VATRALJ / COAL SHOVEL

Premiere: July 21, 2020, Sava Quay, New Belgrade

The play is a synergetic story of the artist that connects the remains of archetypes of cults and rituals related to fire, customs that have survived to this day, through the prism of contemporary art. Fire is an old term for a device that maintains fire. Fire is an anthropological, mythical-religious phenomenon, and a powerful initiator of material and spiritual culture.

Through the conceptual concept where fire is a means of transformation, one passes through the labyrinth of time from Hecatorium (pagan cult place of the ancient goddess Hecate), among Thracians who catapult fireballs, besides Prometheus who steals fire from the gods, Greek Goddesses who give the Olympic flame, Svarog God of fire and all Slavic rituals of fire, the transmission of flames from mythology to futurism. The future is illuminated and optimism is awakened, because fire is a natural but also a cultural phenomenon.

Theater Mimart has long been researching natural phenomena related to the myths and legends of the Balkans, which are the inspiration for working on interdisciplinary projects. In addition to air and water, fire plays a very important role in the formation of the Earth, in man's material, spiritual and social world.

VATRALJ/COAL SHOVEL is Mimart's first premiere during the corona virus pandemic. Due to the prescribed measures, the play was not announced, so the play was performed in front of the spontaneously gathered citizens of New Belgrade.

The project was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information, 2020.

Photo: Isajlo Marić

Concept: Nela Antonović

Actors:
Ivana Koraksić, coreography
Miona Petrović
Lidija Antonović
Ivana Vraneš

Costumes and masks design: Anđelija Marković
Scene design and props: Lidija Antonović
Sound design live: Arion Aslani