"The Pelican" by August Strindberg Directed by Djurdja Tešić Premiered on the "Raša Plaović" Stage

August Strindberg's play "The Pelican", which is about the quest and need for truth within a family, premiered on February 23 on the "Raša Plaović" Stage directed by Djurdja Tešić.

Emphasizing on the eve of the premiere that this play, written by the famous Swedish writer, playwright and poet in 1907, was not easy both when it comes to the topic it deals with or the writing style and that it represented the author's parting with naturalism, the director of the play, who also did the adaptation, pointed out that this was a "disturbing and moving story about the revenge of one's own children."

"In the characters of those children I recognized the heroes of our time, and in the character of the mother, whom Strindberg ironically refers to as a pelican because it is a bird that sacrifices itself for its children, I recognized the modern age. At the basic level, this play is a family drama that shows a breakup of a family represented by an anti-mother, but the other layer of the play, imbued by a lot of symbolism, is the relationship with mother Europe. I tried to build on that level, and yet to keep that elementary human drama in which we can recognize ourselves, because I think that we all live in the terror of lies and it is not easy for a person to preserve mental stability in these anti-moral times and not to fall into self-destruction. The notion of truth is a first-class philosophical notion and, in general, the main notion of life. The most important thing in The Pelican for me is the insight into what a lie produces in us, the consequences of a lie and the question of how to deal with the feeling that we are constantly lied to by those we should absolutely trust (…) For me, The Pelican is a metaphysical drama with the elements of a psychological thriller and absurd drama. A kind of a specific absurd humour also appears. I summed up the plot in one night, more precisely the whole drama takes place from the late afternoon to deep into the night.

Dušanka Stojanović Glid plays the role of the mother, the son is played by Nedim Nezirović, the daughter by Iva Milanović, the son-in-law is Vučić Perović, and the role of the maid is played by Vanja Ejdus.

At the end of the show, after an hour and fifteen minutes of a very inspired acting, the audience greeted them with a several-minute strong applause.

The play is dedicated to the deceased premier stage actor of the National Theatre Drama, Boris Komnenić, (1957-2021), who was supposed to play the lead role in Strindberg's play "The Father" directed by Djurdja Tešić. After his death, instead of that play, "The Pelican" (translation by Miroslava Buljan) was included in the repertoire plan of premieres to be staged.

The first rerun will be held on Saturday, February 26, starting at 8 p.m.