Beyond Stereotypes

Andrej Hieng/Anja Suša, Madlenianum, stage “Bel Etage”
The play “Burlesque about the Greek” (1969), written by Andrej Hieng, deals with a day in the life of El Greco. Starting from a particular case study, the author explores general issues of intensive creative crises, and the artists’ relationships with their families, society, art, religion.
The performance directed by Anja Suša is small and very stylized. The stage is striking, bare and defined in white colour (stage designer Igor Vasiljev). The stage is divided in movable white canvasses, which makes it possible to have fast change of scenes and to alter the depth of stage; all of that resembles the expression typical of TV and film, editing and various shots/reverse shots, which stems from the fact that the text is, actually, written for television. The costumes are luxurious (by Maja Mirković), the music ethereal and striking, illustrative of the main protagonist’s emotional states (composed by Vladimir Pejković).
Nebojša Dugalić plays El Greco in an energetic manner, as a tragic man, but with traces of grotesque, which adds to the issue of the painter’s tragic character. The actor is inspired in his representation of El Greco’s various mental states: general scepticism towards people, rage towards his model, Stutterer, created in minimalistic and salient manner by Dušan Murić, and, finally, destructive despair. The small size of the space is also put in function so Dugalić occasionally plays among the audience, adding thus further emphasise to the already existing closeness. Anđelika Simić creates the character of El Greco’s wife Heronima, combining psychological realism and stylization. While talking to El Greco about marriage and their common future, about inevitable end of their love and the routine which will takes its place, Anđelika Simić keeps revolving in a brisk, mechanical manner. This mannerism expresses not only universal nature of the problem but also Heronima’s deeply rooted restlessness which thus becomes metaphorical.
Heronima’s aunts, stupid, hypocritical women, are played by Jelica Vučinić (Juana) and Elizabeta Đorevska (Ignes). Both are presented in an artificial manner – dressed in luxurious white dresses, without makeup on their white faces, they walk around in an illustrative, grotesque, doll-like fashion. This contributes to an exciting presentation of what they are all about – their limited minds and permeating evil makes them the monsters they are. This kind of stylistic approach in the making of characters is far more valuable and more complex than the conventional, realistic method. Ivan Tomić is very successful in his creation of frère Kargan, whom he plays in an even, almost impersonal manner, which is to be taken as his utter cynicism, especially when he preaches El Greco on the sinful idea of faith as pure individualism which implies a mercenary imperative of service towards the church and the community.
The performance “Burlesque about the Greek”, directed by Anja Suša, is strikingly directed, superbly acted, and filled with stimulating ideas on art, family relations, region and politics; moreover, it is far from a stereotype and yet not pretentious, and therefore different than the majority of the performances about lives of artists.
Ana Tasić
Published in Politika, 12th April, 2007

The Absence of Identity

„Face of Glass“, Marija Karaklajić/Anja Suša; produced by Bitef Theatre, played in Student Cultural Centre
The play „Face of Glass“, written by Marija Karaklajić, which deals with a murder in a restaurant as seen from various points of view, and pursues a suspenseful search for the truth, can be defined as post-dramatic because of its unique and profound experimenting with the form. It is carried out by the elimination of linear narration, figuration and mimetic illusion, and by a radical exploration of time and space, which makes the text somewhat similar to the dramaturgy of Rene Pollesch, Falk Richter or Martin Crimp.
The directress Anja Suša has used the open form inventively focusing on the study of the relationship between actors and characters when it comes to the form while, when it comes to the idea, she concentrated on the problems of the loss of individual identities, general social anxiety, etc. The performance lacks fixed characters, all of them are in flux. The actors Damjan Kecojević, Dušan Murić, Jelena Ilić, Sena Đorović, and Stefan Šteref play fragments of various indistinct characters, exchanging roles between themselves (the roles of mother, son, waitress, neighbour, etc.) The absence of fixed identities on stage calls for an exciting analysis of the actor-character relation, i.e. for a deconstruction of the thesis of the traditional, Aristotelian theatre – the equivalence between actor and character. Actors’ play is mostly impersonal and mechanic; they change the tempo in an artificial manner which convincingly expresses one of the main ideas – the problematization of fragmenting and obliteration of the subject in the modern, globalized, mass-media society.
The play is set in a shopping centre restaurant, minimalistic and stylized in the performance (stage design by Igor Vasiljev), as a symbol of consumerism which functions as an attempt to negate any sense in the modern man’s everyday life. The indicative, insane and yet transient consumerism is emphasised by a large number of paper bags which are constantly checked and explored by the protagonists. Another distinctive characteristic is a sort of visual poetry created by light contrasts, especially exciting in the scenes played in a separate room with transparent walls, which bears its metaphorical meaning too.
Choreography of this performance is very important (by Dušan Murić), especially in the opening non-verbal scene, which conveys the spirit of time, the fact of painfully senseless communication which abounds with meaningless signs. Music works towards emphasising dramatic tension (composed by Vladimir Pejković) but also functions as ironic comment (at the beginning, for e.g. it is soft and idyllic, contrasting thus the dismal plot).
The performance “Face of Glass” is particularly significant in the context of Serbian production because it explores and surpasses the dominant traditional and conventional expression. It belongs to post-dramatic theatre which bravely redefines theatre language in the schizophrenic times that demand its structural changes. The form of the text/performance, fractured and unstable, carries its own meaning, reflecting the fragility and fragmentation of the identity of contemporary man, which turns him into a multiply mutilated and traumatized being.
Ana Tasić
Politika