GRBIĆ: FROM JUNE 1, MANY THEATER DELIGHTS AWAIT THE AUDIENCE

BANJA LUKA, MAY 23 /SRNA/ – The Petar Kočić Theater Fest of the National Theatre of Republika Srpska will be officially opened on June 1 in Banja Luka with spectacular ballet performances by the National Theatre from Belgrade, said Dijana Grbić, director of this cultural institution, and added that the audience can expect many theatrical treats over the next 12 days.

Grbić announced that for this 27th edition of the Theater Fest, besides five competitive and one non-competitive performance, a rich and interesting accompanying program has been prepared.

She emphasized that part of this content is a ballet spectacle to be held at the Borik Sports Hall, where the audience will have the opportunity to enjoy four exceptional ballet performances performed by the National Theatre from Belgrade.

"I am glad that our effort has been recognized, and that we received support from the Cabinet of the President of Republika Srpska so that we could prepare this festival at the highest level so far, allowing our audience to see genres that they previously couldn’t watch in Banja Luka," said Grbić.

She noted that within the accompanying program, three master classes by the most prominent directors from the region will be held at the Student Cultural Center, as well as a promotion of the book Our Days by Željko Stjepanović, and an inclusive reading of the play Porters (or The Inconsolable) by Zoran Todorović.

"The Jazavac City Theatre will present the work of its youth studio. And as the cherry on top, we can look forward to a performance by the Madlenianum Theatre, with the musical play Pride and Prejudice, which the Banja Luka audience does not often have the chance to see," Grbić emphasized.

In the competitive part of the Petar Kočić Theater Fest, which will be officially opened on June 3, the audience can expect outstanding performances by theater companies from BiH, Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro.

"This year's festival selector is our actress Nataša Ivačević, who has done an excellent job selecting five best performances out of 38 applications. The festival slogan Below the Surface already indicates that the plays deal with contemporary themes that are current but insufficiently discussed," said Grbić.

She expressed satisfaction that each year a new theater company appears as a newcomer at the festival, mentioning that this year it is the theater from Varaždin, which is guesting in Banja Luka for the first time.

The competitive plays are "Acid" from the Bosnian National Theatre in Zenica; "Wooden Birds," a co-production of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin; "Redemption" from the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad; "Central for Humor" from the National Theatre in Belgrade; and "The Other Side" from the Montenegrin National Theatre in Podgorica, while the play "Murder on the Orient Express" from the Boško Buha Theatre will be performed in honor of the award winners.