Interview: Dubravka Mijatović, actress

Smell of the rain on the Balkan

Where we perhaps have displayed most of the Jewish culture is in the family circle. That unity of the family and the love they shared, were crucial for the whole performance. Starting from the relationship of mother and father. A mother who never married for love, but fell in love with her husband, because she built a life with him. Maybe he was not her first choice, but this is as it is and it must be so


By MILICA MILOSAVLJEVIĆ
Cooperation with the magazine of Association of hispanists "REFLEJO"
Translation: MILICA MALETIĆ


Fragrances carry the state of mind of some period of time, which often cannot be transmitted through a photo. The scent of mother's hands, of grandfather's cigarettes or grandmother's cakes are sometimes all that remain to us of those people. The scents also saved the Salom family from oblivion. They settled quietly in the minds of their descendant Gordana Kuić, who evoked all of them in her book "The smell of rain on the Balkan".

The novel and the theatre performance of the same name talk about the life of Sephardic family Salom, on the beginning of the Second World War in Sarajevo. This family consisted of parents Leon and Esther (in the play: Mladen Andrejević and Ljiljana Stjepanović) and their four unique daughters - Buka (Isidora Minić), Nina (Dubravka Mijatović), Blank (Sloboda Mićalović) and Riki (Jovana Balašević). Especially this theater piece was a pretext for an interview with Dubravka Mijatović, who in this conversation tried to transmit to us her experience of this popular performance.

- The director, Ana Radovanović, called me and told me that she had a piece with four lead female roles. I thought it was a mistake, because in Serbia, something like that is very rare. When she repeated me that there were four important, good female roles, I immediately said that I accepted, whatever it was. She also informed me that women performed all activities in connection with the play. The woman is a director (Ana Radovanović), a woman is a writer (Gordana Kuić), a woman writes music (Aleksandra Kovač), a woman is a costume designer (Marina Vukasović Medenica)... I said that I would participate, even if it turned out to be unsuccessful, only to support it. Then she told me what is the play piece about.

In your opinion, is the show managed to convey the emotional atmosphere of the book?

- I have read this novel long time ago, but I did not want to read it again before I look at the text and I must admit that the screenplay, as usually happens, a little disappointed me because there is no dramatization which can be better than the book. Then I re-read the book, in order to comprehend completely all the relationships among the characters, because in the screenplay everything is so concise, and even one of the characters is put aside. On the other hand, the initial screenplay is in fact only one proposal for work. Luckily, Ana has found the right key for that memories, with those subtiltes, which cover the stage like curtains, with Jovana running through every scene with us who don't change the costumes, because that is how we look like in the memory of the author. We are in the same clothes on the beach, in the room and at the funeral. I think she managed very well to connect it, even the parts that are missing are justified by the fact that this is memory, so it is maybe a little changed. Further, it permits the mixing of certain genres. One scene is sad and you feel like crying, in the next scene you are dying of laughter, just as in life. Somehow it all intertwines.

How much did you know about the real Salom family and how much did you relie on that picture?

- Mrs. Kuić brought us pictures of her aunts and other characters who appear, Nina, Ignjo... We all watched it and we wondered why did the director choose especially us, because nobody resembled anyone there. Of course, Ana told us that she would not link at all to the fact that the physical appearance of the characters should be followed, or that we were supposed to look like them. First, at the time, female beauty was different, women were more carnal, with a different style of dressing, with abbreviated pageboy haircuts. As for their personalities, we ourselves have read about them, apart from what we were told by Ana. However, the thing that is always the start point in the acting business, and the first thing that we learn at the academy, is precisely that character. It does not matter whether she is Jewish or Serb, it departs from that what is she like and from what is happening there.

And what is Nina Salom like?

- The most important thing with Nina is that she at that time agreed to give up everything for the sake of love. She was ahead of her time. We just talked about what kind of courage it was. It is also bravely for the present time, especially then. So I saw that she was someone who, when her father died, in fact, took on herself family care and domestic work, although she was not the oldest. She was the organizer, the leader. She was a male in some manner. Only she wore trousers, on which I insisted. All the other sisters wear dresses, and Ana also wanted me to be in a dress, because she feared that otherwise I would not be enough femenine for Ignjo, but I said that pants couldn't ruin it, because the feminity came from within. So I hardly won for the pants and I think it's good, that it is some kind of sign of her character and role in the family.

While working on the play, how much did you help each other in terms of understanding Sephardic customs and culture?

- We had plenty of help from Mladen Andrejević, who plays the father. He was a Jewish and he knew about it a lot. We, for example, did not know that women had to wear headscarves in the cemetery and some other stuff, so we asked him for everything. However, with the exception of the scene at the cemetery, there was no such tradition which we must adhere to, nor Ana bothered with that.

Where is it, then, the most evident reflection of this community?

- Where we perhaps displayed the most of Jewish culture was in the family circle. This unity of the family and the love they shared, were crucial for the whole show. Starting from the relationship of mother and father. A mother who didn't marry for love, but fell in love with her husband, because she built a life with him. Maybe he was not her first choice, but this was so and so it must be. That was the argument that she had used when explaining to Nina why she could not marry Ignja. She said that their tradition could not be despised just like that, that there was a little more and larger than themselves. They would all die and disappear if they married only out of love. That's how the mother spent her life. She submitted her personal happiness to the community, and that was normal.

Now the daughter suddenly appears who says: "I don't care, I love", which at that time was a luxury. Then, speaking about the love within the family, the scene when Riki tells his mother that she wants to go to Vienna and mother that doesn't approve it to her, and at the same time doesn't approve Nina to get married. Then suddenly Riki says: "Well, I do not have to go to Vienna, ballet is not that important to me", and ballet was her life. Nina supervened in this gesture of love, saying that she would not marry if they all suffered so much, because she really could not do it without the blessing of her mother and her family. It is certain that if this blessing had not been given, she would not have married. Relationship with her family would still be stronger.

What would you distinguish from the Sephardic culture?

- I liked music the most. It somehow introduced me into their story in the best way. I talked with colleagues about that and to all of them happened the same. We all got a disc, brought by Aleksandra, I put it in the car and began to listen to it. Suddenly it all became close to me, I realized all this, as I was there. Only then did it become clear to me what I supposed to play and what kind of people were they. Usually, such details in fact help the most. You wadewith a role and then some minor thing happens, there comes the costume and you get an idea and you know exactly what should be done. This time it was the music, with that sad and deeply moving tones.

If we could draw a message that would incorporate all the stories, that would it be?

- The message is that love and family core.

How would you describe the whole experience of the play?

- It was great. Precisely because of these great female roles. We made fun at the rehearsals that our partners were in fact as an episode, and that we were the dominant ones. The experience was very nice, including the theater. The professional approach to actors surprised me. I felt that our work was respected there. All the other conditions were perfect. Then we started to play and I was further surprised when I heard that the show was sold out months in advance. Now we have a term plays at 12 o'clock, because they could not fit us all together. This is my first time playing on the stage so early. It will be a new experience for me.



(Published: 12.06.2010.)