Time for theater
Last evening a friend of mine, Ionut Grama, a talented young actor had his debut with the play entitled "Belgrade Trilogy". This is one of the projects for his diploma due to graduating Theater Academy.
The script written by Biljana Srbljanovic describes three stories related to Serbian citizens, all forced to flee the country due to the war. Their aspirations of starting a new life are completely different from the real situations. Even though their financial status has improved, they suffer from personal dilemmas, created by the change of environment. The immigrants are presented in three locations (Prague, Sydney and Los Angeles) at the New Year's Eve celebration. Each character is led by frustations and dramatical situations are sometimes described with dark humour. At the end of the play we realize that nobody is happy with the new life and everyone has a feeling of unaccomplishment. Whether the reason comes from financial status, carreer pursuit, marital life or sexual inability, their lives seem to be cursed. The rich young lady suffers because she had to leave the country due to her husband will, the loving brother longs for his lost love, the alcoholic husband cannot satisfy his wife anymore, the workaholic is permanently criticized by his spouse, the pianist becomes a waitress and the actor fails to receive any theatrical parts.
The only character that seems content with his life is the Serbian man born in USA, full of arrogance, paranoia and violence towards strangers. When the play reaches the end, we do not feel we have witnessed a great art performance or have relaxed after a long day. It is an intellectual display where the viewers are forced, in a way, to reflect upon its meanings. I believe there is a double meaning of the script, one national and one personal. The characters are depicted through the difficult circumstances found in their homeland and each individual has to reflect on one's choices and to adapt one's goals to each encountered situation. On the other hand, the US citizen is described in an ironical way, full of flaws, not capable of analysis, only following his first insticts and no quality whatsoever.
Below I included two photos of the New Year's celebration in Sydney in which Ionut Grama acts.
The script written by Biljana Srbljanovic describes three stories related to Serbian citizens, all forced to flee the country due to the war. Their aspirations of starting a new life are completely different from the real situations. Even though their financial status has improved, they suffer from personal dilemmas, created by the change of environment. The immigrants are presented in three locations (Prague, Sydney and Los Angeles) at the New Year's Eve celebration. Each character is led by frustations and dramatical situations are sometimes described with dark humour. At the end of the play we realize that nobody is happy with the new life and everyone has a feeling of unaccomplishment. Whether the reason comes from financial status, carreer pursuit, marital life or sexual inability, their lives seem to be cursed. The rich young lady suffers because she had to leave the country due to her husband will, the loving brother longs for his lost love, the alcoholic husband cannot satisfy his wife anymore, the workaholic is permanently criticized by his spouse, the pianist becomes a waitress and the actor fails to receive any theatrical parts.
The only character that seems content with his life is the Serbian man born in USA, full of arrogance, paranoia and violence towards strangers. When the play reaches the end, we do not feel we have witnessed a great art performance or have relaxed after a long day. It is an intellectual display where the viewers are forced, in a way, to reflect upon its meanings. I believe there is a double meaning of the script, one national and one personal. The characters are depicted through the difficult circumstances found in their homeland and each individual has to reflect on one's choices and to adapt one's goals to each encountered situation. On the other hand, the US citizen is described in an ironical way, full of flaws, not capable of analysis, only following his first insticts and no quality whatsoever.
Below I included two photos of the New Year's celebration in Sydney in which Ionut Grama acts.
Scene for New Year's Eve in Sydney
Tags: Bucharest Theatre Academy , Belgrade, Biljana Srbljanovic
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posted by Cristina Banu at
Thursday, October 05, 2006
4 Comments:
I've also seen the play, before it started I didn't know what to expect from it really, funny as it may sound, now that i've seen it, i don't think i can quite rate it, otherwise than just...fresh
By
Anonymous, at 1:18 AM
What a nice coincidence, I hadn't known so many people viewed this play :). I guess you can never know what to expect from a play before it starts unless you've already seen it. It is also a new experience if you had previously seen it in directed by another person and with different cast.
By
Cristina Banu, at 1:35 AM
Cris, quite an accurate description of the play! Hope we will also get to see the next projects :)
By
Alina, at 12:51 PM
I find out that the next project will be in 2 months. Anyway I will keep nagging Ionut to give me information and I will keep you posted.
By
Cristina Banu, at 12:31 AM
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