Cigla

Even though, across the years, Cigla has been recognised as one of the key Croatian plays of the 1990s, it’s interesting to note that it has never been staged before in Zagreb, despite it being its setting, even though in spirit as well as in its particular humour it may belong to the Zagreb’s periphery. The Gavella Theatre, whose repertoire is at the moment is also home to Filip Šovagović’s successful play Tesla Anonymous, will also with this play attempt to reach that same success, as directed by Krešimir Dolenčić. The author, the members of this theatre’s troupe as well as the director who is well incorporated into the theatre’s numerous productions have all come together to bring this play to the stage, staged for the first time in Split more than twenty years ago which the author and critic Jurica Pavičić commented thusly: “Cigla is a play that defines an entire generation. This play speaks without mincing words, even with a dose of roughness about what has come to be called the war generation,” while the author himself reveals himself through one of his characters: “At a time when I was meant to become master of my own age, this tempest refused to die down for days on end. (...) Before my departure to the front line a tiny, minute hope smoldered within me. But then we lost our way and found ourselves in a minefield. And when I say nervous breakdown, those two words turn out to be terrifyingly empty. It’s simply not possible to explain what that was. My I at that moment completely lost itself among all the Is, yous, hes, wes, theys, these, those, theirs, ours...”

“This new performance of Filip Šovagović’s Cigla, one of this theatre’s most brilliant figures, set in the Gavella Theatre as directed by Krešimir Dolenčić and in Dubravko Mihanović’s dramaturgy, is an excellent move by the theatre’s administration. In so doing, it has earned itself an interesting, important, socially aware as well as relevant stage production which, with its very modern use of what a theatre is able to offer alongside many a brilliant actor is able to intelligently question the influence a war can have on a family and on human relationships, but it is also able to discuss the more blood-curdling consequences of war, the loss of one’s ideals and a descent into a collective lethargy which, bit by bit, comes to define a nation.” (Nina Ožegović, T-portal)

“The fresh, new production of an old play always, by necessity, demands that it prove itself worthy and able to stand the test of time. Although in the local film industry we’ve long since satiated ourselves with war-themed productions, Šovagović’s Cigla not only proves itself to be one of our best and most painful, so to speak, war plays which seeks to explain the origins of a given social state of being, but also reveals itself to be hard evidence of a rare linguistic and youthful playfulness...” (Anđela Vidović, Arteist)

“Worthy of particular mention in this play is the musical direction by Krešimir Dolenčić, or, to be more precise, the way in which this director is able to push Cigla from a classic dramatic text into a particular type of ‘anti-musical’ whilst still retaining its tragic tone. (...) The span of Šovagović’s work may not be wide, but is therefore wholly autonomous. As to the characters, Cigla (Filip Križan) is his own ordinary self in his kitchen, Levi (Ranko Zidarić) has his own corner where he is able to think, Adam (Enes Vejzović) as if belongs to music, and Stanko (Ivan Grčić) is original in his writing. One can confidently say that these are all faces of the author himself, Filip Šovagović, as if the theatre’s actors are playing with a soft tenderness toward their colleague actor-and-writer (Šovagović is a full member of the theatre’s troupe).” (Nataša Govedić, Novi list)

“Filip Križan plays Cigla in a passive yet charming way, his revolts are ‘internal’, and his pronouncements laconic but central, essential. Ranko Zidarić shines as the eldest brother, Levi. His performance without words is, and this is the first time that I write this for Zidarić - magisterial. Đorđe Kukuljica as Picek, a harmless, enamoured maniac, stands for something else, something differetn in this performance - he pokes fun at the so-called optimistic outlook on life. (...) ... first and foremost I recommend this play to the younger generations.” (Tomislav Čadež, Jutarnji list)

“Filip Križan shockingly realistically portrays a young man whose entire life and future have been swallowed by war. A care-free kid becomes a worn-out soldier, and his identity, which he hasn’t even fully thought-out, is irreparably torn apart.” (Tia Špero, Večernji list)