The XXXVIII “Theatre City” festival this year will be marked by four premiers of its own productions and co-productions in the part of its programme relating to theatre.This will also represent the closure of a long-lasting efforts spanning from the exploration of new theatrical forms and finding appropriate means of expression when honoring tradition all the way to the marking of an important jubilee.
The play Nadpop Kojović, the co-production of the JU “Theatre City” and the City Theatre Podgorica, will be performed during the opening-night ceremony of the XXXVIII “Theatre City’’ festival edition on the fifth of July, 2024. This way of honoring Budva’s cultural heritage through theatre is a kind of personal signature of the director Vida Ognjenović. She is also the author of the authentic text written on the basis of the literary canon and life of Antun Kojović,a distinguished individual from Budva.The reruns are scheduled for the sixth, seventh and eighth of July in the venue between the churches.
The play Svet mogućnosti, written and directed by Haris Pašović, the co-production of: the JU ’’Theatre City”, the Serbian National Theatre, the Sarajevo “East-West” Centre and The Dance Academy ’’Tala” from Zagreb, will premiere in Budva on the fourteenth of July while the rerun is scheduled for the fifteenth of July. The play came to be as a result of the work on the project “Enabled Theatre”, co-financed by the European Union as a part of the ”Creative Europe Programme”. One of the main aims of the project was to familiarize the viewers with and bring their attention to the life of the persons with disabilities through the artistic expression as well as with the implied statements made during the performance of the play.
The content of the play Nestvarni grad was inspired by Budva’s heritage and its form is oriented towards subjective perception of the viewers who are also active participants in the play. It is one of the long-awaited festival projects. This unusual theatrical adventure will be realized in the form of a guided stride thanks to which every group of viewers will have a chance to witness this one of a kind artistic event. The text of the play was written on the basis of a documentary material, collected during a two-year period. The writer-director of the play is Vuk Ršumović. The play will premiere at the end of June while its performance as a part of the theatre repertoire is scheduled for the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth and the thirtieth of June and the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth of August respectively.
The play Iza božjih leđa was conceived as a way of marking the 160th anniversary of the well-known comedy writer Branislav Nušić’s birth and is realized according to the motives of his work of the same name. This is another instance where the ”Theatre City” and the National Theatre of Sombor worked closely together. The director of the play is Radivoje Raša Andrić who, after a brilliant career as a movie director and screenwriter that has lasted for twenty years, goes back to directing for the theater again. The premiere of the play is scheduled for the third of August while the reruns are planned for the fourth, fifth and sixth of August.
An emphasis should be put once again on the fact that the XXXVIII “Theatre City” festival is expected to be held between the fifth of July and the twenty-fifth of August.
The “Theatre City” press-office