The director Nela Vitosevic on the small stage in the Macedonian National Theater staged the play "Things we do not talk about", which with the topics it opens, attracted the attention of the theater public. The premiere took place on October 16.

The title of the play "Things we do not talk about" most directly indicates the purpose of its staging on the theater stage. Without a predetermined dramatic text, but with a clear intention in creating the content tissue, the director Nela Vitosevic bravely decided to dive into the depths of some well-known things, but to announce them on stage through anonymous testimonies about traumatic experiences of people hidden by numbers. .

Exceptions are the testimonies of the five actors on stage, who in the form of stand-up talk about their personal experiences. In the dramaturgy for the play Vitosevic collaborates with Viktorija Rangelova-Petrovska. In a way, it is a continuation of the collaboration that took place for the play "My Husband", staged at the Drama Theater, with the difference that there was a pre-selected text (stories by Rumena Buжаarovska from her collection of the same name) in which personal experiences of the actors playing in that play.

The focus of "Things we do not talk about" are delicate topics, moments of psychological, physical or sexual violence, misinterpretation of some "folk customs and traditions", dismantling of marital, gender and religious topics. In a tragicomic way, the play criticizes the Balkan patriarchal milieu, but at the same time provokes a conversation about change in society. The selected testimonies have a sobering and sobering effect, because among them there are some made under the influence of alcohol.

The play stars actors Dragana Kostadinovska, Ivana Pavlakovic, Sara Klimoska, Nikola Nastoski and Ismet Sabanovic. Everyone has already acted in Vitosevic's previous plays and it is obvious that they have mastered the directorial concept very well. Although it is a collective game, personal and anonymous testimonies are very naturally and easily connected to each other. At times with the stand-up effect, the personal affect during a bad experience from the past is emphasized, and immediately afterwards the emotional shocks experienced by one of the anonymous persons are dramatized.

The action flows easily, but the words you hear create weight in the soul. Especially when you find out that one of the people, not being allowed to speak publicly about his trouble, because he will be immediately stigmatized by society, decides to anonymously relieve his soul, because "in the Balkans, natural things are imposed by man, not nature."

The play with a subtle feeling also uses music chosen by the director, as well as songs performed on stage, in function of the dramatic action. The scenographic solution for the play of Vasil Hristov - Vusi is based on newspaper clippings that are placed on the wallpaper, ie for public inspection with the intention not to close their eyes to the obvious, and the elegant costumes for the actors, but also for the many anonymous characters. made by Roza Trajceska-Ristovska.

The end of the play calls for action to unravel the secrets of patriarchal relations in society and to create an angelic, not a dark, torturous and sorrowful world.

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" No. 102, in the print edition of the newspaper "Free Press" on October 23-24, 2021)