FEAR AND ITS SERVANT

Production BELEF and Atelje 212
Kalemegdan fortress, Zindan Gate

Playwrite: Mirjana Novakovic
Adaptation & direction: Kokan Mladenovic
Scenography: Geroslav Zaric
Costumes: Dragica Pavlovic
Music composed by: Zoran Hristic
Stage movements: Bojana Mladenovic

Casts:

THE DEVIL, count Otto Von Habsburg - Predrag Ejdus
NOVAK, Devil's servant - Nenad Jezdic
ALEXANDER OF WURTENBERG,
a prince and the regent of Serbia - Miodrag Krivokapic
MARIA AUGUSTA TURN TAKSIS, a princess and the wife of the regent, impersonating Joan of Arc at the ball - Natasa Ninkovic
VUK ISAKOVIC, a commander in the regent's service - Srdjan Timarov
KLAUS RADECKI, count,
special investigator in service of HM Charles VI - Branislav Zeremski
BARON SMIDLIN - counsellor of the Administration - Mladen Andrejevic
BLIND FOLKSONG PLAYER, THE UNKNOWN - a guest at the ball
SAVA SAVANOVIC, a vampire - Milan Mihajlovic
THE BOWLEGGED HIGHWAYMAN,
COLONEL MAKENZEN, A GUARD - Vladislav Mihajlovic
A BOLD HIGHWAYMAN, A DOUBLE, Devil's double at the ball
GRAND VIZIER, Ivan Mehmed Pasha, the conqueror of Belgrade - Srdjan Miletic
NIKOLAI LJESKOV PATKOV, a Russian - Bojan Zirovic
MIRJANA, the village fortune-teller - Radmila Zivkovic
AN ESCORT to Maria Augusta, THE GIRL - Leana Vuckovic

Musicians: George Grujic, Veljko Nikolic-Papa Nik, Filip Krumes, Smiljana Djuric, Natasa Tosic

Mirjana Novakovic was born in Belgrade in 1966. She has published a collection of stories The Danube Apocrypha (1996) and the novel FEAR AND ITS SERVANT (2000)

Kokan Mladenovic, born 1970 in Nis. He completed the secondary actors school in Nis, class of Mima Vukovic-Kuric and graduated from the Faculty of Drama in Belgrade, Department for Theatre and Radio Direction in 1993, class of professor Miroslav Belovic and assistant professor Nikola Jevtic.

Awards and credits: “Bojan Stupica” award for best direction, Yugoslav Festival of Theatres for Children, Kotor, Sterija award for stage adaptation, Grand Prix for direction for the theatre festival “Joakim Vujic”, award for the best direction at the Vojvodina festival of professional theatres, two Sterija awards for the best stage adaptation for drama. Mladenovic was awarded The Turkey award for direction at the festival of comedy and humor in Jagodina and two awards for direction at festival of pre-staged plays in Paracin.

Mladenovic had his plays performed in all local and international festivals BITEF in Belgrade, Torun, Poland (KONTAKT), in Prilep, Macedonia ...

Directions (selected): Aleksandar Obrenovic, The Return of Don Juan for Belgrade Theatre of Drama 1992, Dusan Kovacevic, Marathon Men Running their Last Round for the National Theatre in Sombor, 1993; Tirseau de Molina The Seducer from Sevilla and the Stone Guest for KPGT, Subotica 1993; Beaumarchais Figaro’s Wedding for the National Theatre, Sombor 1994; Magnus and Bunker, Alan Ford, Terazije Theatre, Belgrade 1994; Aleksandar Popovic The Career Making of Bora the Tailor for the National Theatre Belgrade, 1995; Alfredo Balduci, Richotti Traveling Theatre for Atelje 212 in 1995; Aristophanus, Maricic, Mladenovic Peace Terazije Theatre, Belgrade 1996; Velimir Lukic The Affair of the Innocent Annabelle, for the National Theatre in Sombor,1997; Agota Krysztof The Big Notebook for Atelje 212 Belgrade 1999; Slobodan Selenic, Scolding of People in Two Acts for the National Theatre in Sombor 1999; Henryk Ibsen Per Gint, for the National Theatre Uzice 2000, LJubomir Simovic Traveling Theatre Sopalovic for the National Theatre Belgrade 2001, Ivan Lalic Cuba Libre, Srpsko Narodno pozoriste Novi Sad 2001, Terry Pratchet Sisters by Brooms for the Little Theatre Dusko Radovic, Belgrade 2001; Goran Petrovic, K. Mladenovic The Siege of the Saint Salvation Church for the NT in Sombor 2002; Goran Stefanovski Bahanalia, for NT Subotica 2002; Michael Bulgakov Maestro and Marguerite for NT Sombor 2003; J.R.R. Tolkin Hobbit for Bosko Buha Theatre 2003.

Horror thriller with elements of political allegory (directors notes)

The Fear and its Servant is a play based on the novel by Mirjana Novakovic written as a parody of a quasi historical content. As for the genre, the play could be considered as a thriller with elements of political allegory. The background of the novel is a historical event in the first half of XVIII century; the Austro-Hungarian commission arrives in Belgrade to the court of regent, Alexander of Wurtenberg and princess Maria Augusta with an aim to check the rumors about the existence of vampires in Serbia. However, though the story is about the true events and real people, Fear and its Servant is not a historic novel, since the aim of the author (as well as of the theater production group gathered round the project) was not to reconstruct the air of the given historic moment, but to transcript the past by reflecting the allegory to the current time.

A parallel fictitious plan of the action containing recognizable allusions to the usual political clichés points out that the event could be considered as an up-to-date one: at the same time with the Habsburg commission, in Belgrade arrives the Devil in the shape of Otto Von Habsburg, the all time diplomat with fine manners. Von Habsburg is accompanied by Novak, his servant, a manageable, decisive but superstitious Serb with a weakness to alcohol. Relying on his servant’s precious assistance, the Devil carries a private investigation, for the results of which he is personally interested. If reports about vampires proved to be true, that would be a reliable sign that the Doomsday is approaching. The Devil’s task will be to prevent at all costs the vampires, if they existed, from leaving Serbia.

The plot is “spiced” with a sentimental story. Princess Maria Augusta is unhappily in love with her husband but suffers because of her lover too, whose identity, though indirectly hinted is never completely revealed until the end of the play. On both fronts, historic-allegory and sentimental, the play ends, conditionally speaking, with a happy-ending: the arch-vampire is being made dead, the princess wins her husband’s affection, the evil power leaves for the wide world accompanied by its new servant, another Serb who takes Novak’s place after his heroic death. The vampires remain in Serbia.

In developing her story, the author Mirjana Novakovic uses a wide range of literature quotations going from Homer and Serbian epics, to Servantes, Bulgakov, Pekic and Pavic. Among them two models seem to be particularly standing out: the story of Christ’s suffering and the folklore-fiction inspired novel by Glisic's Twenty Years Later about a witch hunt of Serbian peasants for the vampire Sava Savanovic.

Kokan Mladenovic