On Monday, June 24th, a press conference addressing the opening of the XXXVIII “Theatre City” festival edition was held in “Budva” hotel (Budva, Montenegro). The speakers present at the conference were: the managing director of the “Theatre City” Budva- Milena Lubarda Marojević, the editor-in-chief of the festival programme-Svetlana Ivanović, director Vida Ognjenović together with the directors Haris Pašović and Vuk Ršumović, as well as the City Theatre Podgorica’s director- Ivona Čović Jaćimović.
The managing director of the “Theatre City”, Milena Lubarda Marojević, has pointed out that what made the aforementioned media conference special compared to the others of the same kind was the fact that they rarely had the opportunity to host such an “all stars” cast.
“This year festival’s motto is a quote from the play Nadpop Kojović, written by Vida Ognjenović, and goes as follows “ I am often haunted by the far away future- just so you know.” ”While creating this year’s festival programme we had a couple of principal guidelines in mind: the current artistic tides not only in the theatre but in the area of performance arts in general. The topics are, naturally, the ones that captured the authors’ attention. Both international and regional productions are present at this year’s festival edition. Looking at the bigger picture of this multifaceted programme, therefore, we can draw the conclusion that the vision of the future doesn’t have to be apocalyptic. We are the ones who can mold it to our benefit. The projects that will be presented at the festival and the original thoughts put into it, instill in us the notion that we can affect and shape our future with the aim of being content with the life given to us”- Milena Lubarda Marojević stated.
The director of the City Theatre Podgorica, Ivona Čović Jaćimović, thanked Milena Lubarda Marojević for having an interest for and understanding the importance of nurturing the co-productions and collaborations. Jaćimović also highlighted that when speaking of European standards, those are the most important prerequisites for nurturing theatre life and respect among the theatres.
“We are lucky to have this year at our disposal an exquisite play by the festival’s long-term collaborator- director Vida Ognjenović. I must say that this play is like a jewel to Milena and myself. It is up to us to protect it, nurture it, make it last a long time to come, perform it and continually upgrade it. We as an institution will do our best to foster this kind of collaborations to an even greater degree in the future. This kind of mutual collaborations among institutions are vital for the survival of Montenegrin culture. Also, I am looking forward to the premiere in the Ambiental space in the venue Between the two Churches on July 5th”- Jaćimović said.
“I’ve been following the festival’s growth for a considerable amount of time. From where I’m standing now, I can conclude that it has greatly surpassed the town and area in which it initially came to be. It has now become a cultural signifier of the Balkans and Europe in general, and I’m grateful to be a part of it. The decision was, however, not only my own but also the incentive of the management. This year with mine, or better say the festival’s play, the festival is to be opened. It is a completely new text I have written, led by the motivation received from Milena Lubarda Marojević and Svetlana Ivanović. They have supplied me with the material and organized the symposium on Antun Kojović. There, they’ve sparked my interest in Antun Kojović, a historical figure who lived and worked in Budva. His individuality, the same as this festival with the long tradition is doing now, has greatly surpassed the confines of his place of residence and his time. This isn’t a biographical play. This is the play about the ideas that Antun Kojović stood for. He was educated at the renowned University of Loreto. His decision to come back to his place of birth Budva, was entirely of his own volition. However, the permanent mark he left on the town of Budva while being a member of its society reflected the sophistication of Paris or any other major European city”-Ognjenović pointed out.
In addition to the premiere in Budva, the premiere of the play Enabled Theatre, by the director Haris Pašović has also been announced again at the conference. He has explained that it was a huge honor to be a part of the “Theatre City” festival.
“I like Budva, and Montenegro at that, very much. Milena Lubarda Marojević and Svetlana Ivanović have recently participated in the European Festival Association’s Assembly (Germany), with Milena representing Budva and the festival. It was truly fulfilling to see Budva from that perspective and I must say I feel proud. I am a Yugoslav at heart who only has fond memories of Budva and Montenegro. I treasure being at the festival again. Over the past years, we have formed mutual collaborations on various common grounds. Thirty-three years ago, at this very festival, we have performed the play Waiting for Godot, with the cast encompassing: Žarko Laušević, Slavko Štimac, Miki Manojlović and Hristina Popović who was a child at the time. Last year we had a meeting in Budva, further exploring the possibility of creating the Enabled Theatre play. The play is a mutual collaboration of: The Serbian National Theatre (Novi Sad), The Sarajevo “East-West” Centre, The Dance Academy “Tala” from Zagreb and “Theatre City”, Budva. It was two years ago that we sat all together exploring the possibility of creating a play which would explore from another perspective the life of the persons with disabilities and their world. Our underlying idea was for this play to be an inspiration for establishing the Balkan Cultural Centre for the persons with developmental disabilities. It would involve the whole region- it is a sort of utopian vision of the project in question”. These were Pašović’s exact words while announcing the play’s premiere in Budva, scheduled for July 14th at 9 PM, at the venue behind the “Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša” primary school.
