During the recently finished theatre season as many as six new productions opened at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre with a number of guest performances along the way. Sixteen cities, eight countries, nineteen guest performances at various festivals and theatres of national importance.
The first production to open last season on the Ljuba Tadić main stage was Pains of Youth by Ferdinand Bruckner, directed by Jovana Tomić. Our main stage also saw the opening of The Tin Drum based on the eponymous novel by Günter Grass, directed by Vasil Hristov, Cyrano by Edmond Rostand, directed by Gorčin Stojanović and Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist, directed by Boris Liješević.
Two new productions opened on our YDT Studio stage – An Incident at the Border by Kieran Lynn, directed by Stefan Gajić and Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh, directed by Simo Đukić.
Moreover, members of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre ensemble became recipients of numerous awards. Anita Mančić received the Dobričin Prsten award, the highest and most prestigious award for actors in Serbia. For his performance in The Development Path of Bora Šnajder, Nenad Jezdić received the Raša Plaović award while the Ljubinka Bobić biennial award for best actor in a comedy went to Sanja Marković for her performance in The Miracle in Šargan.
The production of Oedipus by Sophocles, directed by Vito Taufer, took part in 10th MITEM festival in Budapest. Oedipus also enjoyed two guest performances at the Istanbul City Theatre and took part in 29th International Small Scene Theatre Festival in Rijeka where it received the Nenad Šegvić award for best production, the Veljko Maričić award for best male actor (Milan Marić), the Nenad Šegvić award for best upcoming actor (Joakim Tasić) as well as the Audience Award. Oedipus also had two guest performances at the National Theatre in Užice. The first performance was part of the 28th Without Translation festival of Yugoslav Theatre and the second took place before the festival award ceremony: Ardalion awards for best production, best male actor and best costume design together with the Audience Award. The last guest performance this season was at 32nd Theatre Marathon in Sombor.
The production of The Development Path of Bora Šnajder by Aleksandar Popović, directed by Egon Savin had a guest performance at the Zoran Radmilović theatre festival held at the National Theatre of Timočka Krajina in Zaječar where Nenad Jezdić received the best actor award and the production as a whole received the Audience Award. The production also took part in 28th edition of the Milivoje Živanović theatre festival in Požarevac, 50th Days of Comedy festival in Jagodina where Nenad Jezdić received the best actor award and the production yet again received the Audience Award. The Development Path of Bora Šnajder was part of the New Fortress Theatre festival at Čortanovci where Radovan Vujović and Branka Šelić received best actor/actress awards respectively, with guest performances at cultural centres in Ruma and Lazarevac.
The production of The Loser by Thomas Bernhard/A. S. Pushkin, directed by Nataša Radulović, took part in 58th Dimitria Festival in Thessaloniki and at the Zaplet 15 International Theatre Festival in Banja Luka where Joakim Tasić became the recipient of the best upcoming actor award.
The produciton of Travelling Troupe Šopalović by Ljubomir Simović, directed by Jagoš Marković, enjoyed guest performances at the Slovene National Theatre Drama in Maribor (Slovenia), Rostand’s Cyrano, directed by Gorčin Stojanović was performed at 51st Infant Festival in Novi Sad and the production of Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, directed by Andras Urban took part in 20th International Festival of the Union of Theatres of Europe in Cluj. The production of The Glass Neck by Biljana Srbljanović, directed by Jagoš Marković was performed in Banja Luka at the Days of Jagoš Marković event held at the National Theatre of the Republic of Srpska.
During this season we marked 50th performances of Uncle Vanya, Oedipus and The Belgrade Trilogy and Marija Vicković, Lazar Đukić and Teodor Vinčić became members of our ensemble.
Two productions from abroad had their guest performances in the Yugoslav Drama Theatre stage: the Istanbul City Theatre production of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, directed by Aleksandar Popovski and the Beijing People’s Art Theatre production of Our Assassin Jing Ke by the Nobel Prize laureate Mo Yan, directed by Zhen Ming.
A total of 271 performances took place on the Yugoslav Drama Theatre stages between September 2023 and 23rd June, 2024. 107,000 audience members came to our theatre. There was a high level of interest in our productions and around 80% of tickets were normally sold in the first two days. We continue subtitling our performances in English and the number of our followers on social networks such as Instagram, Facebook or X is growing.
Representatives of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre took part in sessions of the general assembly of the Union of Theatres of Europe held in Cluj and Prague.
Following the decision of the jury made up of world renowned experts in the field of illustration, this year’s edition of American Illustration carrying the best illustrations from around the world included the poster designed by Mirko Ilić for the production of The Miracle in Šargan among the best in the world. Once again, the prestigious American design magazine Graphis gave awards to the posters designed by Mirko Ilić for the Yugoslav Drama Theatre productions. Gold medals went to posters for the productions of The Development Path of Bora Šnajder and Pains of Youth and silver medals went to The Incident at the Border, The Tin Drum, The Loser and Disco Pigs.
Last autumn we initiated the restoration work on the Yugoslav Drama Theatre main building. Upon a recommendation from the Ministry of Culture, the funds for the restoration work were channelled by the Government of the Republic of Serbia from a loan provided by the Council of Europe Development Bank.
The same funds will be used to pay for the project documentation for the reconstruction of the Bojan Stupica theatre.
During this season we lost some of our friends, former ensemble members and associates – Žarko Laušević, Gojko Šantić, Zoran Erić and Jagoš Marković whose four productions are still part of our repertoire. The Yugoslav Drama Theatre dedicated its November repertoire to the great theatre director and towards the end of the same month we organised a dedicated event – The Evening of Jagoš Marković – our way of saying goodbye to a great friend.