The Glembays

According to Miroslav Krleža

 

Directed and adapted by: BRANKO BREZOVEC

Composer: STANKO JUZBAŠIĆ

Set design: IVANA KNEZ

Costumes: SUZANA BREZOVEC

Light: TOMISLAV MAGLEČIĆ

Sound: BRANKO pl. PUCEKOVIĆ

Projections: IVAN MARUŠIĆ KLIF

Proletarians: SINIŠA MILETIĆ, IVAN SIROTIĆ GROF

Technical cooperation: SAŠA FISTRIĆ FIS, DAMIR PRICA, HRVOJE PELICARIĆ

Producer: MARKO MILOVAC

 

Naci (Ignjat Jacques) Glembay   ZLATKO BURIĆ KIĆO

banker, owner of company Glembay Ltd., first secret adviser (69 years)

 

Barunica Castelli-Glembay   DOMAGOJ JANKOVIĆ

his second legitimate wife (45 years)

 

Dr. phil. Leone Glembay   MISLAV ČAVAJDA

Ignjat's son from his first wife née Basilides–Danielli (38 years)

 

Sestra Angelika Glembay   SUZANA BREZOVEC

Dominican, widow from Glembay's son Ivan, née Baroness Zygtmuntowicz Beatrix (29 years)

 

Dr. theol. et phil. Alojzije Silberbrandt  ROBERT ŠPANIĆ

adviser of baroness's son and her confesseur (39 years)

 

Oliver Glembay  PAVLE VRKLJAN

son of Baroness Castelli and banker Glembay (17 years)

 

 

Apart from being the most complete work by Krleza – and therefore in terms of classical logic – his best work as well, The Glembays’ permanent actuality is stunning, although its historization, even with elements of fiction, could give even more dazzling results.

Originally, The Glembays speak about the downfall of a large capitalist family, the difficulty of becoming such, the cunningness needed for keeping its position and finally, its monstrous downfall. Nowadays, as tycoonization prevails in all territories which undergo transition, from the Baltic to Thessaloniki, the theme of this play appears to be crucial for a courageous entrance into the vibration of contemporary theatre and indisputable actuality.

 

Wickedness is a prerequisite and a lever of the Glembays’ wealth, but slyness and ruthlessness have long been thought in the public schools. The Glembays give us some kind of X-ray image of that ruthlessness, which does not manage to transplant even the exceptions to its rules into the garden of reason, and only tucks them by the hard roots of the distant ambiguities and vague beginnings. In that sense, the personality of Leone, old Glembay’s son, represents a figure twice and unbearably crucified between his Oedipean fault and his Robin Hood-like righteousness, while old Glembay is transfiguration of the omnipresent tycoons of our time.

 

Having that into perspective, we can – if we want to – consider The Glembays a critique of the monstrosity of the tycoons of our time, but a critic of that monstrosity cannot be found in the corpus of the play itself. On the contrary, Krleza sends the message that neither such a critique, nor its skilful critics (who believe in Jouvet’s new day’s happiness) can be found out of its own world, i.e. in reality. The strategy of critique cannot be based in the Krlezian blurry. A house cannot be built upon that blurry. What can be done is acknowledging that the chaos and blurriness are some kind of obscure foundation of our own liberation for and in front of the problem. The only positive character in The Glembays is the most short-tempered and contemplative man – Reverend Silberbrandt. Those who think are in danger and within reach of the blurry.

 

This is all regarding the actualization of this play; nevertheless, the historization of the fictional adaptations tamed and concealed by Krleza in this play as The Legends fall into oblivion, can be even more interesting and fruitful.

 

The Glembays are, simply, not reality; they are fiction, or in a certain way – an equation with components of reality, but with resultants of fiction. Or vice versa, as Gavella suggests, stating that the Glembay characters have never tried to conceal their literary provenance. We could only wish we had – back in the time of that drama, but also in our former socialist reality – such humane, even demagogically humane, good standing, wealthy people, inclined towards any type of spirituality – from religious to artistic, such people that could allow their sons a retreat or escape into artistic idleness. If we had such a thing, today we wouldn’t witness the bestial accumulation of capital and the disintegration of any traces of sobriety.

 

While in the actualizing approach to The Glembays, the pessimistic derivatives constantly ascend, and hope ironically appears only in dull, sticky mantles of religious casuistry, the historicized approach offers certain transitions. The Glembays’ wealth creates its accountability: the Baroness establishes charity organizations, Puba scrutinizes the opposition newspapers down to the last comma, Leone buys a sewing machine to the greedy proletariat. This may not be a lot, but the actualizing approach does not offer anything that would move us, be it upwards or downwards.

