18 May SURREAL PICTURE BOOK

MAJA AND I AND MAJA, Bitef Theatre and De Facto

SURREAL PICTURE BOOK

Novosti
By Bojan Munjin

The performance Maja and I and Maja balances the fine line between childlike innocence, represented by actors dancing in red dresses and white shoes, and the bouts of social fever, existential nonsense, personal betrayals and historical horrors they are facing. The actors keep telling personal stories the way we all sometimes remember our pasts only to have that very childhood shaken up by the horrors of adulthood in the very next scene. The performance resembles a surreal picture book or a cheerful-gloomy puzzle where the actors’ lives get assembled and disassembled, making life similar to a bad joke, to a cruel trick played on human destiny.
Alongside many films filled with critical overtones, discussions, and intellectual events, the excellent performance Maja and I and Maja proves that this year’s Days of Serbian Culture is not a mere folklore event of a national community but a respectable cultural forum dealing with serious issues of our past and our present.