The Reunification of the Two Koreas

‘’The Reunification of the Two Koreas’’ is a witty and poetic play written with tenderness and understanding of an actor who writes for the actors. Paolo Magelli is a director who skilfully assembles formally dispersed texts such as this one and condenses them, expertly emphasizing their dramatic and ludic character. Pommerat’s writing is ‘’bitter-sweet’’, as if the French author pokes fun at the melodramatic matrix, but doesn’t mock it, instead inventively questioning it. Translated by Vanda Mikšić, the most recent recipient of the ‘’Iso Velikoanović’’ Award for her translation of Georges Perec, ‘’The Reunification of the Two Koreas’’ is a play – ‘’a praise of love’’, playful and open to an emotional encounter with the viewer. Performances of contemporary French plays are a rare thing in Croatian theatre which makes ‘’The Reunification of the Two Koreas’’ all the more interesting...

“The play is easy to watch as its flow is swift and the questions and dilemmas put forward strike a chord with the audience. Magelli made an excellent selection of actors, of the ensemble as a whole, of the cast in each of the individual episodes. He determined the dosage of eroticism with utmost precision because, frankly, talking about love for two and a half hours without showing that, except for the heart and head, it requires another body organ or two would qualify as hypocrisy. As always in Magelli's plays, the actors give their best and present us with another new face.” (Bojana Radović, Večernji list)

“One part of the audience was thrilled by the courage and straightforwardness of the direction and play, while the other was really concerned about the chastely presented nudity. The most important thing, however, is that Magelli has awakened the Gavella ensemble and given every actor the space to first and foremost explore their own capacities. The show lasts two hours and ten minutes, there is no break, and there is no need for one. The ten actors energetically and straightforwardly interpret a multitude of roles, but each has a common denominator.” (Tomislav Čadež, Jutarnji list)

“It cannot be said that Magelli's work with actors yields no revealing results. In this play, for instance, we meet a new forceful defiance, a gift for satire and a mature stage self-awareness of Nataša Janjić, as well as an original tragic expression of young Tena Nemet Brankov. Ranko Zidarić’s ironic distance is more poisonous than ever, while the anatomy of various faces of defeat in the performance of Enes Vejzović proves that no social scalpel can cut deeper than actors who dissect the masks of hypocrisy.” (Nataša Govedić, Novi list)

“The Reunification of the Two Koreas is total theatre. Magelli's play, as by means of a surgical knife, exposes the core of the relation between two sexes ... (...) Make sure you watch it with your significant other!” (Želimir Ciglar, Vijenac)