NUŠIĆ’S PLAY THE DECEASED, DIRECTED BY EGON SAVIN, HAD ITS JUBILEE 50TH PERFORMANCE

The Deceased, based on the play by Branislav Nušić, directed and adapted by Egon Savin, was performed for the jubilee 50th time on the Main Stage, on Friday 9th January.
In this bitter play about alliance of criminal, people without integrity, greedy “pillars of society” with representatives of authority, the roles are interpreted by Nebojša Kundačina (Pavle Marić), Darko Tomović (Milan Novaković), Predrag Ejdus (Spasoje Blagojević), Branko Jerinić (Mr. Đurić), Bojan Krivokapić (Ljubomir), Aleksandar Đurica (Anta), Ljubomir Bandović (Mladen Đaković), Miloš Đorđević (Mile), Boris Pingović (Aljoša), Radovan Miljanić (Adolph Schwartz), Nataša Ninković (Rina), Zoran Ćosić (Agent), Anđelka Ristić (Marija), Ivana Šćepanović (Sofia) and Milan Šavija (Gendarme).
The Deceased is the last play written by Nušić (1937). According to Savin, the play represents the pinnacle of Nušić’s genius.
- The piece possesses an accurate and authentic criticism of society. The Deceased represents the picture of our nature which stops being funny and turns into serious and bitter Gogol-like story. Although Nušić called this piece a comedy, it is not a light comedy of character and Nušić demonstrated how sharp his pen can really be – reiterated Savin.  
In the production, the stage director indicates that the corruption infiltrated all aspects of life, even the most private ones, such as marriage, love, friendship and family relationships.
He also asks a question whether we are ready to sacrifice personal values only to keep our place in the system of corrupt social games.
The Deceased premiered on 26th December 2009.
The production toured Kikinda, Ruma, Požarevac, Smederevo, Kragujevac, Lazarevac, Banjaluka, Mladenovac, Zaječar and Pančevo.
For his interpretation of Anta, Đurica won three recognitions – Statuette “David Štrbac” for best actor at the 13th “Petar Kočić” Theatre Fest in Banjaluka, “Actor of the Evening” Award at the 15th Actor’s Festival “Milivoje Živanović” in Požarevac and the Award for Best Actor at the 7th Joakimfest in Kragujevac; while Ejdus, in the role of Spasoje Blagojević, won the Zoran’s Moustache Award at the 19th “Days of Zoran Radmilović” Festival.
Slavko Milanović is a dramaturge, Boris Maksimović designed the set, Marina Medenica designed costumes and Vladimir Petričević designed the sound in the production.
M.B.