Rehearsals began today at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre for two different productions.
Jovana Tomić led the first rehearsal of Pains of Youth by Ferdinand Bruckner which is expected to open in early June of this year on our Ljuba Tadić stage. The director adapted the original text, dramaturgy by Dimitrije Kokanov, set design by Jasmina Holbus, costume design by Selena Orb, original score composed by Luka Major,with Ljiljana Mrkić Popović in charge of speech coaching.
The cast includes Sanja Marković, Petar Benčina, Jovana Belović, Miodrag Dragičević, Milica Sužnjević, Natalija Stepanović and Đorđe Mišina.
A classical work, typical of German Expressionism and European Modernism, Bruckner’s Pains of Youth talks about young students of medicine torn between the conventions of bourgeois existence, youthful sense of rootlessness and the cynicism of a modern society. As the play progresses, we see their youth consume itself and self-destruct, creating a world even more horrible than the old one providing only an illusion of salvation.
Director Nataša Radulović led the first rehearsal of The Loser based on the eponymous novel by Thomas Bernhard as well as on the play Mozart and Salieri by A. S. Pushkin. Translation by Zlatko Krasni and Ivan S. Šajković, Set design by Jasmina Holbus, costume design by Marija Marković Milojev, original score composed by Ana Krstajić, coreography by Marta Bjelica with Biljana Todorović in charge of speech coaching.
This daring mixture of “a little tragedy” about Mozart and Salieri and Bernhard’s novel generates a passionate experiment by Nataša Radulović who also adapted the text for the stage. With close links to the theatre from an early age, coupled with a background in classical musical education and respect for tradition, the director embarks on this seemingly odd combination of a story about music, genius, envy, terrors of success and how easily a person may fail in their endeavours.
The cast of this production scheduled to première in May on the Studio YDT stage includes Joakim Tasić, Lenka Petrović, Stojša Oljačić and Teodor Vinčić.
Unlike Nataša Radulović, who is directing a YDT production for the first time, Jovana Tomić has already directed two excellent and popular productions (Nathan the Wise and My Husband) which have already been on the YDT repertoire for several seasons.
Photos 1 and 2 - rehearsals of Pains of Youth, photos 3 and 4 - rehearsals of The Loser