'Milosevics' conquers Berlin
Play dictates transcripts for comic effect
Text for the show consists entirely of verbatim transcripts of telephone conversations wiretapped by the Croatian Secret Service in 1997, which were published in Zagreb weekly Globus.
Toxic Dreams co-founder Yosi Wanunu was fascinated by excerpts printed in Harpers. "I did some research and found more and more conversations, and I knew I had to put it onstage, and I knew it had to be a sitcom," Wanunu says.
Don't expect revelations of political deceit: The conversations among Slobodan, wife Mira Markovic and son Marko deal with such earth-shattering matters as the temperature of the pool, the benefits of colored contact lenses and motherly advice ("At night when you go to bed, you have to have slippers beside you when you go and pee"). When confronted with yet another of Marko's get-rich schemes, Slobodan's trademark retort is, "Are you fucking with me?"
"I thought it would be interesting to build something from the audience's knowledge of who these people are, and for many people it was kind of difficult: They couldn't believe it was real," Wanunu explains. "They thought I had written it, but it's totally authentic."
Adding to the surreality, the conversations are played as short sketches at the taping of a weekly sitcom. Colored lights cue the audience when to laugh or applaud. Wanunu directs each performance live, often giving abstruse motivations like, "Can you make it more '30s, kind of Mae West?" or, "Give me Lillian Gish eyes."
Surrounded by continuity, prop and makeup people, the cast does as many "takes" as Wanunu deems necessary and, between scenes, performs manic dances and songs accompanied by the Lonesome Andi Haller Band with titles such as "You, Me and the Next War" and "The Good Old Days" (clearly an homage to the theme song from "All in the Family").
First staged in Vienna in November 2003, the show became a surprise hit, and has had two subsequent revivals.
"People from Berlin saw it and they liked it and decided to present it," Wanunu says. "We had connections at a big festival in Belgrade, but it was clear that they were afraid to take this show. I guess this topic is still very hot there."
"There is a thirst to deal with political issues within subsidized cultures, but the results tend to be bland and direct and preachy," he adds. "We say more than just 'Milosevic is bad' and show that politics can still be funny and entertaining."
"The Milosevics" opens Oct. 6 at Hau Zwei, one of three spaces that comprise Berlin's legendary experimental Hebbel am Ufer theater, before the company digs into its next project, "De Lady in de Tutti-Frutti Hat," a salute to Carmen Miranda slated for a February premiere in Vienna.
