IVANOV

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

National theatre in Belgrade

Director: Tatjana Mandic Rigonat

Stage auditorium! Performed in Serbian with Hungarian translation.

2 hours 45 minutes, without breaks.

The story of Chekhov’s 1887 play revolves around the protagonist, Ivanov, who is increasingly disappointed and weary of life. But is there really a story here? And if so, then where do we find it? Where is the end of the inner world that notices the external signs? Tatjana Mandic Rigonat puts on stage the requiem of a conflicted man, whose existence is but a struggle to achieve his goals.

Ivanov’s character is itself a museum of the soul. Talking about emotions leads to sentimentality, while practicality and the strength needed for survival makes one cynical. This is Russia in the second half of the 19^th century, halfway between the “exemplary” West and its own almost entirely static reality, sealing the fate of the intellectual.

The actors of the National Theatre in Belgrade bring the story so close to the audience that their performance makes us feel as fate, at work inside us, could break free along with a desire for love and could touch everyone who has skin, eyes, and ears to feel it.

Actors and cast:

Ivanov, Nikolai Alekseyevich: Nikola Ristanovski
Anna Petrovna, wife of Nikolai Alekseyevich Ivanov: Nada Šargin
Shabelski, Matvey Semyonovich, Count, Ivanov’s uncle: Marko Baćević
Lebedev, Pavle Kirilovich: Branko Vidaković
Zinaida Savishna, his wife: Danijela Ugrenović
Sasha, daughter of the Lebedevs: Hana Selimović
Lvov, Eugene Konstantinovich, a young doctor: Nenad Stojmenović
Avdotia Nazarovna, an old woman of undetermined profession: Branka Petrić
Kosih, Dimitri Nikitich, a finance clerk: Bojan Krivokapić
Borkin, Michail Michailovich, a distant relative of Ivanov and manager of his estate: Nikola Vujović
Babakina, Marpha Yegorovna, a young widow, owner of an estate and daughter of a rich merchant: Vanja Milačić
Yegorushka, lives with the Lebedevs: Predrag Vasić
Gabriel: Jelena Živković
Guest: Nemanja Konstantinović
Guest: Danica Arapović
Musicians: Nikola Dragović, Ivan Mirković, Nemanja Bubalo

Director and adaptation: Tatjana Mandić Rigonat
Stage designer: Branko Hojnik
Costume designer: Bojana Nikitović
Choreographer/ Stage movement: Anđelija Todorović
Composer: Irena Popović
Dramaturge: Slavko Milanović

Other
Stage Speech: Ljiljana Mrkić Popović
Executive Producer: Milorad Jovanović
Producer: Nemanja Konstantinović
Stage Manager: Sanja Ugrinić Mimica
Prompter: Gordana Perovski
Make-Up: Dragoljub Jeremić
Light Operator: Miodrag Milivojević
Set Crew Chief: Zoran Mirić
Sound Operator: Nebojša Kostić

Director

Tatjana Mandic Rigonat

Main Stage (Stage auditorium)

Tatjana Mandic Rigonat

Tanja Mandic Rigonat is a renowned representative of the generation of Serbian theater directors who are now roughly middle-aged. She completed her studies at the University of Drama Arts in Belgrade as a theater and radio director in the class under the instruction of Dejan Mijac. In addition to working as a director on more than thirty plays in the greatest theaters of Belgrade and Serbia, she also directed several radio plays on the basis of her own dramas and dramatic adaptations. She published two volumes of poetry (Mystery of a Happy Contrabass and From the Life of Birds). Her production of Ivanov was first performed on the grand stage of the National Theater of Belgrade in 2016. She said the followings about the play: “I directed a requiem. I intended to paint a picture of an emotional state which is inconceivable but also physically palpable. It really isn’t a postmodern revision, because the story of Ivanov cannot be compared to Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet. Ivanov is not even a compulsory reading at school. Here everything happens in a specifically designated space, which we could call Ivanov Museum. It is the museum of the soul, a theatrical-archeological artifact.”

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