PORK IN 178 WAYS

We would like to thank the Ground Forces Command and the Army House in Niš for their wholehearted support in the production of the play.

We would like to thank Bojana Milanović for her help in making the costumes and Marija Petrović for her cooperation in the music studio.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aleksandra Jovanović was born in 1996 in Vranje. She graduated in 2019 and received her master’s degree in 2020 at the Department of Dramaturgy at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where she is currently studying for a doctoral degree in dramatic and audiovisual arts.

As a playwright, she worked on theater productions: The Boy from the Last Bench (National Theater “Toša Jovanović”, director Tijana Vasić), The Petrified Sea (Theatre “Bora Stanković”, director Stevan Bodroža), The Black Bird (Theatre “Bora Stanković”, director Marija Mladenović), Four Walls or a tragicomedy about quarantine (Bora Stanković Theater, director Stevan Bodroža), the Member of the Parlaiment  (Subotica National Theater / Istrian National Theater, director Snežana Trišić), People Without Graves (Regional Theater Novi Pazar / Belgrade Drama Theater, director Stevan Bodroža).

She is the author of the novel Black Bird, published by the Creative Center (Politikin zabavnik award 2020, Niš city award “Malen cvet” 2020 for the best novel for children and young people; included in the 200 best novels for children and young people in the world, in the international catalog White Ravens 2021, published by the Munich library for children and young people; “Sigridrug” award for the text Wish, based on the motifs of the novel Black Bird, at the Dragon’s children’s games in Novi Sad, as part of the 2021 monodrama festival for children), the novel Petra has really gone, published by the Creative Center (“Rade Obrenović” award in 2023), the collection of poems Jagma, published by the “Vladislav Petković Dis” library (“Young Dis” award in 2020), the collection of poems Fingers in Dog’s Fur, published by the Rašić Literary Workshop.

As a screenwriter, she worked on the short films Meek, directed by Jovan Dimoski and Take me Wherever, directed by Nikola Polić, as well as on the television series Sinđelići, ER,  Secrets of the vine, Block 27, Supernova.

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

In the mass of sensationalist reporting on sexual violence, we often encounter epithets such as “monster,” “savage,” “beast” and “sick people leaping out of dark passages,” resulting in an insidious separation of the man himself from the act. The rapist is the darkness, the dragon, the minotaur that lurks in the labyrinth, almost always without a face and shape (except for the phallus), and even when he is given a figure, he must be such that people cannot recognize him. The recognition is more horrible than the crime itself. And while some people are banging their heads with the question of who these sick people are, Yellow takes the stage.

Yellow – a vulnerable boy, in love, scared, Yellow who running away from the Father becomes father himself, Yellow who knows what he wants but does not understand what he is doing, Yellow who is used to the smell of blood, squeals and the smell of freshly slaughtered meat. In the end, Yellow who knows that the word “No” means nothing, if he is wondering.

Pig in 178 ways is his story. In it, women don’t say much and don’t ask anything. They are functions, a collection of apparently attractive limbs and only apparently present.

However, even after Yellow does everything in his power to make you laugh, to touch you, to convince you that the narrator must be telling the truth, first a crack will form, then a gap, and then a hole through which reality enters. In it, the bed is a slaughterhouse, pigs feel fear, rapists sometimes cry and look like humans.

At the Competition of the Steria Theater for an original domestic dramatic text 2021/2022 in 2008, the expert jury recommended and highlighted the drama Pork in 178 Ways by Aleksandra Jovanović.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE DIRECTOR

Sonja Petrović was born in 1990 in Bačka Palanka. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, majoring in multimedia directing, and earned her master’s degree at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, majoring in theater and radio directing. She directed plays for children, young people and adults in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia. Her plays were awarded at important festivals – Steria Theater, Festival of Professional Theaters of Vojvodina, International Children’s Theater Festival in Subotica, Bora’s Theater Days, Kolyada plays (Yekaterinburg, Russia), ArtOkraina (St. Petersburg, Russia) and many others. Her play Who Killed Janis Joplin? won more than 40 awards and participated at the prestigious international festival of young directors Fast Forward in Dresden (Germany).

Sonja won awards for directing at the International Theater Meetings of Brčko District, Meetings of Professional Puppet Theaters of Serbia, Radio Belgrade and the “Petar Kočić” Theater Fest in Banja Luka, where she won the “Step into Courage” award.

She is the director of the traditional manifestation Festival of Ecological Theater for Children and Youth (www.fep.org.rs) in Bačka Palanka, for which she received the October Award in 2022. She is one of the founders of the Regional Platform for the Development and Affirmation of Theater for Children and Youth “From an early age” (www.odmalihnogu.org), through which she fights for a better status and higher quality of creativity for children and youth and its authors. She is a member of the Executive Board of the network for the development of theater for children and young people ASSITEJ Serbia, and actively works in the leading group for the international educational program “Next Generation”. As a director and author, she worked on several multimedia events – the digital interactive play Young people do great things, the opening and closing of the Youth Capital of Europe Novi Sad in 2019 and the opening of the Exit music festival (2017̶ 2019).

