Tolstoy’s Classic “War and Peace” Premiered under the Direction of Boris Liješević

Production of “War and Peace”, based on the famous classic of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, dramatized by Fedor Šili and directed by Boris Liješević, premiered on May 30 on the Main Stage.

This play, that not only speaks of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, of Natasha Rostova, of sadness and misfortune of Andrey Bolkonsky, of Pierre Bezukhov and many other characters, but also about hopes and sufferings, desires and pains of people caught in the web of great historical events, but also deals with the issue of war and peace on so many levels – personal, symbolic and metaphorical. 

The play was made to follow the rhythm of a modern spectator where the scenes run in parallel, one flows into another, and the whole composition is merged, without pauses and darkness, in the rhythm of today's life.

The protagonists of the play are in constant search: they search for God, love, glory, happiness, the meaning of life ... Pierre Bezukhov wonders: “What is the purpose of our life? Why are we in this world? What are people and humanity supposed to build and create with their lives?" This essential question that Tolstoy raises is not only the main theme of the novel but also of this dramatization and, naturally, the play itself.

War is not in the foreground; it is very modestly depicted and focused only on what specifically happened to the protagonists of the story and what affected their lives, such as the wounding of Prince Andrey in Austerlitz…

Cast members are Hadži Nenad Maričić (Count Pyotr "Pierre" Kirillovich Bezukhov), Miodrag Krivokapić (Prince Nikolay Andreyevich Bolkonsky), Danilo Lončarević (Andrey, his son), Zlatija Ocokoljić Ivanović (Maria, his daughter), Zorana Bećić Đorđević (Liza, Prince Andrey’s wife), Dušan Matejić (Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov), Bojana Stefanović (Countess Natalya Rostova), Teodora Dragićević (Natasha, their daughter), Nemanja Stamatović (Nikolay, their son), Nina Nešković (Sonya, their cousin), Slobodan Beštić (Prince Vassily Sergeevich Kuragin), Kalina Kovačević (Elena, his daughter), Petar Strugar (Anatole, his son), Vučić Perović (Boris Drubetskoy) and Nedim Nezirović (Napoleon Bonaparte).

The creative team also includes Janja Valjarević (set designer), Bojana Nikitović (costume designer), Stefan Ćirić (composer), Mirko Knežević (choreographer), Bojana Stefanović (stage movement) and Ljiljana Mrkić Popović (stage speech). 

Collaborators on the play are Miloš Golubović, Vuk Miletić (producers), Gala Dimović (organizer), Sanja Ugrinić Mimica (stage manager), Marija Nedeljkov (prompter), Ivan Orlenko, Jelena Šarković (assistant directors), Anja Marčetić (assistant set designer) and Jana Zaharijević and Miljana Ljubičić (assistant costume designers).

It was more than four decades ago that “War and Peace”, one of the most influential works of world literature, was staged for the first and only time so far on the Main Stage of the National Theatre, and on Serbian stages in general. The premiere was held on June 24, 1980, dramatized by writer Mirko Miloradović and directed by Petar Šarčević, who gave the lead roles to Bogdan Diklić (Pierre Bezukhov), Predrag Miki Manojlović (Prince Andrey Bolkonsky) and Dragana Varagić (Natasha Rostova).