BRANA CRNČEVIĆ

TAVERN, COURTHOUSE, MADHOUSE

Tavern, Courthouse, Madhouse directed by Ljubomir Draškić, with the stage design by Vladislav Lalicki, and a host of stage legends including Bata Stojković, Ružica Sokić, Neda Spasojević, Tanja Beljakova, Milutin Butković, Bora Todorović, Slobodan Aligrudić, Taško Načić, etc., marked an important era in the history of Belgrade’s Atelje 212 theatre, having a long stage life lasting from 1965 to 1972, before it was removed from the repertoire after a recommendation had been issued by the Belgrade’s Committee of the League of Communists due to its satirical nature, to prevent the production from attaining the record-breaking 250 performances.

In times when theatre often puts its hand in sand to avoid naming causes rather than individual consequences, the importance of staging this satire is multiple. In order to enhance bitterness of the satire, we intentionally resorted to using songs as commentaries, to emphasise the importance of this endeavour. In realisation of this production, I owe immense gratitude to all the actors, collaborators, members of the Crnčević family, as well as to the entire personnel of the Šabac City Theatre, where I have directed for the first time.

Miroslav Trifunović