 

The director’s and the ambitious scenic operation of the play The Glembays is in accordance with this possible dualism. It is plausible that the audience would sense the bitter, but not utterly pessimistic approach, which rejects any type of motion and transition into rhetoric, eloquence of any kind, or in what Adorno calls vulgar idealism.

 

There is no salvation in the nation, there is neither morality, religiousness, redemption, consciousness. There is only blurriness in us, and by the acknowledging that blurriness, we should establish a more sustainable world of unbearable sensuousness and forced humanity.

 

 

The Glembays, another Legend

with the "Vojdan Černodrinski" theater from Prilep, North Macedonia

 

Directed and adapted by: BRANKO BREZOVEC

Composer:: NIKOLA MICEVSKI

Set design: IVANA KNEZ

Costumes: SUZANA BREZOVEC

Light: RISTE GRKOVSKI & BOBAN SMILKOSKI

Sound: TOME TEMELKOSKI

Paintings by: PECE RISTESKI

Poster design by: DEJAN DRAGOSAVAC RUTA

Producer: MARKO MILOVAC
                     

НАЦИ (ИГЊАТ ЖАК) ГЛЕМБАЈ - ANDON JOVANOSKI
банкар, шеф на фирмата Глембај Лтд, вистински таен советник, 69 години
NACI (IGNJAT JACQUES) GLEMBAY - ZLATKO BURIĆ KIĆO
banker, owner of company Glembay Ltd., first secret adviser (69 years)

 

БАРОНИЦАТА КАСТЕЛИ – ГЛЕМБАЈ - DANIELA IVANOSKA
негова втора легитимна сопруга, 45 години
BARUNICA CASTELLI-GLEMBAY - DOMAGOJ JANKOVIĆ

his second legitimate wife (45 years)

 

Dr. phil. ЛЕОНЕ ГЛЕМБАЈ - ZORAN IVANOSKI
син од Игњата и првата негова сопруга родена Базилидес – Даниели, 38 години
DR. PHIL. LEONE GLEMBAY
Ignjat's son from his first wife née Basilides–Danielli (38 years)

 

СЕСТРАТА АНГЕЛИКА ГЛЕМБАЈ - АNGELA NAUMOSKA
доминиканка, вдовица на најстариот Глембаев син Иван, родена бароница Зигмунтовиќ Беатрикс, 29 години
SESTRA ANGELIKA GLEMBAY - SUZANA BREZOVEC
Dominican, widow from Glembay's son Ivan, née Baroness Zygtmuntowicz Beatrix (29 years)

 

Dr. theol. еt phil. АЛОЈЗИЕ ЗИЛБЕРБРАНТ - DIMITAR CRCOROSKI
информатор на синот на бароницата и нејзин исповедник, 39 години
DR. THEOL. ET PHIL. ALOJZIJE SILBERBRANDT - ROBERT ŠPANIĆ
adviser of baroness's son and her confesseur (39 years)

 

ОЛИВЕР ГЛЕМБАЈ - ISIDOR JOVANOSKI
син на бароницата Кастели и банкарот Глембај, 17 години
OLIVER GLEMBAY - PAVLE VRKLJAN
son of Baroness Castelli and banker Glembay (17 years)

 

ТИТУС АНДРОНИКУС ФАБРИЦИ – ГЛЕМБАЈ - ТRAJČE IVANOSKI
кузен на банкарот Глембај, голем жупан во пензија, 69 години
TITUS ANDRONIKUS FABRICZY
Glembay's cousin, bishop emeritus (69 years)

 

Dr. juris ПУБА ФАБРИЦИ – ГЛЕМБАЈ - IGOR TRPČESKI
адвокат, правен советник на фирмата Глембај Лтд, негов син, 28 години
Dr. iuris PUBA FABRICZY - GLEMBAY
lawyer, law adviser of company Glembay Ltd., his son (28 years)
 
АНИТА - ANA MITOSKA STOJANOSKA
ANITA

 

The project named The Glembays, Another Legend comes as a final result of the Croatian director’s Branko Brezovec long-standing interest in the play Messrs. Glembay by Miroslav Krleza, which he has staged three times – in Rijeka, Zagreb and Prilep.

