Balkan Henry VI at the Globe Theatre

As a part of the Globe to Globe festival, the Serbian National Theatre will perform part 1 of, what the organisers call, the Balkan Trilogy on May 11 and 13.

Part 2 will be performed by the National Theatre of Albanian Theatre and part 3 by the National Theatre of Bitola in Macedonia.

Each part of Henry VI will be performed in London as a stand alone play.

Speaking at a press conference in Belgrade on Friday, the Serbian director, Nikita Milivojevic, said that there has not been any synchronisation with the Albanian director Adonis Filipi, and John Blondell, who directed the third part.

“From the very beginning the deal was that everyone would do their own play, which do not need to be synchronised in any way,” said Milivojevic.

“I like the name Balkan trilogy, because this Henry has something in common with Balkan history.  Also, I see this as a good marketing move,” Milivojevic said.

Milivojevic chose to simplify the play by leaving out all the combat scenes and the scenes of ordinary life, and focused only on political scenes at a round table where the decisions are made.

“At the beginning I came up with the idea that the round table should represent the one at the United Nations.  That idea further developed, so now throughout the play the round table constantly changes its meaning”.

Slobodan Bestic, who plays Richard Plantagenet, said that the universality of the play lies in the fact that it applies not only to Serbia but to the whole world, and that this version is simplified enough so it could be understood in a political context.

The director of the National Theatre,  Bozidar Djurovic,  was pleased that the premier of the play will take place at the Globe theatre.

“I am very happy that for the first time the Serbian language will be heard at the Globe.”

Although originally it was planned for the whole trilogy to be presented in the region, the agreement has not been reached yet.

“We considered that all three plays would be performed on consecutive nights in Belgrade, and then in Bitola and in Tirana so that the audience could see the whole trilogy. I think it could happen in October, but we have not reached the agreement yet.“

The Globe to Globe festival is taking place from April 21 to June 9 2012.  Over the course of six weeks all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays will be performed by selected international theatre companies.