Download We are the ones that our parents warned us about

TANJA ŠLJIVAR
We are the ones that our parents warned us about
National Theatre in Zenica (BiH)
Director, stage movement and choreography: MIRJANA KARANOVIĆ
Set and costume design: SABINA TRNKA
Music: DRAŠKO ADŽIĆ
Stage movement assistent: SONJA VUKIĆEVIĆ
Lector: ALICA ARNAUT
Cast
Mara: MIRJANA KARANOVIĆ
Milan: ENES SALKOVIĆ
Author
Tanja Šljivar
Born in 1988 in Banja Luka where she finished elementary school and high school.
Graduated (Summa Cum Laude) dramaturgy at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade
in 2011. At the same university she completed her master's degree. Currently attends
master studies in applied theatrical disciplines in Giessen, Germany; previously received
literary scholarships IHAG in Graz and Museums Quartier 21 in Vienna.
She wrote dramatic texts How much for pate?, Scratching or How my grandmother killed
herself, We are the ones that our parents warned us about, But the city has protected me
and Stillborn which were published in theater magazines and various anthologies and
read and staged the scenes in professional theaters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,
Croatia, Poland, Germany, Austria and Spain. For her playwriting she received the
"Slobodan Selenić" award, the "Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz" award, the "Kočić’s Book"
and the award "Miodrag Žalica". Her dramatic texts have been translated into English,
German, Polish, Hungarian, Macedonian, French, Slovak and Catalan language.
In addition to dramatic texts, Šljivar writes fiction, screenplays and theatrical texts.
Among other things, she published a collection of short stories The room on the third
floor published by the Literary youth of Serbia.
Director
Mirjana Karanović
Theater, television and film actress, theater director and pedagogue. Graduated acting at
the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. In the theater, she has played roles in the
broadest range of classic and contemporary repertoire, produced in Serbian, Croatian and
Bosnian-Herzegovinian theaters. Collaborating with prominent theater directors including
Dejan Mijač, Goran Marković, Haris Pašović, Slobodan Unkovski, Damir Zlatar Fraj,
Dušan Jovanović, Dejan Mijač, Paolo Magelli, Dino Mustafic, Iva Milošević and others,
Mirjana Karanović has build outstanding acting creations in the plays: Carp spawning
and Market day (Zvezdara Theatre); Birds calling, Powder keg, The Patriots, Italian
night, Before retirement, Phaedra's love, Barbelo, of dogs and children, Drama about
Mirjana and those around her, Born in YU (Yugoslav Drama Theatre); Knives in hens,
Helver’s night (Chamber Theatre 55 Sarajevo); A Streetcar named desire (Croatian
national Theatre Rijeka), etc. For acting achievements in theater she received awards at
major theater festivals: "Sterijino Pozorje Festival", MESS in Sarajevo, "Days of
Marulić" in Split, International festival of small scenes in Rijeka, and others.
Her film debut was in Petria's wreath by Srđan Karanović, and she became famous for
her role in the film Father on a business trip by Emir Kusturica. Apart from these, let us
mention but a few films in which she played: Fall of Italy by Lordan Zafranović, Life is
Beautiful by Bora Drašković, Promised land by Veljko Bulajić, Collection center by
Dušan Kovačević, Time of Miracles Goran Paskaljević, Underground and Life is a
Miracle by Emir Kursturica, Powder keg by Goran Paskaljević, Witnesses by Vinko
Brešan, Go west by Ahmed Imamović, Grbavica by Jasmila Žbanić, etc. For acting
achievements in film she was awarded at film festivals in Pula, Niš, Brussels, Palma de
Mallorca... Apart from film, Karanović achieved significant roles on television too (TVseries Petria's Wreath, The storks will return, etc.).
She has been a longtime professor at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade.
For overall creative achievements and contribution to the development of theater art, as
well as for her humanitarian work and social engagement Mirjana Karanović has received
several important awards and social recognition.
Critique
Tanja Šljivar offers us a fascinating entry into her anti-hero characters from places that
are timeless and neutral in terms of value and space - it is a public toilet whose only
purpose is to facilitate the man so that he can relieve himself from whatever bothers him
so that he can move on. And this relief from the burden of the past and present is
brilliantly presented by the actors Mirjana Karanović and Enes Salković, performers of
extraordinary qualities and values, their lives and destinies are intertwined in a furious
pace under the discreet guidance of director Mirjana Karanovic.
The young playwright in her new text has adopted many novelties in comparison to her
previous work – in this play the ending of each of the four dramatic scenes with
archetypal characters: Mother and Son, Father and Daughter, Brother and Sister, Woman
and Young Man, happens suddenly, in an instant, in a moment that is completely out of
the former course of the game and narrative. She does not hesitate to use the ancient folk
techniques and models, such as the lament and rhymes; she is often guided by hidden
traces of some of the known routes and ways of writing and editing text, such as stream
of consciousness and naturalistic approach or strong expressionist wave, with, of course,
the ever-present Brecht effect of wonder on which rests a lot here. This is respected by
the director too, her reading follows basic narrative thread that links all the characters and
yet very reasonably sets them apart, she delivers everyone through his own peculiarities
and fullness – the acting duo Karanović - Salković fits into the entire circle of the
unconscious, subconscious, public, secret and intimate; with dedication and with full
engagement, they carry the drama and play all eighty minutes of performance.
The play We are the ones that our parents warned us about directed by Mirjana
Karanović and produced by BNP Zenica in cooperation with the Chamber theater 55 in
Sarajevo, with the undeniable achievements of actors Enes Salković and Mirjana
Karanović, is confirmation of the extraordinary dramatic talent of Tanja Šljivar, a young
writer who is today, no doubt, at the forefront of contemporary dramatic literature in this
region.
Mladen Bićanić (30 March 2016)