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Directed by ALEKSANDAR POPOVSKI
Set Design SVEN JONKE
Costume Design LANA CVIJANOVIĆ
Dramaturgy MILOŠ KREČKOVIĆ
Composer KIRIL DŽAJKOVSKI
Stage Movement SONjA VUKIĆEVIĆ
Stage Speech LjILjANA MRKIĆ-POPOVIĆ
Production Manager ANA ĆURČIN
Premiere:
November 14th 2008
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CAST |
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Candide |
NIKOLA ĐURIČKO |
Pangloss |
BOGDAN DIKLIĆ |
Cunegonde, Marquise |
NATAŠA TAPUŠKOVIĆ |
The Preacher, Martin |
GORAN ŠUŠLjIK |
The Old Woman, Lady |
GORDANA ĐURĐEVIĆ |
The Old Man from El Dorado, The Master |
MIHAILO JANKETIĆ |
Paquette, Nathalie |
MILENA VASIĆ-RAŽNATOVIĆ |
The Doctor, Cacambo, Cecil |
SRĐAN TIMAROV |
The Medic |
DRAGAN JOVANOVIĆ |
Bulgar 2, Don Issachar, Vicomte |
MARKO BAĆOVIĆ |
The Commander, Clemenceau |
VOJIN ĆETKOVIĆ |
The Sailor, The Black Man, The Traveller, the Prisoner |
MARINKO MADžGALj |
Officer of the Inquisition, The Inquisitor, The Abbot |
DUBRAVKO JOVANOVIĆ |
Guvernor, Merchant |
NIKOLA SIMIĆ |
Bulgar 1, The Captive, The Person Whose Task Is Unclear, The Policeman |
IGOR FILIPOVIĆ |
The Bride, Denise |
TIJANA ČUROVIĆ |
Giroffle |
VLASTA VELISAVLjEVIĆ |
Ghirlande |
OLIVERA KRLjEVIĆ |
The Narrator from Paraguay |
DEJAN ĐUROVIĆ |
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| YUGOSLAV DRAMA THEATRE - BELGRADE |
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The Yugoslav Drama Theatre (JDP) was founded in 1948 with the aim of attracting the cream of the dramatic talent from all over the FNRY, and of being the Yugoslav counterpart to the Moscow Art Theatre in terms of style and aesthetic quality. Supported by politicians and leading cultural figures, director Bojan Stupica selected the most notable artists from all the theatrical centres of Yugoslavia. The first premiere was held on April 3rd 1948. Bojan Stupica put on 'The King of Betainov' by Ivan Cankar.
The concept for the theatre laid down by politicians was only partially adhered to, whilst from the very beginning in its practical work artistic freedom was championed and the aesthetic credibility of directors and actors was supported. The managers of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre always belonged to the circle of the most notable and most competent of those working in the theatre, regardless of whether they came from the ranks of critics (Velibor Gligoric, Milutin Micic, Petar Volk), dramatists (Jovan Cirilov) or directors (Miroslav Belovic, Bojan Stupica). When creating the repertoire, managers of the JDP initially favoured great world and national classics, but over the course of the 50s they gradually introduced works from contemporary world and national dramaturgy.
Directors at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre always stood out for their new and inventive interpretations of the classics of world and national dramaturgy, through which they were changing the notion of theatre in our country. One can recall Bojan Stupica's interpretation of 'Dundo Maroje' by Marin Drzic and 'Fisherman's Quarrel' by Carlo Goldoni and Mate Milosevic's direction of 'Yegor Bulychov' by Maksim Gorky and 'Grieving Family' by Branislav Nusic. There was also Miroslav Belovic's direction of 'The Boastful Soldier' by Plaut and 'Dundo Maroje' by Marin Drzic, and then Dejan Mijac's direction of 'High Sea' by Branislav Nusic, 'Patriots' by Jovan Sterija Popovic and 'Le Misanthrope', 'Hamlet' directed by Stevo Zigon, and 'The Theatre of Illusions' by Pierre Cornier directed by Slobodan Unkovski. The stage of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre was the place where leading directors from all over Yugoslavia tested their skills: Branko Gavela, Paolo Madeli, Slobodan Unkovski, Haris Pasovic, etc., as well as numerous foreign directors: Jezi Jarocki, Georgij Aleksandrovic - Tovstonogov, Karlos Medina, Vitalij Dvorcin... Even at a time of great social turmoil, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre welcomed significant works by contemporary writers from all over Yugoslavia. The following authors and their works were promoted at the JDP: Dobrica Cosic - 'Discoveries', Jovan Hristic -'Clean hands' and 'Savaranola and his friends', Velimir Lukic - 'Innocent Anabella's affair', Slobodan Schneider - 'Croatian Faustus', Dusan Kovacevic 'Balkan Spy', Dejan Bukovski - 'Powder Keg', Biljana Srbljanovic -'Belgrade trilogy'. Our performances of their plays were enacted at the Bonner Bienale, the starting poing of their European recognition. An unavoidable part og the history of the JDP is also the story of the great actors who performed on this stage. An unavoidable part of the history of the JDP is also the story of the great actors who performed on this stage.
