Awareness as Exceptional Difference
Slobodan Unkovski, Aleksandar Popovski and Vladimir Milčin staged plays based on texts by Čašule, Molière and Koltès at three different theaters; what they have in common is that they work with teams that trust each other and the process of work researches the individuality that is further built in the uniqueness of the whole.
The directors Slobodan Unkovski, Aleksandar Popovski and Vladimir Milčin (according to the order of the premieres of the new plays) continued with their dedication to work with their teams in the latest theater pieces. Although these are plays created in different areas, the three directors realized them with creators with whom they function through the principle of team work. This is precisely the challenge of the realized work, because they prove what has already been proven in theater: each idea is implemented only via team work. Their new theater interest is in plays of authors coming from different backgrounds, both in space and time. And something more: these are three directors that put their unique stamp on the theater events, processes and projects that marked the Macedonian theater production in 2005.
Slobodan Unkovski staged Crnila 005 (Darkness 005), based on the play of Kole Čašule at the Macedonian National Theater (11 July, 2005). Unkovski returned to this ensemble after almost two decades: in 1986 he realized the play Nothing without Trifolio based on Rusomir Bogdanovski’s text. Now, working on a play based on the text Crnila (Darkness) by Čašule, Unkovski named the play Crnila 005¸which is one of the highlights where the idea and the implementation are in perfect harmony. He mainly has around him or with him on this project authors with whom he has implemented his ideas in a most comprehensive manner, proving that you don’t change a winning team, which is also visible by the numbers of the audience that has filled in MNT as it has not been the case for quite some time now.
Aleksandar Popovski staged Molière’s Don Juan at Dramski Theater (premiere on 18 July 2005 in Ohrid, and on 1 October 2005 on the stage of Dramski), believing in himself, the idea and team that worked on the implementation of the complex structure of the play. This Don Juan is now the most popular play in Dramski, inciting lot of curiosity on the side of the audience, although there are still memories of the previous two times when this text was staged: in 1980, directed by Ljubiša Georgievski, and in 1994, directed by Nenad Stojanovski.
Vladimir Milčin staged the play of Bernard-Marie Koltès Roberto Zucco, which is considered one of the beginnings of the new European drama and for a decade and a half has constantly been staged around the world, at the National Theater in Priština (opening nights on 8 November 2005). Milčin returned to this Theater two decades later: in 1985 he directed Mesa Selimović’s Dervish and Death at the District National Theater – Albanian Drama. In the current work and with new constellations, Milčin staged the play at the theater in Priština with a larger team with whom he also works in Macedonia. They practically carry on the play, and Milčin proves that team work, besides being the most important, can also be transferred from one environment to another.
From these common points of the authors, there is this interest in them as an occasion for joint assessment. The exceptional difference of each one of them separately is obvious, because all thee plays have their individuality and they have no common points, besides what was said – they have been implemented with teams that believe each other, and have more works like this behind them, the results of which are visible through the stressed team work. Therefore, what follows on each one of them separately is specific in itself and it is reviewed and assessed via this specifics.