The performance Rosmersholm was created in the frame of the project Rosmersholm: what ever happened to our ideals? which was supported through Superste.net. Apart from the performance, it also included workshop on artistic actions in public space Ideals to spare (in collaboration with GMČP collective) and The quintessence of idealism“– blog with interviews including individuals from Serbian public sphere.
To what extent is the feeling of powerlessness constricting us from social agency? Do idealists still exist and how do we see them today? Is it really naive to believe that an individual has control and possibility to change things? Have we given up to early? And above all, where does this feeling of powerlessness come from?
Johannes Rosmer, a former clergyman and a member of a renowned Rosmer family, decides to cut ties with his previous life and join the battle for liberal ideas and a better society. His partner in this battle is Rebecca West who brings the wave of new ideas to Rosmersholm. Refusing to join any political options and convinced that political parties are poisoned by personal gain, they become the enemies of the county and the target of political intrigue and manipulation, which eventually leads to their deep personal self-reflections.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright who strongly influenced the modern drama and is one of the most-frequently performed authors in the world. The topics in his work dealt with the relationship between the society and the individual and critiqued the contemporary moment at the time, often causing controversy. Rosmersholm could be seen as a precise critical analysis of contemporary social, political and economic conditions and their devastating influence on the individual and the humanistic ideal of change. Being up to date, it reveals the mechanisms of media and political manipulations in a democratic and capitalistic society, speaking about the death of politics and a great personal fight for ideals, exploring the feeling of collective apathy, hopelessness and non-belonging.
In this contemporary interpretation, Ibsen’s play has been approached through the lens of multimedia – video that is in the same time a charachter and set design element, songs by Boris Mladenović (frontmen of Jarboli), and interwoven texts by Henry David Thoreau, Davide Graeber, Jacques Ranciere and others. Using two types of comments – personal perspectives of two actors searching for their place in the performance, and songs filled with strong feeling of apathy and, in the same time, a hope for a better world, we are trying to start the polemics on the topic of being powerless and longing for a change.
Directors: Ana Konstantinović i Ivan Baletić
Dramaturgue: Tamara Baračkov
Set designer: Višnja Vujović
Costume designer: Slađana Perić – Santrač
Video designer: Stevan Lung
Music: Boris Mladenović
Johannes Rosmer – Jovan Belobrković
Rebeca Vest – Milica Stefanović
Rector Krol – Ivan Đorđević
Ulrik Brendel – Bojan Žirović
Pader Mortensgard – Nebojša Đorđević
Miss Helset – Andrijana Oliverić
Željko – Željko Maksimović
Katarina – Katarina Dimitrijević
Performance is a coproduction of Eho animato, Belgrade Drama Theatre, Cultural Centre Student City and Peripetija (MK). Project is one of the winners of the contest Centrifuga/Klub Superste in 2015. realized in the frame of Superste.net. It was also supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Republic of Serbia, as well as Realab laboratory.
Trailer production (camera and editing): Marija Kovačina and Jovan Nedeljkov
Photo: Jovan Nedeljkov