An unavoidable part of the history of the JDP is also the story of the great actors who performed on this stage.The reputation and success of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre was acknowledged at numerous international and domestic festivals and on guest performances. The Yugoslav Drama Theatre toured not only around Yugoslavia but around the whole of Europe as well, and in doing so it confirmed its international and European dimensions. |
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P E R F O R M A N C E...... |
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The text of the play Candide or Optimism represents a director's adaptation of Voltaire's novel by the same title. It is based on the dramatisation by Jan Cziviš, Alena Vostrá and Jaroslav Vostý, translated from the Czech by Tihana Hamović. The adaptation contains excerpts from Voltaire's novel (translated by Milan Predić) and his Dictionary of Philosophy (translated by Đorđe Dimitrijević).
Voltaire’s Candide speaks about optimism as a philosophical idea and a point of view in life. Today, optimism is heavily problematical. It is even popular to say that an optimist is in deed only a poorly informed pessimist. Is it really so? Has the time come to turn this aphorism upside down and say that a Pessimist is, in fact, an Optimist without the courage to persist? In a stereotypical way of looking Candid is a good fool who gets fooled, offended and insulted by the mean and manipulative, say those who „know how life is“... But, is that really truth? Is it only Candide that is naive or are all those who think that they recognise and understand the construction of world? In our play all the roles stay in their own time, only Candide gets old. That’s why Candide is a tale of growing up and the termination from Heaven, which are subjects that, again, necessarily are connected to optimism as a philosophical idea and a way of seeing life. |
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S E L E C T O R ' S...R E P O R T...... |
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Despite a skeptical stance of philosophers that theatre is not a place for a free flow of thought even if that flow is not restrained by the laws of logic, Aleksandar Popovski brilliantly orients himself in the staging of this quite philosophical work. The relatively simple and rather surpassed “philosophical” question about the best of worlds turns in the hands of this director into a play whose flow cannot be changed even by its conclusion. The conclusion is only a conclusion, and the game here, with the support of a brilliant visual props and ensemble, is that game which brightens the senses, releases phantasms, awakens the stage even where it seemingly does not exist.
Voltaire’s Candide, that funny vagabond, a person who would give everything for love – until it is betrayed – would hardly be found without Nikola Djuricko, and YDT is in this play, under the leadership of Aleksandar Popovski, on the right, reversible track of a theatre as a charming enfant terrible of philosophy.
 Igor BURIĆ & Vladimir KOPICL |
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Aleksandar Popovski was born in Skopje, Macedonia in 1969.
He graduated from the University of “St. Kiril and Metodij” with a BA in Film and Drama. He studied under such luminaries as Stole Popov and Slobodan Unkovski, both esteemed and internationally recognized directors from Macedonia.
His directorial debut was in the theatre for the first time in 1992, where he directed a drama written by Dean Dukovski (Macedonian author). He has also directed texts by Lorka, Harms, Dean Dukovski (again), Koltes, Stefanovski, Kosi, Vencelj and Popovski according to the Servantes`incentives, later on.
Than he directed texts from the following authors: Dukovski(again), Bram Stocker, Biljana Srbljanovic, McDonough, Molier, Ana Aleksik, Elena Pega, Slavko Groom.
To date, Aleksandar’s plays have been shown on the scenes of theatres in Macedonia, Denmark, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Greece...
