The play “Carlotta Grizi: from Vizinada to Eternity”, which is the work of PhD student of the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Annamaria Serda, will have two new performances in Belgrade.
It will first be performed on February 10 on the stage of Bitef Theater, and then, a day later, on February 11 at the Student’s City Cultural Center.
A PhD student in Dramatic Arts, Annamaria Serda, under the watchful eye of her mentor, the famous theater director Vida Ognjenović, also wrote the text for this play in which she plays the main role. This is the first dramatic work about the renowned ballerina Carlotta Grizi, the first Giselle in the history of ballet, which reveals a little-known and interesting story about her relationship with the choreographer Gilles Perrault, with whom she shared a love for ballet, which brought them together and separated them again and again throughout their lives.
This piece is refreshing and holds your attention until the very end. Dosed musical units in which the actors demonstrate impressive vocal abilities, complemented by dialogues and monologues, create a unique atmosphere and evoke different emotions. The play “Carlotta Grizi: from Vizinada to Eternity” is not just an ordinary story about the life of a prima ballerina. It is a story about the relationship between love and freedom and about their limits. This piece asks us many questions, such as: Can love and freedom exist together or is it inevitable in the world of men that love means renouncing freedom and freedom of choice? Is it possible to be independent in a relationship? And at the very end, what remains as the strongest impression is certainly the question of to what extent we as individuals get lost through the various demands of the profession, the audience and the people close to us?
(Nedeljka Borojević, “Hoću u pozorište”)
The premiere of the play took place two years ago in Rovinj
The play premiered on October 2, 2021, in Rovinj at the “Antonio Gandusio” City Theater as part of the Art Festival “Rovinj, Art & More” whose artistic director is Mr Ronald Braus, opera singer and actor who portrays the character of Gilles Perrault in this play. Mario Chopor accompanies them on the piano. The play contains original songs composed by the Croatian composer and conductor Darijan Ivezić and directed by the Croatian ballerina and choreographer Ljiljana Gvozdenović.
At the end of 2021, the play received the “St. Euphemia Award”, the “Rovinj, Art & More” festival award for the promotion and revitalization of the cultural heritage of Istria.
This was followed by performances in Zagreb (Zagreb Puppet Theater, February 7, 2022), Belgrade (Bitef Theater, February 11, 2022), Novi Sad (Újvidéki Színház, April 27, 2022), Zaječar (Zoran Radmilović Theater), and recently in London (Chelsea Theatre, Kensington, September 28, 2022), where the play was performed in front of a packed audience.
After last year’s successful guest appearance at the Bitef Theater as part of the program “Month of the Independent Scene”, the play received an invitation to be performed again at the Bitef Theater and at the Student’s City Cultural Center. The audience in Niš will be able to see it on March 30 in the National Theater in Niš, and in April, performances will take place in the Istrian National Theater in Pula and then in the Fabri Theater in Trieste.
