Premiere of the Play "A Lullaby for Aleksija Rajčić"

"A Lullaby for Aleksija Rajčić" based on the text by Đorđe Kosić and directed by Jug Đorđević, which focuses on the story of an abused woman who committed a murder only to feel free in prison, premiered on April 30 on the "Raša Plaović" Stage in a dramatic-musical form.

This play was awarded at the competition for the original domestic drama text in 2020 at the Sterijino Pozorje Festival, and its premiere was co-produced by the National Theatre in Belgrade with Sterijino Pozorje Festival and the "Novi Sad - European Capital of Culture" Foundation in 2022

Aleksija is played by Vanja Ejdus, and other cast members are Iva Milanović, Novak Radulović (Choirmasters) and Sara Ristić, Nevena Milošević, Vera Zečević, Stefan Živanović, Goran Milošević, Danijela Milošević (Choir).

Title character is fictional, and the young writer found the inspiration for his story in Milutin A. Popović’s book from 1898 - “Female Convicts – An Album of the Požarevac Penitentiary Female Ward”

The destiny of Aleksija Rajčić is that in facing non-freedom, in every possible sense, a crime occurs as the only way out and imprisonment as, paradoxically, a space that provides freedom. She is a figure who represents all women who are in a similar position today and have been in history.

Like other women she is surrounded by, and whose lives represent the model by which hers is expected to function, in a world steeped in patriarchy, Aleksija's only silence and suffering. The only alternative to a life that, even before it began, is violence, the impossibility of choice, and thus the impossibility of emancipation or happiness.

Like all the other women she is surrounded by, and whose lives represent the model by which hers is expected to function, in a world steeped in patriarchy, the only thing expected from Aleksija is to keep silent and endure hardships. The only alternative to a life that, even before it began, was predestined for violence, the impossibility of choice, and thus the impossibility of emancipation or happiness is – death.

Through a specific stylistic intervention in which he combines all the supporting characters in a male and female choir, the author of the play singles out Aleksija and her experience, thus putting them in counterpoint with the depersonalized characters of this story, i.e. society, which is the biggest obstacle in this woman’s search for freedom and happiness.

Tijana Grumić is the dramaturge of the play, and the creative team also includes Andrea Rondović (set designer), Velimirka Damjanović (costume designer), Nevena Glušica (composer), Damjan Kecojević (choreographer), Danica Krstić (ethnomusicologist - collaborator) and Ljiljana Mrkić Popović (stage speech).

The first reruns are on May 4 and 5.