Productions: Marius Ivaškevičius Close City (Teatro Stabile Sloveno, Trieste) Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream (City Theatre “Gavella,” Zagreb); Metamorphoses, adaptation and dramatization of the work by Ovid (KUG, Graz); Slavko Grum Events in Goga (SNG Celje); Elen Peg New Friends (National Theatre of Northern Greece, Thessaloniki), Ana Lasić Antrides (SNG Ljubljana); Moliere Don Juan (Drama Theatre Skopje and Ohrid Summer Festival); Biljana Srbljanović Alice in Wonderland (Atelier 212); A.P. Checkhov Three Sisters (National Theatre Bitola); Shakespeare The Tempest (Turkish Language Stage of Minorities’ Theatre in Skopje); Martin MacDonagh Pillowman (SNG Celje); A.P. Chekhov The Cherry Orchard (National Theatre Belgrade); Georg Buchner Danton’s Death (Teatro stabile di innovazione del FVG – Udine); Dracula, based on the novel by Bram Stoker, adaptation and dramatization by Aleksandar Popovski and Dejan Dukovski (SNG Maribor); Don Quixote, based on the novel by Cervantes, adaptation and dramatization T. Kosi / J.Vencelj / A. Popovski (SNG Maribor); Dejan Dukovski Balkan Is Not Dead (Drama Theatre, Skopje); Dejan Dukovski The Powder Keg (Satirist Theatre “Kerempuh); A.M. Coltes Roberto Zuccho (Atelier 212 Theatre); Goran Stefanovski Wild Flesh (Drama Theatre, Skopje)... |
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At the time illusion was imposed upon us as a general condition of the country, theatre had the task to tear up that fake balloon and show what reality really looked like. Nowadays, illusion is abolished. Not only illusion, but also the system of values. With no system of values, everything in life appears to be black or grey. Candide attempts to find a bright spot. We can call this quest for a bright spot an illusion. The quest for a bright spot in life, even if it's called an illusion, is extremely important. Without it, we don't exist. It is like the soul. Illusion is the soul, all that remains is the body. We can also come up with another word. That word can be hope, emotion, imagination, dreaming... Long forgotten categories, every one of them. We have abolished the category of imaginations because it has no utilitarian value in this pragmatic world. What is the price of imagination? We do not know. And therefore it has no value. My silent revolution is an attempt to bring people back to the terrain of emotion they will recognise in my show and search for in their own lives.
Aleksandar POPOVSKI |
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| VOLTAIRE (1694 - 1778) A French author and philosopher. Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet in a wealthy Parisian family and was educated at the Jesuit school Louis Le Grand. His satirical writings brought him into exile in England (1726-29) where he was introduced to philosophical ideas of Newton and Locke. He returns to France and publishes Lettres philosophiques (1734, Philosophic Letters On The English) admiring England's liberal spirit, and is forced to retire to the country to evade arrest. In the 15 years that followed he lives in Cirey, in the company of the learned madame du Chatelet. During seventeen forties he is looked favourably upon by the king and is employed as the official historian of the court. He is elected a member of French Academy. He visits the Court of Frederick the Great in Prussia in 1750. In 1755 he settles in a castle near Geneve, where he publishes Essai su les mouers et l'esprit des nations (1756, Essays On The Customs And Spirit Of Peoples), and Candide, ou l' optimisme (Candide or Optimism, 1759). He acquires an estate in Ferney, on the French soil very near the Swiss border. A marginal spot in the country turns into an intelectual centre of Europe. He publishes his satirical Philosophic Dictionary (Dictionnaire philosophique, 1764). He returns to Paris just several months before his death, only to be dubbed the greatest luminary of French enlightenment and the bravest advocate of liberties, freedom and tolerance of his generation. |
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Optimism and Stupidity
Those who passionately, zealously want the world to be better, prove with the same fierceness that the world, in spite of the desires and intentions of dreamers, idealists and illusionists, is not perfect, and it is far from being the best of worlds. The curious Candide, a young man of faith, science, hope and love, as Nikola Đuričko suggests to us, is glowing with happiness, fascination. (...) Then we are sufficiently pure, naive and open-hearted for the beauties, gifts, fascinations and raptures of this world. And the entire life is, often, not enough to get rid of youthful convictions, to reject “the teachings” of wise men, such as Pangloss, played by Bogdan Diklić, who, no matter what is happening to him, no matter what kind of misfortunes and miseries are besetting him, won’t give up on his “philosophy” of which he wants to convince others as well, Candide especially, that we are living in the best of good world. (...) And while everybody in the play by Aleksandar Popovski, in Voltaire’s Candide, to which fragments of the author’s “Philosophic Dictionary” was added, think, dream, and search for the best of all worlds, truly wondering and astonishing themselves, asking how come there is in the world, and in humans, so much nonsense and evil! As if the architect, the creator of the world, was not among the best! (...) Good, sharp, imaginative play, developed between the thwarted romance and mockery.
