The Registry

Ante Kovačić's novel ''The Registry'' on the one hand holds a central position within the canon of Croatian literary realism, while on the other hand, it is embedded into our collective memory through the cult TV series,. Ivica Kičmanović, the gifted boy, who from the poor countryside comes to the city – a place that offers the possibility of a better life; Laura, one of the most famous femmes fatales in our entire literary corpus; the butler Žorž, ''a bootlicker who uncritically admires the city gentlemen''; or the Patron, a lascivious old man and ''benefactor'', seem like the characters we are well familiar with, so this new encounter with them on the stage of ''Gavella'' Theatre will be all the more interesting. In the words of the director and the author of dramatization: ''''The Registry'' is a novel full of passion, full of images depicting the most primal of human urges. (...) I see the production of ''The Registry'' as a vehement blend of ritualistic scenes mixed with dry civil restraint, a production in which the fairy-tale andthe realism, the mythic and the banal are connected into an inseparable unity, the production that will redefine Kovačić's artistic strength and give an entirely new context to well known scenes which we, maybe because they are so close to our collective memory, are missing.''

''The famous novel and even more famous TV series, Ante Kovačić's ''The Registry'', is a work whose staging we have been waiting for 127 years. Its première in ''Gavella'' Theatre, directed by Dario Harjaček, who is also the author of dramatization (the dramaturge is Ivana Sajko), has showed us the reasons why we have been waiting for so long.'' (Bojana Radović, Večernji list)

''Harjaček suggestively depicts the ambivalence of the country and the city, which causes the breaking of Ivica Kičmanović's (Igor Kovač) personal identity. The country is not entirely innocent. It is characterized by God-fearing people (the parish priest himself becomes a relic in the end), by the postponed pleasure in the character of the angel-like Anica and also by the neighbours' envy. However, it still remains the focal point of Ivica's childhood to which he returns in the tragic end of the play which is beautiful and different than that of the novel. (...) A huge space in such a duality opens up for Laura (Ivana Roščić), a character based on the brigand novelist from the 1850's, who in Harjaček's version resolutely problematizes marriage. She doesn't compromise when her freedom is at stake. First and foremost she is a strong, brave and independent heroine, not a romantic one. Finally, a shift from the woman-victim on the stage.'' (Anđela Vidović, www.arteist.hr)

''''The Registry'' is Dario Harjaček's first production where he as a director evenly and thoughtfully masters not only the enormous ensemble, but also the complex structure of the novel, credit here is also due to the dramaturge Ivana Sajko. (...) The stage designer, Vesna Režić, costume designer Marita Ćopo and coreographer Ana Kreitmeyer also emphasize the breaking of the outer mask of restrained politeness in contrast with the internal gestures of the characters' primitiveness – from the country and the city alike. ''The Registry'' is not a nostalgic play, but an admonitory one. ''Gavella's'' ensemble, with each individual performance, also contributes to the sardonic tone of the production. Siniša Ružić is the ''nitpicking'', vain butler Žorž, Sven Medvešek portrays both the roles of the Patron and the tipsy Parish Priest (performing both roles with a new kind of circus-like feel for physical allegory). Once again the carefully nuanced Sven Šestak stars in the roles of the transvestite member of the Society for Humility and Perseverance and Ivica's poor, sharp-eyed father, the village musician, Jožica. Antonija Stanišić Šperanda plays the unhappy rich woman Justa with just the right amount of pride and sorrow. Nenad Cvetko hits the spot in the role of the queasy charlatan and suck-up, Šajkovski. Živko Anočić portrays the boastful gypsy headman, Miha. (Nataša Govedić, Novi list)