Announcing another significant premiere at this year’s “Theatre City” festival- the play Unreal City, the director Vuk Ršumović expressed his gratitude for having been given an opportunity to be a part of the festival this year for the first time. According to him, the festival has played a fundamental role in forming him as an artist.
“The stage of this play in the form of a guided audio stride is the whole of the Old Town Budva, and the audience are actually the protagonist. The whole project came to be thanks to the initiative of Milena Lubarda Marojević. We have agreed at once what the play should represent and how it should all be done. In the contemporary theatre tradition, this project would fall into the category of what one would call an immersive theatre. It is actually an interactive theatre that calls for the viewers to play an active role in the interaction with the reality. It is best experienced without any pre-imposed notions. Also, I must pinpoint that I am greatly fond of this year festival’s motto. It sounds as a kind of a paradox-how could a future haunt us? Actually, I think that within the paradox the nucleus of originality, authenticity, some new ideas and inward flames that could change our perception of the world and conventional beliefs could be found. Our past and future are interconnected deep down within us. We are often not aware of the fact that we can summon them in the form of a thought- it is actually how it works”-Ršumović explained.
The premiere of the play Unreal City is scheduled for July 27th , and the maximum number of participants, or better say the audience, is twelve.
Another premiere is due to happen on the 3rd August, on the stage in front of “Sveta Trojica” Monastery (Stanjevići). The play in question is called Protekcija. This is Branislav Nušić’s play, newly directed by Milan Nešković. The co-producers are: The “Theatre City” Budva and The Sombor National Theatre.
The editor-in-chief of the festival Svetlana Ivanović was the moderator of the already mentioned media conference. At the conference, she took an opportunity to announce a rich literary programme.
“At the very opening of the literary programme, we are to have as our guest Slobodan Šnajder, the winner of the “Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša” award for the year 2021/2022. He is to be given the award by the panel of judges consisting of: Dragana Kujović, Saša Radojčić and Velimir Visković. They will also tackle the topic of the current tides in poetics not just in Šnajder’s prose but literature in general. In addition to that, this year at the “Poet’s Square” one of the most important events for the culture of this region will be marked. It is the 530th anniversary from Oktoih prvoglasnik’s by the “Crnojević” printing house’s first edition. It is a jubilee that affirms an undeniable presence of our region’s culture not just on the European cultural map but the world one too. The importance of the civilizational breakthrough that came in the form of printing the first book written in the Cyrillic alphabet, the Mediterranean and European context of this cultural venture, as well as the tasks left to the ensuing generations when it comes to preserving it, will be the subject of the speech by Aleksandar Jerkov”-Ivanović highlighted.
The director of the “Theatre City”, Milena Lubarda Marojević, addressed the versatile programme relating to music.
“The opening of the festival will be marked by the collaboration with the Montenegrin Music Centre, in the form of the two major concerts. First, the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra and Vlatko Stefanovski will perform the well-known compositions in brand-new arrangements, led by the conductor Emin Dzijan. Furthermore, on July, 19th, after many years one will have the chance to witness the performance of the virtuoso Roman Simović, also accompanied by the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra. The festival has also continued the long-lasting collaboration with the conductor Bojan Suđić. For this year’s festival edition, he is preparing the programme entitled “Musical Fireworks”. It is to be performed by the festival choir and the “Virtuosi” orchestra with the assistance of the established soloists. In collaboration with maestro Suđić, the audience of this year’s festival will have a chance to witness the performance of the two giants of the international musical scene. On July 31st, the festival will host the violinist, conductor and countertenor Dmitry Sinkovsky, who is to perform the “Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. The very end of the festival is reserved for the pianist Simon Trpcheski and his performance of Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev’s works at the venue Between the Two Churches on August, 22nd.
The highlight of the fine arts programme would be one significant exhibition in collaboration with the National Museum of Montenegro-the most important national institution when it comes to the visual arts creation.” Lubarda Marojević pointed out.
“Led by this year festival’s motto that conceptualizes the permanent leaning towards the future, the festival plans to mark in a new, contemporary way the 50 years from the painter Petar Lubarda’s passing. He was one of the most renowned contemporary Montenegrin and Yugoslav painters. The exhibition named “Petar Lubarda-The New Framing”, has as its goal exploring the possibilities of breaking some new grounds when it comes to seeing in a fresh way the already established artistic standpoints and postulates with the assistance of new technologies. The idea is for the most important phases of Lubarda’s canon, in the selection of the National Museum of Montenegro, to be presented with the use of 3D mapping technique, in the venue of the “Santa Maria in Punta” Church. We expect for the already established value of Lubarda’s canon to offer new semantic aspects, defined by the synergy of the space used for the exhibition, affirmed poetics in addition to the possibility of mediation and reception of visual arts by means of new technologies. The authors of the exhibition are: Filip Mikić (the author of the video work), Snežana Ivović and Miloš Marjanović (art historians).”