Muharem PERVIĆ, Politika, November 20 2008
Decrepit Tower of Babilon
(...) Gordana Đurđević performed one the most wholesome roles in the sharp, craft-wise skilful and effective persiflage of the resilient and experienced Old Woman, which the actress was able, in the penal-scene of the ten-minute confession, to replace with the serious tone in the right moment: when this character is asking herself why we are yearning to save such a burden called life. A similar genre and dramatic multi-layered character was achieved by Bogdan Diklić, who did not overplay Pangloss, the main Voltaire's targe, and Dragan Jovanović, in an equally comically reserved interpretation of the Medic, whose tractate about bad digestion of the ruler as the cause of many sufferings successfuly balanced between stupidity and warning that caprices of the powerful are governing our lives.
Ivan MEDENICA, Vreme, November 20 2008
Question and answers
That bitter truth is nicely wrapped, first into a set design by Sven Jonke. From the palisade the cube covers a little, and it looks like those fortresses from westerns, with a board falling here and there creating entrances and exits. And it is probably similar in life - worlds whose walls are built too firmly look like prisons, and they are falling apart when they are needed most and when you least expected them to. The next layer of wrapping is the actors’ play. Superior, charming playing with persiflage. In the manner “I know I am a cartoon, but I know I am irresistible, and I am enjoying this game...” It could be captivating in its impertinence, for the one who can, like when Gordana Đurđević, led by the director, of course, stops the entire act in order to tell the adventures from her life in a fifteen-minute monologue, and, as in “1001 Night,” receives an applause for it ...
Aleksandra GLOVACKI, Večernje novosti
The Return of faith
The performance by Nataša Tapušković in the roles of Candide’s dear Cunigonde and Marquise, is drawing attention to itself, then also the inspired and multi-layered performance by Gordana Đurđević in the roles of Old Woman and Lady, and the actor’s triumph by Dragan Jovanović in the role of the Medic. The performance of Bogdan Diklić in the role of teacher Pangloss was very interesting, as this actor invested, it seems, a lot of sympathies towards this weird man. Beside a series of other successful performances (Nikola Simić and Mihailo Janketić), the performance that stands out is the one by Nikola Đuričko, the interpreter of the title role, who offered more of an accurate than inspiring performance. In spite of this, with this play a faith in the significance of theatre is returning, no matter how little power it has.
Željko JOVANOVIĆ, Blic
Today’s Candide, with the tale about harmlessness of the most horrifying wars and moral corruption in the time of Voltaire, tries to be a positive play in the negative time, and Voltaire’s observation about the bad state of “the best of all worlds” serves the director Popovski for inspiring optimism nowhere in sight in the surroundings. Popovski himself was in that sense more than clear after the premiere: “In today’s pragmatic world imagination is cancelled as an unproductive category and my quiet revolution is an attempt to help people return to the terrain of emotionalism they will recognise in my play and search for it in their own lives.” For such an idea Candide is a perfect text about the bizarre nature of human faltering, the only question is can today’s people, who are aware of the history of nonsense, find the strength for new fancies. In that sense the acting of the YDT ensemble is stripped, with grotesque minimalism, to an invention of historical harm, while the main actor is, metaphorically said, holding his foot in the door of general cataclysm. (...) In the world that does not look good at all today... director Popovski through Candide offers hope which in this area seems therapeutic, if for nothing else for the fact that one man believes in it.
Bojan MUNjIN |
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