Can You Hear Me In Belgrade?...
InterrogationIn the Serbian showcase proper I saw Urbi
Et Orbi, directed by Andras Urban. Working from Subotica, and therefore
in Hungarian, he’s very much the coming man of Serbian theatre, with
another production in the showcase and one in the main BITEF programme.
What I saw was a piece for four actors who were allowed to improvise as,
one by one, they took centre stage to talk about their lives – and
under intense interrogation from their fellows revealed them to be very
unpleasant ones indeed. A young woman claiming proudly to be a virgin
confesses first to a fondness for masturbation, then finally to a
teenage abortion. A man who wants to complain about his boss is shown up
as an inadequate, neglectful father. The other two are a nymphomaniac
and a paedophile respectively. Their confessions are followed by
increasingly hysterical attempts at penance as microphone monologue
gives way to bloody ritual. It’s a deeply distasteful production, but
one marked by some highly explosive acting and a strong sense of
directorial style.
...
Ian Herbert (42. BITEF, 2008.)