 

At first glance, especially in its central part, but also in the finale, the play conveys the impression of closeness, chamber concentration, psychological nuance, and according to the usual academic classification, it is regarded a masterpiece of Krleza’s qualitative phase, which surpasses the methodological and etiological boisterousness of the youthful quantitative phase, and which probes its sublimate into the seven plays and one-act plays compiled under the name Legends.

 

Brezovec, delving into his directing work, doubts the indisputability of such classifications. According to him, Krleza's plays are indeed characterized by playing with moral modalities (living the oppositions, living the questions in Rilkean sense), but also by the hermeneutic impeccability of the blurry within us. There are enough actantial inclusivities for the osmosis of these two poles throughout Krleza's dramatics.

 

Thus, The Glembays are a dramatic continuity of a roundabout: the action seems to be progressing, while it is in fact reiterating or standing in place (Leone wants to deepen his awareness of his own position, and in fact realizes that he has always known it). Here, the structure of The Glembays relies, let us say, on the play-legend Christopher Columbus.

 

The play also opens in the direction of Stanko Lasic’s indefinite definiteness: the crutial motivational levers appear throughout the play as uncertain, undefined (Leone's mother's adultery, the cause of Alice's death). Therein lies the relation of The Glembays with Michelangelo Buonaroti and Salome.

 

Consequently, The Glembays, Another Legend emerges in the trace of the negation of bipolarity in Krleza’s dramatic opus. Despite having features of a stage essay, it is also fictitiously fortified by the hints of the dramatic narrative: the world of the Glembay ancestors, who in their moral consequence cannot die and therefore survive in their timeless essence, is parallel and equal to the world of the living.

 

Producer of the play is Vojdan Chernodrinski Theater from Prilep, in cooperation with Eurokaz production from Zagreb. The ensemble is comprised of professional, permanently employed actors from Prilep (8 actors) and Eurokaz collaborators from Zagreb (5 actors, mostly freelance artists).

 

The intertwining of the living characters and their ghosts in radically parallel mise-en-scène and parallel décor will add up to the awakening of those ingenious cracks that, according to Ubersfeld, are the hallmarks of every excellent drama, the irrationality of which the writer sovereignly conceals with abduction of rhythm and point of view. That entanglement would bring to light the possibility of the obscure relationships of the characters that Krleza's drama does not reach for, but graciously offers for insight.

 

Thus, this essay-play will, for example, touch upon the possibility of the Glembay-Angelika relationship (Angelica as a figure of Salvation even for old Glembay), Leone-Silberbrandt (their love affair allusion, and therefore the weakening of the erotic contact between the Baroness and Silberbrandt), Oliver's relationship with the Baroness and Glembay (completely unelaborated in the original text).

 

The Glembays, Another Legend moves Krleza's drama from the horizon of Ibsenian motivation, bringing it closer to the Strindberg's private symbolism of The Road to Damascus. It is a dramaturgical operation with very little expense and aggression, only thanks to the superior kindness of that great drama.

 

For Brezovec, The Glembays is not a drama of criticism and actualization of the mythical face of tycoonization.  The Glembays is a drama of the Salvation, the price of its temporality (Salvation: when?), and the price of the consolation of its infinite spatiality (Salvation: where and to whom?)

 

SUPERIOR AND INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE

(“The Glembays, Another Legend” according to Miroslav Krleza; adapted and directed by Branko Brezovec; co-production: National Theater “Vojdan Chernodrinski” Prilep and “Eurokaz” from Zagreb; premiere: October 2019)

Another highly aesthetic performance enhances the Prilep Theater's repertoire. This theater’s tendency to delve into adventures, to explore and experiment, this time continues through collaboration with the prominent Croatian director Branko Brezovec. During the last ten years, the Prilep Theater has attained remarkable achievements, its ensemble being among the leading in Macedonia. As for the director – Brezovec, he is known to the local theater audience from over fifteen plays by various ensembles or ad hoc theater troupes profiling his manuscript, which is indeed intriguing and provocative. Many of his plays involve actors from different nationalities, mix different languages and most of them are performances presenting intercultural approach. The same practice occurs here as well: Macedonian and Croatian, but also German and Latin are the languages of this performance.

As an author of the adaptation and the set, Brezovec makes a compression to the mere quintessence of the text; furthermore, the same manner continues with the organization of space, stage design by Ivana Knez, costumes by Suzana Brezovec and Nikola Micevski’s music (which imposes itself as a particularly important segment, including the outstanding contribution of the singer, Ana Mitoska Stojanoska). The result is an incredible thickening of stage symbols and actions in small space that dictates the appropriate adjustment or movement of the actors. In such a way, stylistic consistency of all the elements is achieved, giving us the right to conclude that this is a postmodern performance with powerful and effective impact.

