Rehearsals began today at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre of the latest production of St. George Slays the Dragon by Dušan Kovačević, directed by Milan Nešković.
The cast includes Milan Marić, Jovana Belović, Nikola Rakočević, Nebojša Ljubišić, Anđelika Simić, Marko Janketić, Srđan Timarov, Zoran Cvijanović, Aleksandar Đurica, Joakim Tasić, Aleksej Bjelogrlić, Miloš Samolov, Lazar Đukić, Teodor Vinčić, Ognjen Nikola Radulović, Luka Antonijević and Lazar Nikolić.
Dramaturgy by Jelena Mijović, set design by Gorčin Stojanović, costume design Biljana Grgur, original score composition by Vladimir Pejković, choreography by Andreja Kulešević with Dijana Marojević in charge of speech coaching. The songs in the production have been penned by Jelena Petković, better known as Duda Buržujka.
The story of St. George Slays the Dragon takes place during the outbreak of World War I, between the attempted assassination of Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević I until the beginning of the Battle of Cer, a time of national upheaval, among the flatlands of Mačva, between the river Sava and the city of Šabac. With the sounds of war in the background, there unfolds a story of a love triangle between a somewhat awkward member of the gendermerie, his wife from a bourgeois family and her lover, an invalid from the Balkan Wars. But life must go on, or at least attempts at life, even during wars, and nearly all the characters in this drama carry the burden either of their birth of the past war times, heroes of some past or future glorious historical events, they make desperate attempts to eke out humble morsels of personal happiness, claim what they believe is rightfully theirs after participating in previous wars and, however briefly, capture a moment where life and freedom will not be mutually exclusive.
The production is scheduled to open in December.
