CLASSICISM AS PROVOCATION

About the BELEF 04 theater selection

BELEF is a brand, formed as a specific festival project, whose program includes its own productions (co-productions with Belgrade theaters, plays that go on living in the theaters of the capital after the summer), and domestic and foreign plays chosen by a curator.

The basic principles underlying curator criteria for this year's BELEF theater program are: the affirmation of young or younger artists, innovation in the approach to classical drama topics and classical stage forms, readiness to adequately respond to provocative challenges of the stage, but also of the time we are living in, theatrical revitalization of various places in the city as attractive locations for staging plays, the creation or presentation of projects that would be a provocation for the younger theater audience and that would attract new categories of visitors to the theater.

My selection for this year's theater program of the Belgrade Summer Festival is a blend of variety, which would invest summer-time Belgrade with a charm of an attractive stage, on which the classics begin to breathe the spirit of a new epoch; where, for instance, a play by William Shakespeare or a story by Daniel Dafoe become contemporary topics; where tradition and aesthetics of the ancient Indonesian shadow theater become a part of our own cultural tradition; where a street spectacle, among other things, takes the form of puppet theater, overflowing and blending with the theater of movement of some attractive para-theater exploration; where Kalemegdan, but also Knez Mihajlova street, Ada Ciganlija or the Republic square become stage sets, where unusual shows come to life, where directors and actors, but also musicians, jugglers, puppeteers, animators and dance artists, dare take a risk and let their imagination explore the borders and power of their own energy, and of the imagination of their potential audience.

Yet, at the end of my report as curator, I must say the same thing as last year: just like every production of a theater play -- regardless of undeniable quality of a literary piece, names of directors, members of the team or an ideal cast -- always remains an uncertainty, so despite curator's best intentions and absolute resolve of the organizers, founders and sponsors to fully support the curator's concept and choice, the success of a festival is not automatically guaranteed.

Therefore, the theater is a place of uncertainty. For this reason, let us give in to the challenge of risk and enjoy it.

Aleksandar MILOSAVLJEVIC