This “symphony concert” for several actor’s voices begins and develops as a vigil for the Glembay family. The invocation of the ancestors’ spirits and the dialogue with them is in sight, and through the juxtaposition of the dialogue of the living, we are transmitted to the contemporariness. We may affectionately call this "transition", but in essence, it is nothing but the “Glembay spirit” of our day. The climax of the play takes place at the time of the old Glembay's death, when his “kingdom” collapses like a tower of cards, and even the deceptive Baroness Castelli-Glembay screams out of pain and anger when she finds out that she had been deceived. This performance conveys a great deal of irony and sarcasm, at the same time being aesthetically appealing to the audience. The small, chamber theater space is contaminated by the presence of criminals, murderers, and fraudsters soaking up their misery. Apart from that, the fact that one character is interpreted by two synchronized actors who complement each other, alludes to the phenomenon known as “homo duplex”.

 “The Glemabays, Another Legend” is an astonishing, original, effective representation of the disintegration of a family. It is a chamber universe that invades all the viewers' senses and invites us to consider the "blurry" around us and in ourselves.

THE GLEMBAYS, PRILEP

with the "Vojdan Černodrinski" theater from Prilep, North Macedonia

 

Directed and adapted by: BRANKO BREZOVEC

Composer:: NIKOLA MICEVSKI

Set design: IVANA KNEZ

Costumes: SUZANA BREZOVEC

Light: RISTE GRKOVSKI & BOBAN SMILKOSKI

Sound: TOME TEMELKOSKI

Paintings by: PECE RISTESKI

Poster design by: DEJAN DRAGOSAVAC RUTA

                 

NACI (IGNJAT JACQUES) GLEMBAY - ANDON JOVANOSKI
banker, owner of company Glembay Ltd., first secret adviser (69 years)

 

BARUNICA CASTELLI-GLEMBAY - DANIELA IVANOSKA

his second legitimate wife (45 years)

 

DR. PHIL. LEONE GLEMBAY - ZORAN IVANOSKI
Ignjat's son from his first wife née Basilides–Danielli (38 years)

 

SESTRA ANGELIKA GLEMBAY - АNGELA NAUMOSKA
Dominican, widow from Glembay's son Ivan, née Baroness Zygtmuntowicz Beatrix (29 years)

 

DR. THEOL. ET PHIL. ALOJZIJE SILBERBRANDT - DIMITAR CRCOROSKI
adviser of baroness's son and her confesseur (39 years)

 

OLIVER GLEMBAY - ISIDOR JOVANOSKI
son of Baroness Castelli and banker Glembay (17 years)

 

TITUS ANDRONIKUS FABRICZY - ТRAJČE IVANOSKI
Glembay's cousin, bishop emeritus (69 years)

 

Dr. iuris PUBA FABRICZY - GLEMBAY - IGOR TRPČESKI
lawyer, law adviser of company Glembay Ltd., his son (28 years)

ANITA - ANA MITOSKA STOJANOSKA
 

Vojdan Cernodrinski Theatre from Prilep, 120 kilometers south of Skopje, the capitol of North Macedonia, was established in 1949, and its first performance was staged on 18 February, 1950. Starting as a theatre troupe named City Theatre, formed by several theatre enthusiasts, it soon grew into one of the leading professional theatres in Macedonia.
So far, it has staged over 350 premieres and over 6500 performances.Over the recent years, it has become one of the most recognizable strongholds of the Macedonian progressive thought and artistic expression, not only because of the numerous socially engaged and artistically embellished performances it has produced, but also because of its unique artistic ensemble, composed of exceptional, mainly young artists.

Among the most successful performances produced by Vojdan Cernodrinski Theatre are Brecht’s Drums in The Night, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Schweik in the Second World War, all of which were directed by Martin Kocovski. Also, Antica, a play directed by Branko Brezovec, was shown at numerous international festivals, including the "Euro-scene" festival in Leipzig in 2011. Other plays that achieved notable succes were numerous comedies directed by Kole Angelovski, the experimental performances by Vlado Cvetanovski, as well as the plays directed by Branko Stavrev, Vladimir Milcin...
The Theatre has won many international awards. It also hosts the Vojdan Cernodrinski International Theatre Festival that takes place every year in June.

