About the play

My Theatre is an authorial project in which Boris Liješević re-examines his position in the theatre. With this play, Liješević populates the stage with himself, he gives himself to the stage. And it all begins with a question: Who am I? What is it that prevents you from being yourself and authentic, from expressing yourself? The main character is the author who becomes his own stage and his own content, and then from that stage, he observes himself. Navigating through his own life experiences and memories, the author weaves a fragmentary narrative of autofiction.

It is about the definition of theatre, as an artistic practice or experience, as something personal that belongs to the author. But during the play, my theatre also becomes our theatre, because in this deeply intimate story, the personal becomes universal.

“Because we all wander in the darkness and search for ourselves, waiting for someone to recognize us,” as Boris says in this play of his.

About the author

Boris Liješević grew up in Budva. He graduated from the Department of Serbian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. In 2004, he graduated in directing from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where he now teaches acting as an associate professor. He is a three-time scholarship recipient of the Goethe-Institut in Belgrade.

Within the “KotorArt” festival, he founded a new theatre festival for autobiographical authorial projects.

He engages in various art directions and methods. In Serbia and the region, he initiated an era of performances – authorial projects created from recorded thematic conversations. This is how the plays The Waiting Room, Fertile Days, Regarding the Seagull, Our Fathers Have Built, The Fifth Park, and Yours and Mine were created. Some plays were created through improvisations during rehearsals of Guardians of Your Honesty, What Will Become of Us All, and The Other Side.

He has directed the works of authors from various eras and literary genres and types: Dear Papa by Minja Bogavac, Gretchen, page 89 by Lutz Hübner, The Wizard and The Night Watch by Fedor Šili, Elijah’s Chair, Flour in the Veins, and Zrenjanin by Igor Štiks, Bella Figura by Yasmina Reza, The Drunks by Ivan Vyrypaev, Lorenzaccio by Alfred de

Musset, (Proto)Faust by J. W. Goethe, Blue Moon by Damir Karakaš, The Use of Man by Aleksandar Tišma, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, War and Peace by L. N. Tolstoy, Under Both Suns by Ognjen Spahić, Rabies by Borislav Pekić, Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist.

He also directed the opera Two Heads and a Girl by Isidora Žebeljan.

He mentored the project “Opera: Past, Present, Perfect!” within the MOTY organization (Musical Operatic Theatre Youth) and the Duško Radović Little Theatre.

His work has been honored with many national and regional awards, including the Sterija Awards for best performance, direction, and authorial project; the awards: “Mira Trailović” (Grand Prix of the Bitef festival), “Ljubomir Muci Draškić”, “Bojan Stupica”, “Petar Kočić”, “Ardalion”, “Iskra kulture” (Spark of Culture), “Hrabri novi svet” (Brave New World), “Anđelko Štimac”, “Jurislav Korenić”, “Despot Stefan Lazarević” (City of Belgrade award for theatre creation); awards at the “Vršac Autumn” festival, the Festival of Premieres in Aleksinac, the “Grad teatar” (City Theatre) Award, the award for best direction at the Gavella Evenings, the

“November Award” of the city of Budva, and annual awards from many theatres. In 2023, the performance War and Peace participated in the World Theatre Olympics in Budapest.

Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Budva are the main hubs of his private and professional life.

Played by
Nebojša Ilić, Ana Mandić, Vojin Ćetković, Branka Šelić, Bojan Žirović, Boris Liješević

Written and directed by Boris Liješević
Dramaturge: Dimitrije Kokanov
Set design: Saša Ivanović
Costume design: Marina Sremac
Composers: LP Duo (Sonja Lončar & Andrija Pavlović)
Stage movement: Dénes Döbrei
Organizer: Boško Radonjić
First assistant: Isidora Kulenović
Second assistant: Jovan Ilić
We thank Maja Studen for her help 
Stage manager: Jovana Popović
Prompter: Anka Milić
Lighting design: Igor Milenković
Sound design: Dragan Stevanović – Bagzi
Makeup: Dubravka Bušatlija

Photos: Boško Đorđević

Duration: 01:45

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