CLOCHEMERLE

Based on the eponymous satirical play by Gabriel Chevallier, Clochemerle is a performance about an attempt of quasi-modernization of the traditional surrounding as a mode of political strategy. The main narrative, written in the context of modernist development of western society in the first half of the 20th century, has been used as a unique ground for identification of current social and political contents in transitional societies, such as ours. The clash between traditional and modern approach to social development is explained through ruptures in the functioning of an isolated community. These cracks are, like hyperboles, presented in the performance, as well as in the novel, through various mechanisms of critical trivialization of progress in the constructions of sociocultural phenomena such as citizens’ freedom, their equality, and the question of identity. The language of the performance thus develops as stylized stage language (spoken, choreographed and acted) facilitating a kind of analytical and critical space for detecting, naming and discussing the topics from the novel and our political reality.

KOKAN MLADENOVIĆ (1970) was born in Niš, Serbia. He finished High school for Actors in Niš, under the mentorship of Mima Vuković-Kurić. He graduated in Theatre and Radio Directing from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade in 1995, under the mentorship of Miroslav Belović and Nikola Jevtić. He was the artistic director at “Dadov” theatre, director and artistic director at the National Theatre in Sombor, the director of drama in the National Theatre in Belgrade and the manager of Atelje 212. He has successfully directed in theatres of Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. His performances have been awarded at all the festivals of professional theatres in Serbia, and at many relevant international festivals in Hungary, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. This year, besides the performance Jami District, he will also present the performance Clochemerle, his third cooperation with Belgrade Drama Theatre.