Characters

 

Naci (Ignjat, Jacques) Glembay, banker, owner of company Glembay Ltd., first secret adviser (69 years)

 

Baroness Castelli–Glembay, his second legitimate wife (45 years)

 

Dr. Phil. Leone Glembay, Ignjat's son from his first wife née Basilides–Danielli (38 years)

 

Sister Angelika Glembay, Dominican, widow from Glembay's son Ivan, née Baroness Zygtmuntowicz Beatrix (29 years)

 

Titus Andronicus Fabriczy-Glembay, Glembay's cousin, bishop emeritus (69 years)

 

Dr. Iuris Puba Fabriczy-Glembay, lawyer, law adviser of company Glembay Ltd., his son (28 years)

 

Dr. Theol. et Phil. Alojzije Silberbrandt, adviser of baroness's son and her confesseur (39 years)

 

Oliver Glembay, son of Baroness Castelli and banker Glembay (17 years)

 

Anita

 

ACT I

 

I, 1

[The play starts with the famous sentence: „Everything is so blurry within us“, hereby uttered by old Glembay, unlike in Krleza's text, where it is Leone's line. This should refer to the fact that the depth of comprehension does not only belong to Leone, but also to the one who is considered to be a heartless tycoon.]

During a formal family gathering at the Glembays’ mansion, Leone, in his own – and later, also in his father's opinion – an ungifted painter, in this occasion merely a guest in his father’s home where he hasn’t come for eleven years –  is trying to pursue a meaningful conversation with Sister Angelika (his deceased brother’s widow). He realizes that she hides her shallowness behind the wise-sounding (but when uttered by her - rather empty) words of Silberbrandt, which she had learned by heart. He discovers that she is not nearly as stable and innocent as she appears to be.

[The scene seems like the medieval fresco The Annunciation, Angelika resembling Virgin Mary and Leone or Glembay – the Angel of Annunciation.]

 

I, 2  

[A Chekhovian pastime by the river.]

The uncomfortable atmosphere changes abruptly as Glembay starts the conversation with Angelika, talking gently and somewhat intimately to her about his ancestors painted on Leone's portraits. It is Glembay himself that states that the Glembays were known as murderers and cheaters, implying that he had broken that tradition. Despite Silberbrandt’s attempt to justify the Glembays’ false doing with the different state of affairs they used to live in, it seems legitimate to think that the Barboczy legend (according to which all the Glembays are damned) is not only a legend, since many of the ancestors and people who were connected with the Glembays in some way, died in sinister circumstances. Leone clearly demonstrates that the legend corresponds with the reality, by naming numerous deaths that occurred only recently.

[Little Oliver is catching fish, which becomes a symbol of the play. At the beginning of Act III, Leone explains that whenever dead fish come to his dream, something bad happens. Aren't the Glembays a mere bad dream of Leone...]

 

I, 3

Baroness Castelli-Glembay plays Bethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, apparently – to calm her fragile nerves so that she could be able to fall asleep. By the conversation that is going on meanwhile, we discover that despite the Court’s favorable verdict, she is still distressed by the fact that the old woman Rupert had died under the wheels of the Baroness’ carriage, leaving feeble and helpless her deceased son’s unwed wife – Fanika Canjeg – and her 7-month-old baby. Oliver and Puba are reading a loud one of the many newspaper articles that describe the event. The newspapers won’t cease to publish articles emphasizing the unjust verdict and the Baroness’ obvious guilt regarding the recent death of Fanika Canjeg, who jumped off the Glembay mansion's window with the baby in her hands, after all her pleads to be compensated by being granted a sewing machine had been rejected – or ignored – by the Baroness.

Silberbrandt blames the death of Fanika on Leone instead, stating that he heard him persuading Fanika to jump off a window. Leone soon clarifies that he told Fanika the truth, asking her to stop humiliating herself and telling her that it would be more rational to jump off a window than to hope for the Baroness’ mercy and compassion. Those who are still present at the gathering, get to understand that Leone had bought a sewing machine and sent it to Fanika’s address, but it arrived too late, i.e. after the accident had taken place.

 

I, 4

As Silberbrandt goes on with trying to prove that Leone is to be held responsible for the death of Fanika and that the Baroness is innocent. The Baroness is, in his claim, socially sensitive, therefore establishing charity organizations, caring for the poor.

[Director's intervention / alteration in respect of Krleza]>>> Silberbrandt is strongly convinced in his own moral and theological principles, so little by little, Leone – despite his unwillingness to admit it – becomes amazed by the man who had managed to banish all that was blurry inside himself.

