"LJUBICA": SIX DAYS OF THEATRICAL MAGIC ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER SAVA

The second edition of the Republic of Srpska Theatre Festival "Ljubica", in honor of Ljubica Stefanović (1888-1946), the first professional actress from Bosnia and Herzegovina, will open on Monday, May 20th, at the City Theater of Gradiška with the monodrama "Return" by writer and director Gvozden Đurić.

The performance, produced by the host of the festival, the City Theater of Gradiška, features Zlatan Vidović, actor and director of this theater.

"The City Theater of Gradiška will open this year's 'Ljubica' festival with a monodrama, a premiere, maintaining the tradition of working on new texts, texts by young authors, premieres. I think this is a great path," Vidović said to "Nezavisne novine".

The host's performance does not participate in the competitive program, and the selector of this year's competition program was actor Željko Erkić.

Included in his selection are the plays "Steel Magnolias" from the National Theater of the Republic of Srpska, which will be performed on Tuesday, May 21st, followed by the play "Truth" from the City Theater "Jazavac" scheduled for Wednesday, May 22nd. Next is the play "Sofka Nikolić's Singing and Silence" from the Semberija City Theater, on the festival's repertoire on Thursday, May 23rd, while the competitive program concludes on Friday, May 24th, with the play "Cowboys" produced by the Prijedor Theater.

"I think Željko Erkić made a great selection, choosing the best from this season in theaters across the Republic of Srpska. I expect many good performances because this time we have plays that include elements of musicals, we have plays with excellent choreography and dance elements. This time, therefore, we will be richer in production. In the end, we have a non-competitive performance performed in honor of the awardees by Vuk Kostić and Sloboda Mićalović, a play called 'Childhood Injuries'," Vidović emphasizes, adding that the mentioned performance closes the festival on May 25th.

The promotional price for the first 100 ticket packages was 35 KM until April 20th, and although twice as many have been sold so far, as Vidović emphasizes, promotional prices remain until May 1st.

"The interest is enormous. Promotional tickets were sold until April 20th, and we extended that deadline until May 1st. So far, around 200 packages have been sold and reserved, purchased by various companies and organizations, which means that every night the theater will be full. We will soon release individual tickets for sale. Tickets for the performance in honor of the awardees will be sold separately, so this season we expect full and large and small halls at the City Theater in Gradiška," says Vidović.

He says that in the second edition of the festival, as was the case in the first debut edition, a rich accompanying program awaits us.

"We will have concerts after each performance, with different bands. It's something very nice that the audience likes - that the gathering doesn't end after the performance, but that we socialize afterward, talk about the play. We will also have round tables that we had last year, led by our journalist from Gradiška, Nebojša Ristić. He does a really great job at these round tables," Vidović emphasizes.

As part of the accompanying program, concerts will take place in the Summer Garden "Staro mjesto". On the evening of the festival opening, the band "Stringsi" performs, and in the following evenings, the audience will have the opportunity to listen to and watch the bands "Acoustic House", "Hangover", and "BiP".

The celebrated actor who also does a great job at the helm of the City Theater of Gradiška adds that this year the lectures will be held by his famous senior colleague.

"This year, we will have one master class, and maybe more, we're still arranging that. Our acting doyen Zoran Cvijanović is coming, in cooperation with the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, whose dean is Dragana Purković Macan. She is also in the jury of this year's 'Ljubica' festival. We have agreed with her that students from the Academy of Arts will come and attend Zoran Cvijanović's lectures. We'll see if we'll have anyone else," says Vidović, revealing that besides Dragana Purković Macan, the jury members of the second edition of "Ljubica" are Nataša Drakulić, a screenwriter, and Marija Pikić, an actress.

Nataša Drakulić and Marija Pikić, as Vidović says, will also address students of the Banja Luka Academy of Arts during the lectures.

"We have a truly great program ahead of us. This year, we will also have nightly reports from each day of the festival that we will publish on social media. We will ask our audience about their opinions on the play, whether they are enjoying it, and what they think of the festival atmosphere. We respect their opinion, not just the opinion of the expert jury. Gradiška can hardly wait for those six days of theatrical magic on the Sava," concludes Vidović.