Bitef

Ili dobija, gubeći? t » Žrtve mode bum-bum« napravljene su jednostavmm sredstvima í mehanizam cudne revije vojnickog oblacenja isproban u i privlačnom kabareu koji sanjarł о dramaturgiß nütinga i J najraznovrsnijih dirljivih demonstracija i proslava, s bučnim | zvučnicima, horovima i raznejenim ucesnicima. Ali ta sredstva l su iskoriséena da se povesnom ritualu nasilja suprotstavi i svakodnevni Ijubavni obred jednostavnosču onoga iskonskog ¡ podra miado sti: manite se rata, v o dite ljubav ... j Sigurno je da ova predstava mole da uzbudi i uznemiri, ona 1 razdražuje predrasude, htela bi po svaku cem da proved 1 izvesna utvrdena mišljenja, rídkujuéi da muzda izazove i 1 opasne » vanpozorišne « nesporazume, ali, čini nam se, ulazeći J и onoj završni prizor, и onoj strasni podv na ljubav, ona kao 1 tenisku loptu baca svoje goto srce u gledaliśte ... 1 (Iz rediteljske beležnice, Boro Draskovic) 1 i Author and director of the v v-» performance, Dusan Jovanovic presents this dramatic happening like a ritual in the cabaret-like form of a fashion parade, which at the same time gives the ritual a counterpoint motivation A and stimulus. However, in Щ and theatrical Ят achievement, it is involved АШу theatre. The small ensemble of ,_Яш the Mladinsko Gledalisće is ' AAff-Jw' ш divided into: The male choir the members of which wear the uniforms of the various practitioners of violence, militarism, war and destruction over the centuries; the announcer introduces their different fashion phases; and the female choir, the anonymous people, all dressed alike in sombre, earthy colours, dateless women’s costumes, which recites the events related to these superficially changing fashions that nonetheless represent a violence, militarism and destruction that remain eternally the same. The women hold dolls symbolizing children with grotesquely long arms and legs and stuffed bodies, stressing impotence and weakness but at the same time a thirst for life. Placed in front of the stage are wooden soldiers’ crosses and behind are perspectives of the firmament made of barbed wire with lights attached to it that are later used to represent exploding shrapnel and twinkling stars. The performance starts abruptly with the unveiling of a monument to the people, and next to the monument the orators and applauding spectators gradually fall silent, making mimic gestures. Meanwhile, the people start to rise up like downtrodden grass and, wailing and stammering, cry out their

eternal sufferings of existence. Throughout the performance, the female choir increases its search for certain basic, meaningful statements which the violence of war in particular forces on people and the national community. With ritual gestures and movements the choir gives form to vocal and linguistic passages whose meaning is evident, and mixes together eternal, or rather mythological, fragments of folk songs, proverbs, sayings or of contemporary everyday phraseology, words and syntagms, e.g, man, home, fight, work, liberty, grave. Serving as a grotesque, comic counterpoint to these rituals is the soldiers’ fashion parade, which, however, also makes very efficacious use of language, forming a phraseology of violence and agressivity. For instance, while the soldiers slowly tear apart a child’s doll, they fight a verbal duel, using aggressive, provocative or offensive words. The performance reaches its dramatic and politically involved climax when the Fascist columns march past and grenades explode silently in the middle of the barbed wire, while the women bearing their children in their arms, fall, crying out words of freedom. In the following scene, the women the people search for the dead, whose conservation as eternal national heros Г becomes a powerful symbol. This time, the women do not bring uniforms, but different garments of their own, and they dress their children, who represent the People’s Army, in Partisans’ clothing. This political awareness, or search for the eternal, mythological and anti-military verity of existence forms the conclusion of the play (it is an example for youth in their quest for the signifance of the term love), which, like a fable for children, has a happy ending, (Veno Täufer)