The independent Golden Vest Theater put together a repertoire of three plays and one premiere on World Theater Day in March, and the plays are performed depending on coronavirus protection measures.

The young actor Boban Aleksoski together with his colleague the actress Nadica Petrova, exactly in the pandemic 2020 decided to establish the independent theater "Golden Vest". Despite all the difficulties created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the young actors, in compliance with all protection measures, in less than a year reached four staged plays that they can play at any time and in any place. Thus the independent scene shows vitality in the face of the production difficulties created by the pandemic. Through a conversation with Aleksoski, we discover some of the future plans of the Golden Vest Theater.

The independent theater scene, of course, operates in difficult conditions, and coronavirus protection protocols further complicate matters. What is your challenge for working in these conditions?

- The main idea was to live the theater despite the difficult conditions, because the theater must exist and survive. We formed the association exactly when everything closed for the first time and we were the first with theatrical performances last summer, and this month we just reprinted the two monodramas "The Diary of a Madman" and "Humanism". Unfortunately, the play "Do not touch my beer!" Was scheduled for a date when the situation with the virus began to get seriously bad, so we were forced to postpone the performance for the next better conditions. We had no problem with the audience because the monodramas themselves were directed to a limited number of audiences, and all were performed according to coronavirus protection protocols. The guest appearance, ie the special screening of "Humanity" at the "Applause" festival in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was canceled due to the protection measures there. However, apart from the monodramas, on the Day of the Theater - March 27, we welcomed the children's play "Guardians of the Planet", which we made with a lot of love and under familiar conditions.

Who participated in the preparation of the play and for what purpose is it expanding the program spectrum of the theater?

- The play is funded by the City of Skopje, and deals with a very current environmental topic, which leads to a great message. It is planned on April 22, if the current measures stop, to play the play all day as a sign of Earth Day, of course depending on the interest of the audience. Besides me, Nadica Petrova and David Ilic also play. The producer of the project is Slobodan Trajkovski, several wonderful people helped us with the music and the scenography. The premiere of the play went great and we think that there will be a long life in a future time, when things will be sorted out. Until then, it will occasionally be kept alive. The program spectrum is what we are currently working on, shaping and wanting to have performances for all ages, and working for children is the most wonderful thing!

You skillfully nested the production of "Golden Vest" in the Social Center "Dunja". Is that space practically your home now?

- Our home, ie a place for pre-production or for some projects and our own parent company, ie for three of the four plays so far. The beauty is that almost all the processes depending on the concept and the director, of course, we could do 80 percent there, and after the premiere to go to any other stage and play there. That's great, given the fact that we started making the first productions in our apartments, at home. The hosts in "Dunja" are great, and it is a place that gives hope and additionally brings spirit to the projects we are working on there.

The award-winning monodrama "The Diary of a Madman" already has numerous performances. What is the case with the second part "Humanism" and with what message do you perform the play?

- The first part of the "Diary of a Madman" on March 13 completed 29 performances, and the second part, ie "Humanity" reached 9 performances. Both are directed by Gjorgji Rizeski. We move on. Now the plan is for "Humanism" to be seen in as many cities as possible throughout the country, because we already have an audience that watched the first part and is now expecting the second. I am glad that when we started working on Gogol, we did not expect that things would develop exactly like this, I am glad that the process led us to the current success of the whole project. "Man-eating" is a metaphorical representation for modern man today or to be clearer - Man to man is a wolf! The character of Accentier is now sounding the alarm for the salvation of mankind through morality, principle and humanity. In June, the play will participate in the official competition of the ITF "Monodrama" in Bitola.

Do you plan to continue to maintain the repertoire policy, of course depending on the protection measures, and how many new performances in "Golden Vest" do you plan to set this year?

- This year, ie next month, the premiere of a project with "Machine Production" is planned. Later in June, preparations for the play "The Old Woman from Calcutta" directed by Ana Bateva will begin. Both plays are supported by the Ministry of Culture. "Branch of the Wind", "Who Am I?" Will continue. So far, the Golden Vest Theater has performed 24 plays according to all protocols during the Crown. I want to emphasize that this time has taught us to fight for the theater to live. I played in all the plays and looked directly into the eyes of the audience, which were fulfilled, because in this pandemic it seemed as if it was and still is a special thing to be a spectator of a theatrical performance. The mission continues.

(The interview was published in "Cultural Press" number 76, in the print edition of "Free Press" on April 10-11, 2021)