A WORD FROM THE COMPOSER
“The Risen Shadows” are part of an ever-shifting realm of sound and spirit that remains a constant on the personal and collective map of the all-Serbian movement, inspiring and renewing creativity and its boundless diversity.”
Academician Svetislav Božić
A WORD FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER
In the production “The Risen Shadows”, we preserve the memory of one of the most painful chapters in our history - the suffering of the Serbian people during the Great War, but we also celebrate the strength, dignity and faith of those who, despite everything, continue to live and create. At the centre of this enormous historical canvas we see Nadežda Petrović, an artist whose life was intricately bound to her people. This production portrays the sacrifice of the artist and the people, witnessing their resurrection through collective memory and art.
Jovica Begojev
Libretto
ACT ONE
At the Valjevo Hospital, the atmosphere is charged with feverish chaos. Death visits the deranged Doctor, who is on the brink of sanity, and his wounded patients. She revives their bodies, returning them to the space between this world and the next. Death awakens Nadežda Petrović, and brings Nadežda and her youngest brother Rastko together, only to separate them again, leaving Rastko alone in his futile search for his sister.
Years before meeting her end at the Valjevo Hospital, the young artist Nadežda studied at an art academy, developing her talent under the guidance of a mentor. When she was alone before her easel, she encountered an Angel, her source of inspiration. The Angel helps Nadežda and her sisters bridge the divide created by their jealousy of living in the shadow of Nadežda’s art and success.
Love emerges between Nadežda and Branko Popović, a fellow painter and close friend, but the looming war brings it to an abrupt end. Nadežda and Branko share a brief moment of intimacy already shadowed by the knowledge of parting, before Branko disappears into a sea of soldiers on their way to the front.
ACT TWO
The war has already claimed its first victims. On the battlefield, among the bodies of the fallen, Death and the Angel meet, inseparable companions in suffering. While Nadežda paints, Branko comes to her like a dream or a memory, but the war hinders every attempt they make to find their way back to each other.
Nadežda now faces a new challenge: her engagement to a distinguished Officer is threatened by her fiancé’s arrogant mother, who tries to prevent the marriage. Nadežda confronts her fiancé, but he is unable to stand up to his mother or defend Nadežda. She takes upon herself everything the Officer has failed to do: the responsibility, the courage, and the decision to face the war, so she leaves for the battlefield as a nurse.
In contrast to the scenes of suffering, the world tries to preserve the illusion of normal life. A ball is held in a magnificent ballroom, the music drowning out what is happening beyond its walls. Death enters among the guests, and her presence suggests that the war will no longer remain somewhere far away – the same young people now filling the ballroom will soon be leaving for the front.
On the battlefield, the women remain: mothers, sisters, wives and nurses who have followed their loved ones. They wage their own battle on the blood-soaked earth, trying to help the survivors, while in heaven, Death and the Angel continue their eternal game. After the battle, the women remain with the wounded and the dead, guarding them from disappearing into the mass of the fallen. Through their care, their memory and their love, the dead regain a presence, and risen shadows emerge from their bodies.
In this realm of memory, Nadežda and Rastko see each other again, brought together by Death and the Angel beyond the boundaries of life and death. Among the peonies, brother and sister find one another once more, and this time, there will be no parting.
