aesthetic form.

Source: “RTS” 1 Culture News Broadcast-February 11, 2019.