THE AFFAIR OF THE INNOCENT ANNABELLE

Velimir LUKIĆ (Belgrade, 1936 – Belgrade, 1997)

He graduated dramaturgy at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in 1963. He worked as a journalist for Radio Belgrade, he was the secretary of the Writers’ Association of Serbia, and since 1963 he has been employed at the National Theater in Belgrade: first as a dramaturge, then as a director of Drama, and then as the general manager.

He collaborated in a large number of newspapers and magazines: Mlada kultura, Vidici, Književnost, NIN, Književne novine, Savremenik, Polja, Književna tribina, Danas, Pozorišni život, Scena, Teatron, Gradina, etc.

His dramatic works were successfully performed all over Yugoslavia: Summer Ballad (1956), Kotva (1956), Petrified Sea (1962) – October Award of the City of Belgrade; The Long Life of King Oswald (1962) – Golden Laurel Wreath at the MES in Sarajevo; Bert’s Carriage or Sibyl (1963), Walpurgis Night (1964), The Mathematical War (1967), The Affair of the Innocent Annabelle (1969) – Steria Award for Text; And Death Comes to Lemno (1970), Conspiracy or Long Dawn (1974) – Steria Award for Text, Award of the Association of Dramatic Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Yugoslav “Marin Držić” Award of the Association of Dramatic Artists; Evil Night (1976), Commando Saga (1978), Santa Maria della Salute (1980).

He was awarded the Order of Merit for the Nation with a silver wreath. His plays have been translated into English, French, Czech, German, Polish, Hungarian, Arabic and performed abroad. The most translated collection of his poetry is About One Bohinj Dusk.

Igor PAVLOVIĆ (Novi Sad, 1976)

He graduated in Acting at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of professor Mihail Janketić. Since 2002, he has been employed at the National Theater in Subotica, and since 2006, he has been a permanent member of the drama of the Serbian National Theater, in which he played around 60 roles. He completed his master’s studies in multimedia directing at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, in the class of Professor Aleksandar Davić.

He is the founder of the theater troupe ARTERIA, which has been present on the theater stage since 2008. He plays on television and film. He translates dramatic texts from English (High Life, Resistance). He directs plays in professional theaters and in his troupe (Novi Sad Theater, SNP, Youth Theater, National Theater in Niš). He is a permanent associate of the City Theater Bečej, where he has been working in the Youth Drama Studio since 2009. He explores the technique of Mikhail Chekhov. He performed in plays in Hungary and Croatia. Collaborated with the Academy of Arts in Osijek. He is directing the short animated film Step, for which he wrote the script.

A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR

I wanted to do this mystical farce by Velimir Lukić for a long time. The contemporaneity and modernity of this text indicate that it has already become a classic and that, unfortunately, it is eternally relevant. I say unfortunately, because I would prefer that, as a society, we had overcome the motives from the play and that we had learned something from our own mistakes with the help of history, which is what it is for… it seems to me.

A normal individual is faced with an impossible choice: either he will lose himself, his soul, his humanity, or he will lose his life and his life’s work. Every choice is wrong in the circumstances of lack of freedom that Lukić wrote about. There is no free choice, because there is no freedom. In man, a pragmatic “plant of flesh and blood” wins, ready to obey and transform into a “tiny obedient citizen”.

In this text, Lukić talks about the choice between two crosses. A cross sprinkled with gold and a red-hot cross, sprinkled with thorns and daggers. Which one is lighter? Which one to bear? The cross burns terribly, if you didn’t choose the right one. Which is the right one if we have no conscience, if we have traded humanity for pragmatism? Which one is right if we don’t have the right human foundation? Whatever it is for each individual, it must be based on justice, love and truth.

It would be naive to think that our choices have no consequences for other people and that they are an individual matter. Especially if the individual himself is in a position of power, whose decisions effect the fate of others. Power in such a system becomes the most important life fuel. Bertrand Russell talked about the two motivations that make people so eager to gain power: sexual and economic. Both are represented in this piece.