Does "Every recipient has the right to choose."? Can the system collapse from the inside and can the revolution deny the thesis that man is a trauma in himself? The Osijek play Velvet Revolution, which was performed on the fourth night of the festival, spoke about all of this. The story, directed by Vanja Jovanović, is also a saga about fears, lack of identity, but also the need to be loved...
What you will do for this world and how you will do it, actually says the most about each of us. Will our personal ethics win over mentality and adopted and rooted social constructs - is a dilemma that remains even after this play, because it seems that every revolution, at some point, must devour its children...
After the play, the actors and the author's team had a long talk with the audience. Although Vanja Jovanović (director and text) and Matej Sudarić (text) are signed as authors, the authors of the text are actually all the actors collectively, because they contributed to the creation of the text with their personal stories. They pointed out that, as mostly freelancers, they are extremely satisfied with the cooperation with KC Osijek, the play production house.
It is the work process they created in that small cultural space that is one of the ways to change some cultural and theater habits and practices. They mentioned that, after many years in Osijek, there was an audition organized for this play again.
The audition system was singled out as a good and necessary practice by the actress Sara Moser. When asked what kind of revolution actors would start in the theater if they really had the opportunity to freely choose, Moser said that it would be the abolition of ensembles and the introduction of the phenomenon of auditions, as an equal training ground for all. Such an approach would provide, not only an opportunity to work for upcoming young people, but would certainly raise the quality of theater work in general.
Actor Vedran Dakić added that in this sense, it would be important that the places where the theaters are managed have professional people, educated and versed in creating repertoires. Today, however, they are created by the personal tastes of people who mostly choose ruling politicians, Vanja Jovanović added. The young team from Osijek was of the opinion that all of this was leading to the collapse of the theater.
The producer of the festival, Sava Stefanović, objected to this, saying that he thinks that no politics can destroy the theater, if it is well, professionally and ethically set up. The theater can be destroyed only by its actors, the people who create it, added Stefanović, and they can destroy it from within, by unprofessional and unethical actions.
Due to all the detours in life and theater, the young artists emphasized that in the context of everything that their play deals with, it is important for them to preserve their microworlds and to remain human within them.
They talked about their, not at all enviable, position as a freelancer, about fees that are not really a motivation for work. It has been heard that, when it comes to fees, there is no price list by which those who hire theater artists are governed, and among artists there is more of a law of silence, and that men are always better paid than women. As a curiosity, they discovered that everyone on this project was paid equally.
Actress Sara Moser mentioned that it is very important that projects like the "Velvet Revolution" take place outside of Zagreb, where there are dozens of cultural events and where the culture of viewing, including theater, is much richer.