The production of La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas, directed by Milan Nešković and co-produced by Yugoslav Drama Theatre and City Theatre Budva premièred on Thursday, 18 th July in Budva followed by additional performances on 19 th , 20 th and 21 st . The Belgrade première is scheduled for 6 th October on our Ljuba Tadić stage.
The novel La Celestina is written entirely in dialogue form and is considered one of the greatest works of Spanish literature.
With Nataša Ninković in the title role, the rest of the cast includes: Nikola Rakočević, Marta Bjelica, Nikola Šurbanović, Emir Ćatović, Ljubomir Bandović, Anđelika Simić, Katarina Žutić and Maja Stojanović. Adaptation and dramaturgy by Maja Todorović. Set design by Jasmina Holbus, costume design by Bilјana Grgur, choreography by Ista Stepanov with musiccomposed by Vladimir Pejković.
Although La Celestina is not generally well known, it is nevertheless one of the greatest novels of Spanish literature and therefore a challenge to produce on stage. On the one hand, we wanted to remain true to the spirit of Spain and on the other to transpose the medieval world to modern age. The novel lends itself to modern interpretations but also contains a number of limitations. Our version of La Celestina is a story of the world where the material is placed above all else, the world of instant satisfaction of desires, the world where empathy and sincere emotions are a thing of the past or which, ironically, are felt by those we least expect. The other title for the novel is “Tragic Comedy of Calisto and Melibea”. And this is what we took for our point of departure; we toyed with different styles of comedy that slowly gave way to tragedy. It turned out that the dividing line is rather fine, which says a lot about our own selves and the world we live in which is both tragic and comical, depending on our point of view – says the director Milan Nešković in his programme notes.