New Productions
October saw the première of The Glass Neck by Bilјana Srblјanović, directed by Jagoš Marković. Uncle Vanya by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, directed by Egon Savin opened in December. Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, directed by Jovana Tomić, opened in March on our Studio YDT stage. The last production of this season was Lorenzaccio by Alfred de Musset, directed by Boris Liješević which opened in May on our Ljuba Tadić stage.
Festivals and guest performances
As in previous years, YDT productions had guest performances at a number of festivals and theatres in Serbia and abroad: Zagreb, Rijeka and Bijelovar (Croatia), Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Kranj and Ljublјana (Slovenia), Lazarevac, Užice, Ruma, Valјevo, Šabac, Požarevac, Mladenovac.
Guest performances of Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, directed by Slobodan Unkovski and Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, directed by Maja Maletković, took place in December at Cankarjev Dom theatre in Ljubljana.
The King of Betajnova by Ivan Cankar, directed by Milan Nešković, had a guest performance at the Week of Slovenian Drama festival held at the Prešern Theatre in Kranj.
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Michael Fengler, directed by Bobo Jelčić, was performed at the One-Act Theatre Festival in Mladenovac, Without Translation festival of Yugoslav theatre in Užice, International Comedy Festival ‘Mostarska Liska 2019’ in Mostar and at Fadil Hadžić Days of Satire theatre festival in Zagreb.
The Glass Neck by Bilјana Srblјanović, directed by Jagoš Marković, had guest performances at the Gavella theatre in Zagreb and took part in the Milivoje Živanović Theatre Festival in Požarevac and at the International Small Scenes Theatre Festival in Rijeka. The festival in Rijeka also welcomed the production of The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute, directed by Jana Maričić.
The production of Uncle Vanya by A. P. Chekhov, directed by Egon Savin, took part in the Theatre Spring festival in Šabac and at BOK theatre festival in Bjelovar.
Awards
The production of The Glass Neck by Bilјana Srblјanović, directed by Jagoš Marković, won two awards at the International Small Scenes Theatre Festival in Rijeka: Dragan Mićanović won the Velјko Maričić best male actor award for his portrayal of Ljubo and Vesna Trivalić won the Velјko Maričić award for best supporting role for her portrayal of Svetlana. The best actor award at the Milivoje Živanović theatre festival in Požarevac went to Jelisaveta Sablić. She won the award for her portrayal of Bogdanka in The Glass Neck.
The Ardalion award for best production at the Without Translation festival of Yugoslav theatre in Užice went to Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Michael Fengler, directed by Bobo Jelčić. The Ardalion award for best director went to Bobo Jelčić and the Ardalion for best actor went to Boris Isaković for his portrayal of Herr R. The best director award at the Fadil Hadžić Days of Satire theatre festival in Zagreb went to Bobo Jelčić for Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? while the Mladen Crnobrnja Gumbek best male actor award went to Boris Isaković for his portrayal of Herr R. at the International Comedy Festival ‘Mostarska Liska’ in Mostar, the production of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? won four awards: Grand Prix for best production, Ahmet Obradović best director award (Bobo Jelčić), best actor award (Boris Isaković) and Media jury award.
The Miloš Žutić award for best performance of season 2017/2018, presented by the Drama Artists’ Association of Serbia, went to Nenad Jezdić for his portrayal of Jožef Kantor in The King of Betajnova by Ivan Cankar, directed by Milan Nešković. For his portrayal of Kantor, Jezdić has also received the City of Belgrade award for theatre.
Milica Gojković, who recently joined the Yugoslav Drama Theatre ensemble, became the recipient of the Ružica Sokić foundation for best performance in season 2017/2018.
YDT in Saint Petersburg
Tamara Vučković Manojlović, director of Yugoslav Drama Theatre, was invited by Valery Foki and the Alexandrinsky Theatre to be present at the opening of Theatre Olympics held in Saint Petersburg on 15 th June. Tamara Vučković Manojlović used this opportunity to meet with Valery Fokin, the artistic director of Alexandrinsky Theatre, with whom she agreed long term cooperation which is expected to begin in 2020. The cooperation will initially include guest performances and will later on involve artist exchange. Since 1956, YDT has had guest performances at a number of theatres around Russia and former USSR, but this is the first time that direct cooperation with the Alexandrinsky Theatre has been established.
During her stay in Saint Petersburg, Tamara Vučković Manojlović also had a meeting with Tatyana Arkhipova, director of the Bolshoi Drama Theatre – Tovstonogov, where cooperation between our two theatres was agreed. The details of cooperation between YDT and the theatre that bears the name of the director who staged Three Sisters at YDT in 1981, will be announced in due course.
Vučković Manojlović has already been a guest of the Culture Forum organised every year in Saint Petersburg. In February this year she also took part in the International Theatre Conference which gathered more than one hundred theatre professionals, directors of national theatres around Russia and some of the most important theatres from around Europe, held this year at Alexandrinsky Theatre.
