Written and directed by Radmila Vojvodić, the play tells the story of Princess Ksenija Petrović’s life in Cetinje and in exile. The play was first performed in 1994, and the new staging was co-production between the Royal Theatre “Zetski Dom” and the Montenegrin National Theatre.
“The voices of migrants of all kinds, and there have been many since the beginning of time... people who have emigrated and immigrated, in search of a better life or a better world... They whisper day and night within us, they call out from our intimate histories... and they are not necessarily the voices of losers. However, here, in this drama – they are. Above all others, it is the voice of an independent woman and a powerful loser. The voice of a displaced small nation and a small culture to which she anchored her life. She speaks with the anxious voice of internal exile and spills her anguish over the edges of historical facts, from her epoch to ours. It is a monologue from a distance, but a dialogue with our captivity,” said the author and director, Radmila Vojvodić.
The audience shows exceptional interest in this historical drama, as tickets for every performance are sold out immediately after the repertoire is released.
The director of the theatre, Luka Radović, commented on the theme of the revived play: "We are a small nation, and as such, we are forced to be great fighters. Forced to defend our own essence, at the cost of exile. The play 'Princess Ksenija of Montenegro' is, both then and now, relevant in the time of reading. Time once again gives it life, because the struggle of a small nation for recognition seems, still, not to be concluded."
The success of the new staging is further enhanced by an outstanding cast: Varja Đukić (who played Ksenija in the original version in her thirties), Ana Vučković, Dejan Ivanić, Izudin Bajrović, Gorana Marković, Aleksandar Radulović, Jelena Laban, Slobodan Marunović, Dušan Kovačević, Nada Vukčević and Lazar Đurđević.
