28. 10. 2009.

The Final Press Conference at this year's MESS

The final press conference at this year's MESS, held this morning at 10.30 at the Bosnia Hotel, was host to the two theatre groups who held performances last evening: Tonight, We Improvise, and Medea. An introduction to these two companies was then followed by an address by Festival Selector Giorgio Ursini Uršić and MESS Festival Director Dino Mustafić.

The media present were first addressed by the director of Tonight, We Improvise, Paolo Magelli, who had, a few hours earlier, received the Golden Laurel Wreath Award for Best Director. Magelli stated that this was the second award he has received in Sarajevo for his work, and spoke about his longstanding relationship with Pirandello, whose works he has staged throughout his career. He also emphasised the importance of productions of Italian theatre within the Rijeka Ivan pl. Zajc Croatian National Theatre, which, with its intercultural work, is a true exception in theatre, in a time when many use cultural hybridism as just a phrase. The media was also addressed by actress Elvia Nacinovich, who said she was very pleased to see the reception that their play had the previous evening at the MESS, and then by young actor Francesco Borchi, who is sharing this year’s “Rejhan Demirdžić” Award for Best Young Actor with local actor Boris Ler.

Following that, the director and actress of the performance Medea, Jean-Louis Martineli and Léontine Ouedraogo respectively, also addressed the media. The director of Medea said that the reason why he decided to specifically use an African cast to stage the classical Media was primarily because of the prevalent tragic sentiment that has, for years, haunted this continent, as well as Africa’s specific cultural system, realised as a melange of religiousness, superstition and tyranny, and greatly reminiscent of the cultural approach of ancient Greece. Furthermore, Ouedraogo also said that she was pleased with the setting of the National Theatre Woodworks, the venue where Medea was performed, as it opened up a possibility to express a sense of togetherness and simplicity among the characters, the basic ideas that the cast from Africa tried to infuse this production with.

In the last part of the conference, MESS Festival Selector Giorgio Ursini Uršić and the Festival’s Director Dino Mustafić announced the anniversarial fiftieth edition of the MESS, which will be held next year. In connection, Uršić expressed his hope that next year’s MESS will be in a better financial situation, and announced the coming of some of the leading directors in theatre. Dino Mustafić said that next year’s MESS will not be a competitive event, but will, alongside premiere performances of leading theatre productions, also host a retrospective of plays that marked the MESS in the past years. Once again, Mustafić stressed the financial hardship that the MESS had faced this year, and voiced his hope that, by next year’s special Festival edition, the problem of space and theatre infrastructure can be resolved, so as to be able to host some of the top performances expected at next year’s MESS. (M.S.)