A Tomb for Boris Davidovic on stage at Bitef

BELGRADE - Croatian director Ivica Buljan's play A Tomb for Boris Davidovic, made after Danilo Kis's famous collection of short stories bearing the same name, was performed for the first time in Belgrade on Friday as part of the main programme of the 48th Bitef.

The play had success in Italy and Croatia this summer and has yet to premiere in Zagreb and Ljubljana. It was performed twice at Bitef because of great ticket demand, and the rumour is that it will be performed at Bitef Teatar during the regular season as well.

The play is the result of a regional cooperation project. The Heartefact Fund was the producer, while Bitef Teatar, Novo Kazaliste from Zagreb, Mini Teatar from Ljubljana, Zadar Snova from Zadar and CZKD and Parobrod from Belgrade co-produced the play.

Kis's large and complex text is given in the form of eposodes that follow the life path of revolutionary B.D. Novski through scenes filled with violence, eroticism, nudity, live music, fire and ice.

The audience, as is a custom at Bitef, was divided. To some, the play was very good, while others saw it as merely an illustration of a great literary work on the mechanisms of history and tirany.

Buljan told Tanjug before the premiere he was proud to be involved in that Heartefact project, adding that it had given him an opportunity to work with responsible actors, and also that he was pleased that the play belonged to Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana at the same time.

Photo Tanjug/T. Vlalic