A new production of Branislav Nušić’s famous play A Suspicious Person, directed by Nikola Bundalo, will premiere on 15 October at 8:30 pm at the Raša Plaović Stage.

The colourful characters in this comedy, written between 1887 and 1888, are portrayed by Igor Đorđević (Jerotije Pantić), Anastasia Mandić (Anđa), Andrej Nježić (Đoka), Vaja Duјović (Marica), Jovan Jovanović (Žika), Danilo Lončarević (Milisav), Vučić Perović (Aleksa Žunjić), Marko Todorović (Vića) and Nemanja Stamatović (Gazda Miladin).

The plot is based on a classic vaudeville pattern: a mix-up involving two letters, one official and the other a love letter. This romantic storyline sets the main events in motion, intertwining with the political intrigue at the play’s most pivotal and humorous moments.

Nušić skilfully manipulates the facts to create striking dramatic irony. The comedy reaches its peak in scenes where the audience has a complete understanding of the situation while the characters themselves remain in the dark. More specifically, the audience realises that the person arrested as a “suspicious person” is actually Đoka, the love interest of Marica, the daughter of the district captain Jerotije Pantić.

Nušić’s particular gift for highlighting the resourcefulness and vitality of his unscrupulous characters gives the play its distinctive character. Unrestrained by personal ambition and convinced that the rules do not apply to them, these figures nevertheless win us over with their irresistible charm and comic intelligence, allowing us to recognise in them that celebrated quality known as “Nušić’s optimism”.

Director Bundalo says he first read A Suspicious Person in primary school, as a set text that children of that age simply could not fully understand.

“It has caught up with me again, and I am just as unsure that I understand it. As a child, I read a comedy about a bewildered captain and amusing clerks. Today, I read the same text and wonder what is actually naive about it: Nušić or us? This tension between naivety and danger guided us throughout the production,” says the young and exceptionally talented director, who was born in Banja Luka.

In his view, the fact that this play has endured does not merely show that things have remained unchanged; it also proves that something once spoken aloud can never be completely destroyed.

“In times like these, we tried to find delight in the joy of play during the process. I wanted to recapture the feelings I had as a child, when I first read this play and played at being its characters. In contrast to the brutality and growing tensions of today’s world, we placed the joy of play, comedy and theatrical excitement on stage – the kind of experience we wanted to create for ourselves, while inviting others to join in the fun,” Nikola Bundalo says, who is making his directorial debut at the National Theatre in Belgrade.

Zoran Stefanović, Artistic Director of the Drama Department, points out that the comedy A Suspicious Person returns to us in regular cycles, at times when we do not feel like laughing, yet when humour is needed most.

“As Artistic Director, I see three important dimensions to this special production: an outstanding creative team from the Republic of Srpska; an appealing cast drawn from the National Theatre’s Drama ensemble; and, finally, the approach taken by director Nikola Bundalo, who has presented the most serious social issues in a way that would have made Nušić himself cry from laughinh,” Zoran Stefanović added.

The dramaturg is Goran Starčević and the creative team also includes Dragana Purković Macan (set designer), Marija Marković Milojev (costume designer), Petar Topalović (composer), Marija Milenković (stage movement coach) and Ljiljana Mrkić Popović (speech coach).

This will be the sixth production of A Suspicious Person at the National Theatre in Belgrade, where the play received its world premiere on 29 May 1923.

Subsequent productions were staged on 14 March 1938, 7 October 1960, 20 April 1985 and, most recently, 21 June 2017.