In hier work, she mostly deals with the topics of childhood, ecology and human rights.

Shows:  Everyman, by an unknown author, Student Cultural Center Novi Sad (SRB),  Sling, Nikolai Kolyada, UK Steamboat Belgrade (SRB), The Blue Bird, Maurice Maeterlinck, National Theater Sombor (SRB), Resistance, Lee MacDougall, Serbian National Theater Novi Sad (SRB), Who killed Janis Joplin?, based on the life and works of Janis Joplin, text by Tijana Grumić / Sonja Petrović

Serbian National Theater Novi Sad (SRB), A girl with matches, based on the fairy tale H. C. Andersen, text by Mina Petrić / Sonja Petrović, Novi Sad Youth Theater / Festival of Ecological Theater for Children and Youth / Association Freedom has no price (SRB), At the Eternal Faucet, Momčilo Nastasijević, Serbian National Theater Novi Sad (SRB), Agi and Ema, based on the novel of the same name by Igor Kolarov, dramatized by Mina Petrić, City Theater Bečej (SRB),

The Little Maiden, based on the motifs of Desanka Maksimović’s novel of the same name, dramatized by Mina Petrić, National Theater “Toša Jovanović” Zrenjanin (SRB),

Lenora, based on the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe, written by Sonja Petrović / Segor Hadžagić, Sarajevo Youth Theater (B&H), Barrel, based on the story of the same name by Isidora Sekulić, dramatized by Tijana Grumić, Children’s Theater of Republika Srpska Banjaluka (B&H),

Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Koper Theater (Slovenia) and the National Theater of the Serbian Republic, Banja Luka (B&H)

A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR

Do you know the myth of the Caledonian Boar*? The one when the world disappoints, suppresses, leaves out a woman**? I will not talk much, I will only threaten, because the character of this play, which reflects the state of society, gives me the right to be rude, vulgar and aggressive. Don’t annoy me with those “don’t be queer” common cultural stereotypes, strong gender roles and expectations like a man has to be strong, not cry, show no emotion, have to be dominant, have to be a PIG. The normalization of this contributes to the increase of gender-based violence. If a man feels that he does not adequately meet gender-imposed expectations, he tries to regain control over them through violence. Everything is very clear and we already know everything. I guess now that we know that, we are able to break those imposed gender boxes that create frustration for men. Challenge men and boys to question and reject harmful social norms. Help them, inspire them to come up with, embody a positive vision of masculinity “give them toys and let them play and chase all day”, or I release the boar!

And let one counterpoint be recorded, very interesting for the stage, but we decided to keep it for ourselves. We did this play in a kind of seductive peace, beauty, trust, solidarity. In an extremely equal and tolerant small society, full of love and understanding. Completely paradoxical in relation to the world of drama, we have built an atmosphere in which individual differences are truly overcome for the sake of one goal. Not good performances, we are too selfish for that, but the nobility of this moment and ourselves in it. If we all fought for just a few moments in our little collectives, maybe one boy would shed one less tear and one woman would allow herself to smile more. “And you think about what I told you!”

*The myth of the Caledonian boar

The Caledonian Boar is a monster in Greek mythology, sent by the goddess Artemis to ravage the region of Caledonia in Aetolia, because the king there failed (allegedly by accident) to offer a sacrifice to Artemis as well when offering gifts to the gods. Angered by this insult, Artemis sent a boar of enormous strength and size to ravage the land of Caledonia. The greatest heroes, like Agelaius, hunted the boar for six days, and many perished. However, even after they killed him, they argued over who would get the skin and who would get the head, so the bloodshed continued.

** All this has nothing to do with the play. Maybe…

CRIMINAL LAW

Chapter Eighteen

CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST SEXUAL FREEDOM

Rape

Article 178

• Whoever forces another to adultery or an act equivalent to it by the use of force or by threatening to directly attack the life or body of that person or a person close to him, shall be punished by imprisonment of five to twelve years.
• If the act referred to in paragraph 1 of this article was committed with the threat that something would be revealed about him or a person close to him that would harm his honor or reputation or with the threat of other serious evil, the perpetrator will be punished with imprisonment from two to ten years.
• If as a result of the act referred to in para. 1. and 2. of this article, serious physical injury has occurred to the person against whom the crime was committed, or if the crime was committed by more than one person, or in a particularly cruel or particularly humiliating manner, or against a minor, or the crime resulted in pregnancy, the perpetrator will be punished by imprisonment from five to fifteen years.
• If as a result of the act referred to in para. 1 and 2 of this article, the death of the person against whom the crime was committed or the crime was committed against a child, the perpetrator will be punished by imprisonment for at least ten years or life imprisonment.

We processed and used the following musical tracks in the play:

Gala ̶  Izaberi (Choose)

Džej and Mina Kostić – Slavija

Đogani Fantastico ̶  Idemo na Mars (Let’s go to Mars)

Duck ̶ Prca

Zdravko Čolić ̶  Kao moja mati (Like my mother)

Tap 011 ̶  Idemo na mars (Let’s go to Mars)

Leo Martin ̶  Odiseja (Odyssey)