National Theatre in Belgrade in May added to its repertoire that from June 22 to 29, the Festival of student performances of the final years will be held on the "Raša Plaović" stage. And then on June 16, it changed its mind, and informed the participants that the festival was postponed until the beginning of the next season.
The website of the National Theater does not say anything about it, the audience was not informed that there would be no student festival, that is, that the season was shortened by eight days and that it ends tonight, June 21.
It is true that the June repertoire includes, through the announcement that on June 22, a performance by the Academy of Arts from Belgrade will be held It's important to be named Ernest which was supposed to open the festival, was written "Cancelled", but soon after that the entire Festival of Student Performances of the Final Years was deleted. It was as if it had never been scheduled.
Harmonization of repertoire
In the email of the National Theater received by the participants of the festival, it is written that the decision to postpone was made "within the activities to harmonize repertoire and organizational plans in connection with the end of the current and preparation of the next theater season."
The repertoire for June is made and formulated in May, as already said, and the quoted decision was made on June 16. This means that referring to "repertoire harmonization" cannot be a reason for postponing the event.
The authors of the open letter about this latest move by the National Theater Administration, which was published on the Instagram page "Narodno je narodno" suspect that the explanation offered "has very little basis in facts" and that all the circumstances lead them to the conclusion that the reasons for the cancellation of the festival lie elsewhere.
They also point out that such attitude towards the employees of the National Theatre, and especially towards young artists who are just entering the profession, shows the "ignorance and lack of knowledge of professional and artistic ethics" of those who participate in making repertoire decisions.
However, it also shows unprofessionalism in the organization of the festival.
FDA
"Faculty of Dramatic Arts was in preliminary talks with the National Theatre, at the level of the Department of Acting and the Theater Studio, which is responsible for the production of student plays. It was an exercise for third-year students," Professor Danica Pajović, vice-dean of FDU, tells "Vreme".
"However, the Faculty did not have time to receive an official invitation to participate in the aforementioned Festival, nor to sign the contract on hosting the play, and already, barely a week later, we received an email that the Festival was canceled, that is, postponed."
Danica Pajović explains that "given that the date of the Festival (about the conception and selection criteria of which, therefore, we have not yet been informed) coincides with the entrance exams at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, we must say that canceling the unscheduled guest appearance was not difficult for us, because logistically it would have been very difficult to do".
He states that FDU has had a protocol on cooperation with the National Theater for years, which was not renewed only during the blockades of all faculties in the country, but was signed again at the beginning of this year, and the National Theater again gives FDU students access to its fund, and in the off-season to the "Raša Plaović" stage.
"The only thing that can be concluded from all of this is that someone at the National Theater tried, probably with good intentions, but ad hoc, to organize something similar to the Youth Theater in Novi Sad, but it turned out that a festival of this scale still needs more time, planning and coordination, and that's why the whole idea was postponed until September. I can't think of another explanation," concludes Danica Pajović.
Novi Sad, Pristina
U Academy of Arts Novi Sad they say it's a play Chekhov's one-act plays in the fourth year of the class of professor Jasna Đuričić was invited in principle, but there was no official agreement on participation in the festival at the National Theater.
The Faculty of Dramatic Arts of Pristina, based in Zvečan, told "Vreme" Professor Aleksandar Đinđić, Head of the Department of Acting, was preparing to come to the National Theater with a play The Karamazov brothers which was directed by professor Borjanka Ljumović, but they received information that the Festival was postponed.
"It's a shame, because it was an opportunity for the graduates to present themselves to the audience," says Aleksandar Djindjic, adding that it is now impossible to expect the festival to be held in the fall.
In addition to the aforementioned, the Academy of Arts from Belgrade was supposed to present itself on the "Raša Plaović" stage as part of the festival. It is in the original repertoire for June, except for the one already mentioned It's important to be named Ernest , the play is also recorded Marathoners run a lap of honor.
It used to be a tradition.
He introduced the presentation of future drama artists in the last week of June at the National Theater Bozidar Đurović former director (2008-2012) of this house. The "First Step" festival was a place where future actors from all faculties and academies from Serbia presented themselves to directors, theater directors and colleagues.
"The previous management of the current management of the National Theater is unprofessional, artistically dubious and humanly immoral," Božidar Đurović assesses for "Vreme".
He says that "the fact that the festival was canceled for the students, even though the National Theater should be an indicator of professionalism according to them, did not surprise him at all. On the contrary, I am inclined to believe that there will not be a festival in the fall either. All this, plus the fact that it was scheduled in May and then canceled for no reason, speaks unequivocally that the National Theater is not a national theater, as the artists would like, but a theater of the Serbian Progressive Party."
Some of the interlocutors get the impression that the National Theater both wanted and did not want to be a student festival. It was wanted, so that they would have proof that they are not against their young colleagues, but at the same time it was convenient for him not to be there.
Because if he really cared about the student festival, he would have organized it properly, as the National Theater knows how to do.
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