Skopje, 18 February 2025 (MIA) — The Montenegrin National Theater will perform Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža's 'Messrs. Glembay' directed by Montenegrin theater director Danilo Marunović at the Macedonian National Theater on March 17.

The performance follows the recent signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the two theaters.

According to the play's director, staging Krleža's cult play came with a great responsibility.

"I first read Krleža's 'Messrs. Glembay' as a high school student and fell in love with it," Marunović said, adding that he had wanted to direct the play for over a decade.

"Only now that I got the chance to do it did I realize how much responsibility there is, in fact—besides the essential theater and artistic responsibility—to stage Krleža in the deciphered code of the present without going too far," he said.

According to Marunović, the play is even more relevant today than when it was written, corresponding to current social and political circumstances.

The cast consists of Svetozar Cvetković, Kristina Obradović, Milivoje Obradović, Una Lucić, Danilo Čelebić, Pavle Prelević, Emir Ćatović, Stevan Vuković, Kristina Mrkić and Predrag Pavićević.

The playwright is Božo Koprivica, the adaptation is by Bojana Mijović and Danilo Marunović. The set designer is Valentin Svetozarev and the costume designer is Vanja Ciraj-Džudža. The stage directions were written by Tamara Vujošević-Mandić, the stage lines were written by Dubravka Drakić, and the executive producer is Nela Otašević.

The Macedonian National Theater has previously staged "Messrs. Glembay" in 1955, directed by Raša Plaović; in 1974, directed by Vladimir Milchin; and in 1996, directed by Ljubisha Georgievski.

The Montenegrin production of "Messrs. Glembay" premiered on Dec. 17, 2024, to great critical acclaim. This will be the Montenegrin National Theater's first performance in front of the Macedonian audience in ten years. mr/