Title: Selected Serbian Plays
Description: AUTHORS presented in this anthology are Branislav Nušić (The Deceased), Djordje Lebović (Hallelujah), Aleksandar Obrenović (The Bird), Aleksandar Popović (Hats Off!), Ljubomir Simović (The Traveling Troupe Šopalović), Dušan Kovačević (Balkan Spy), Siniša Kovačević (Times Have Changed), Nebojša Romčević (Caroline Neuber), Biljana Srbljanović (Barbelo, on Dogs and Children), Milena Marković (A Boat for Dolls).
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Modern Serbia's theatrical drama began in 1804, when Serb leader Đorđe Petrović, also known as Karađorđe (1762-1817), liberated Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. This volume follows the culmination of a long and progressively successful tradition of the dramatic arts in the country, leading to the zenith of Serbian dramaturgy in the twentieth century. The theatre's limited achievements in the eighteenth century were the result of the Serbian people's negative and sarcastic perception of theatre as an institution. Yet this attitude changed in the subsequent two centuries, when plays based on the concept of realism--both political and social--became popular, contributing to the development of the country's dramaturgy and theatre. Selected writers from this modern period include Branislav Nušić, Dušan Kovačević, Biljana Srbljanović, and Milena Marković--names readily recognized by today's Serbian theatre-goers. The choice of authors for inclusion in this anthology is based on their acknowledged reputations and individual excellence in areas of topical significance, theatrical innovation, continuous performance and acclaim, and enduring truth and message.

-Branko Mikasinovich
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After Tito died in 1980, the Yugoslavian government tried to pretend nothing had changed. Their motto was "After Tito - Tito". The rules may have become less strictly enforced, but their presence still hung in the air. Holding on to the days of Tito, of course, proved more aspirational than actual. Without him, the economic imbalance between different regions continued to grow more severe and the historical grudges between ethnic groups floated back to the surface, making the eventual dissolution of the country, in retrospect, seem like a foregone conclusion. Milošević, eventually, was a poor imitation of Tito - and, where Tito controlled political subversion with a nuanced cleverness, Milošević lost control of it through a brazen arrogance. This allowed for a short period of more explicitly political and defiant works. Nothing of that nature, however, is included in this collection. The socio-political connections within the most contemporary works in the collection, Barbelo and A Ship For Dolls, are less local in their concerns - responding with a wider attack on the human condition within the 21st century. The theatrical imagination at work within these plays provokes and inspires simultaneously . . . Though not about to compete yet on an international scale with the likes of NewYork or London, Belgrade has an astonishingly prolific theatre scene, and as Harold Clurman reminded us at every opportunity, great theatre can only exist where the efforts to make theatre are legion. Belgrade is such a place and as the reader who becomes familiar with the plays in this book will avouch, Belgrade has produced some of the greatest.

-Dennis Barnett

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In presenting and promoting the contemporary plays, Serbia's four theatres and the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) played a major role. The four theaters included the Serbian National Theatre, founded in 1861 in Novi Sad; the National Theatre in Belgrade, built in 1869; the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, set up in Belgrade in 1947 to gather the best actors from across Yugoslavia and eventually becoming an outstanding European theatre; and Atelje 212, established in 1956 to introduce the avant-garde to Belgrade, often producing challenging and provocative plays. Indeed, Atelje 212was the first in Eastern Europe to perform Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a play banned in all other Communist states. Meanwhile, BITEF, instituted in 1967, supported and performed the latest theatre trends and became one of the most important cultural festivals in Serbia as well as Europe, staging both significant classics and more experimental forms. BITEF was the first international festival to beawarded a special prize, Premio Europa Per Il Teatro, in 1999 for its input and crucial relevance in the theatre arts.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the spirit and character of Serbian plays shifted to a basis on altered values and culture as a result of the wars and existential hardships. The most prominent Serbian playwrights following Lebović, Obrenović, and Popović were Ljubomir Simović and Dušan Kovačević. Although primarily a poet, Simović's (1935) plays are readily described as poetic dramas. His The Traveling Troupe Šopalović depicts actors travelling together and sharing their destiny. The play centers on two characters, Vasilije and Jelisaveta, whose best years are behind them. The plot and characters oscillate between reality and self-delusion, from "extreme realism to a poetic vision and we hardly notice the moment when the author ofthe drama has been joined by a poet", as drama critic Jovan Hristić pointed out.

Kovačević (1948) is a prolific writer best known for his more than a dozen plays and movie scripts. Two of his best known playsare Balkan Spy and The Professional, which reflect the political and--as some attest--conspiratorial minds of Serbs, with all the ensuing collusions. Kovačević's plays remain very popular in Serbia and have been translated into more than twenty languages and performed abroad.

Similar in ideology and artistry to the majority of post-World War II authors, who continued along the path of more original and innovative directions, were Siniša Kovačević, Nebojša Romčević, BiljanaSrbljanović, and Milena Marković. Kovačević (1954) is an author and professor at the Belgrade Academy of Arts and a triple Sterijino Pozorje theatre festival award winner for his plays The Times Have Changed, General Milan Nedić, and Janez. The Times Have Changed, one of his finest play, relates the fate of Ilija Pevac, a rich farmer who endures forced labor in Germany during World WarII, returns to his village, where he faces a new social order and human relations during the "changed times".

Romčević (1962), a professor, playwright, and screenwriter, has written seventeen plays, some of which have been performed in twenty countries. Romčević's drama Caroline Neuber is a tragic telling of the true story of a German actress who strived to create a reputable theatre, something different from the silly entertainment popular in eighteenth-century Germany and Europe. After her tragic death, although she failed to build such a theatre, her tireless efforts toward this goal were celebrated as a success.

Srbljanović (1970) is a playwright and controversial political activist whose plays have been staged in fifty countries, making her one of the most significant living Serb playwrights. She has received a number of Serbian awards, including the Joakim Vujić and Sterijino Pozorje prizes. In 1999 she became the only foreign writer to receive Germany's Ernst-Toller Award. Her play Barbelo presents a view of the history of Christianity, marking the first appearance of God, his origin and background, and the metaphysical space from which everything is created. The play shares lofty and sentient work about love,life, death, and human alienation.

Finally, Marković (1974) is a playwright and screenwriter as well as a poet. Her plays have been performed in Serbia and abroad, in Poland, Germany, and the USA. For her play A Boat For Dolls, perhaps the most provocative play in the collection, she won the Serbian Borislav Mihailović Mihiz Prize for Drama and the Sterijino Pozorje prize. Marković's main character, an artist who achievessome notoriety, lives a sexually abusive and promiscuous life, shared in the play through a series of popular fairy tales. The contrast between the traditional innocence of these narratives and the brutality of the life she lives is haunting.

All of the authors in this anthology have made important contributions to the advancement of the theatre arts in modern Serbia. Others could also have been included if not for space limitations. Each of these authors has enjoyed great recognition and popularity in Serbia itself,where their plays have been performed in numerous theatres throughout the country, side by side with the best dramatic literature from around the world.Many of them have also been recognized abroad.

This international acknowledgement is a clear sign that Serbian drama has emerged on the world theatrical stage with potency and commendation. It is our sincere hope that this anthology will introduce modern Serbian plays to a wider audience of English language readers and perhaps even to a new theatre audience.
 
-Branko Mikasinovich
Subjects: Serbian drama, Serbian theatre, Selected Serbian Plays, Serbian playwrights, Drama anthologies
Places: Belgrade
People: Branko Mikasinovich, Dejan Stojanovic, Dennis Barnett