Remembering Nebojša Glogovac
REMEMBERING NEBOJŠA GLOGOVAC took place on 9 th February on our Ljuba Tadić Stage. Member of Yugoslav Drama theatre ensemble and recipient of Dobričin prsten lifetime achievement award in 2018 and the Miloš Žutić award for best performance in season 2016/2017. That same day, we organised a book launch of a monograph entitled NEBOJŠA GLOGOVAC by Tatjana Nјežić, followed by a short film by Radivoje Andrić, produced by Yugoslav Drama Theatre.
REMEMBERING NEBOJŠA GLOGOVAC was jointly organised by Drama Artists’ Association of Serbia and Yugoslav Drama Theatre.
The sell-out production
Between the day it premièred until its last performance of this season on 16 th June, The Glass Neck by Bilјana Srblјanović, directed by Jagoš Marković, had 34 performances before packed houses. This production stirred a lot of interest even before its premiére and the tickets for the first few performances were sold out in a matter of days which is why a waiting list was introduced so that everyone who was keen to see it could get a ticket. The houses were packed to the last seat for every one of the 34 performances. In addition, there were guest performances at Gavella theatre in Zagreb, Cultural Centre in Ruma, Youth Theatre in Novi Sad as well as at theatre festivals in Požarevac and Rijeka which means that the number of spectators was even higher and an extra ticket was always greatly appreciated.
Union of Theatres in Europe
Similar to previous years, YDT representatives took part in conferences and meetings for the Union of Theatres in Europe (UTE) which our theatre joined eleven years ago. Last year, the artistic director of Yugoslav Drama Theatre Gorčin Stojanović became a member of UTE Board of Directors.
Cooperation between YDT and Mirko Ilić continues
The cooperation which started in 2017 between Yugoslav Drama Theatre and Mirko Ilić, one of the most important graphic designers, illustrators and creators in the area of applied art in the world today, has continued into this season.
In May this year, the series of three posters created by Mirko Ilić for Yugoslav Drama Theatre became a part of the audiovisual exhibition at Design Week in Vilnius 2019. The posters were designed for the productions of The Glass Neck, Uncle Vanya and Nathan the Wise. The three posters won the Silver award in the Best Poster 2019 category. The awards are given by the renowned publisher Graphis and featured in their Graphis Poster Annual 2020.
Performances with subtitles
Some of the performances at Yugoslav Drama Theatre are subtitled in English. We believe that this way we are contributing to the general improvement of tourist offer in Belgrade and also helping our audiences grow.
In Memoriam
Radmila Andrić, Predrag Ejdus, Mihailo Janketić and Miodrag Radovanović Mrgud, renowned Serbian stage actors.
70 years of YDT monograph
As part of the celebrations surrounding YDT’s 70 th anniversary, the end of 2018 saw the publication of a monograph dedicated to the history of one of the most important and artistically most representative theatres. The monograph was compiled by Maja Medić and Aleksandar Milosavlјević
New members of our ensemble
The Yugoslav Drama Theatre ensemble has gained three young members. Milica Gojković, Joakim Tasić and Miodrag Dragičević have joined our family.
Coming soon…
- The première of Celestina by Fernando de Rojas, directed by Milan Nešković and co-produced by Yugoslav Drama Theatre and Theatre City Budva is scheduled for 18 th July in Budva. The Belgrade première is expected in October on our Ljuba Tadić stage
- Performances of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? and The Glass Neck have been included in the programme of Purgatorije Mediterranean Theatre Festival in Tivat this August
- A guest performance of Right You Are, If You Think So has been scheduled at Maly Theatre in Moscow
- Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? will be performed at Bitef theatre festival in Belgrade and MESS festival in Sarajevo
- Some of our productions will have guest performances in Zagreb (CNT), Ljbljana (SNT) and Maribor (SNT) and our cooperation with Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana is set to continue
- The next meeting of the General Assembly of the Union of Theatres in Europe (UTE) will be held at Yugoslav Drama Theatre in October
- Director Iva Milošević is set to begin rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
And more…
- Administrative preparations for Bojan Stuipica theatre have been completed. The next step is the completion of the main project and the work can begin
- Our two stages – Ljuba Tadić and Studio YDT witnessed more than 300 shows /performances in 2018, seen by more than 100,000 spectators
- The number of people following us on social networks is constantly growing and now we have over 6,000 followers on Twitter, more than 15,500 in our YDT Community on Facebook and nearly 9,000 followers on Instagram.
- After the warm reception the film Dovlatov has had around the world, the star of the film and member of Yugoslav Drama Theatre ensemble Milan Marić has been selected as this year’s Shooting Star at Berlin Film Festival
- The production of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? has been voted by the majorty of local theatre critics as the best theatre production in 2018
- Ars Dramatika published the text of The Glass Neck by Bilјana Srblјanović
- Our Art Reduction campaign continues and day tickets at a 50% discount are available for the majority of our productions.
- In 2019, Yugoslav Drama Theatre will be joining the European UNART theatre project that brings together young artists and authors from all over Germany. Some of the most important theatres in Germany are part of UNART theatre project, led by Thalia Theatre from Hamburg. Work on this important project is scheduled to start at Yugoslav Drama Theatre next year and our theatre will be opening its doors to young artists who will have an opportunity to give their input on current topics and their work, together with that of their German counterparts, will be presented during 2020 at various theatres participating in the project.