 

I, 5

Leone and Silberbrandt continue their dispute over Baroness' generosity, but Leone's nerves cannot withstand. In order to do away with Silberbrandt's casuistry, he suddenly accuses him of being in an intimate relationship with the Baroness, just like many other men before him. As Leone is staying in a room next to Silberbrandt's, he cannot sleep because of their interaction. It is not clear whether these accusations towards Silberbrandt are true or they are only words uttered in anger; however, Glembay overhears the whole conversation, which he certainly was not supposed to hear.

 

ACT II

II, 1

[Leone's room with the toilet, shower and library.]

As soon as he finds out that his father has overheard the conversation, Leone feels compassion towards Silberbrandt, whose career and well-being are on a string. Silberbrandt, who had always seemed proud,shows a rather grovelling side of his character, begging Leone to withdraw his words and to explain that what he said about the intimate relationship with the Baroness is not true; however, Leone is confused and does not know how to respond to Silberbrandt's plea. He used to believe in the firmness of Silberbrandt's character.

 

II, 2

The old Glembay unexpectedly enters the room, bringing unbearable discomfort and needing to find out if what he overheard is true. Leone is packing his suitcases, intending to leave his father’s house and never return. The father confronts his son and begs him for an honest reply for the first time in his life. This confrontation brings all the buried, above all – conflicting emotions, to surface: both of them are flooded by the things they hid for years, their anger, hatred and despise, but also – inevitably – their pure love towards each other. Both of them expose the reasons for their behavior and show how badly they misunderstood each other. Leone is convinced that his beloved mother and his sister Alice had died in separate accidents – but both because of Baroness Castelli's conspicuous amorous behavior towards the old Glembay and Alice's Boyfriend. Alice jumped into the water and drowned, and mom killed herself. Glembay opposes: he proves to Leone that his mother had been psychically unbalanced and predestined to commit a suicide, but promiscuous as well. Glembay shows Leone his mother's love letters – letters from a certain Marchese Cesare di Balbi, which debunk the image of his mother. Leone is defeated by the facts which speak against his mother's purity and marital martyrdom. As ever before, the anger deposited through the years prevails this time as well. They are unable to part in peace, so they go on firing poisonous words at each other, almost mercilessly.

 

II, 3

Leone is lying in bed, intending to have some sleep before going away. As his father would not cease to torment him, Leone decides to reach the point of no return: he confesses that he, too, was enchanted by the Baroness many years ago, in the time when she was his father’s mistress, immediately after his mother’s death. They made love in the villa that Glembay bought her. This is the finishing blow for old Glembay, which he does not manage to survive: his already weak heart doesn’t endure. The Baroness, deterred by Oliver who does not show too much benevolence towards her, arrives too late.

 

ACT III

III, 1

The family is gathered to hold a vigil beside Ignjat Glembay. Oliver is rather indifferent towards his father’s death, as evident from his telephone conversation and from the improper questions he asks Silberbrandt, who is holding a speech by Glembay’s coffin. Leone is trying to paint Glembay's portraitin vain, as he fantasizes about dead fish. He is in a desperate mood, not only for his father’s death, but also for the realization of the false image of his mother he used to believe in through the years. Sister Angelika engages in the financial disaster of Glembay's legacy. His debts are enormous. The empire crashes. Angelika's phone call annoys Leone and divides him from the divine image of innosence that he had still been recognizing in her. The telephone is suddenly taken by little Oliver who instantaneously turns serious, and he goes to a meeting with the bank director to save the day.

 

III, 2

Baroness comes to Glembay's deathbed.

She decides to confront Leone, being touchingly honest and exposing the whole truth about her life, her poor background, her “sexual intelligence”, her marriage with Ignjat as a “finansial transaction” and the high price she had to pay for it, having her son Oliver who completely resembles his father. She goes on stating that she had never been dishonest to Leone and she does not deserve to be humiliated by him. She admits that only with Leone did she feel true emotional connection that largely surpassed mere physical attraction.

Leone is having hallucinations of the drowned Alice being carried by Charon across Leta River on his boat. „Haron's Boat“ had been among the most appreciated paintings of Leone.

[One of the major director's interventions: introducing phantasmagorical elements in a quite complicated drama of psychological realism] >>>The dead Glembay occasionally supports Baroness Castelli by speaking instead of her, especially when she becomes too emotional to be able to utter a word. Although he is dead, his spirit is very alive. From his deathbed, he confirms that he knew about Baroness' promiscuousness, which had been the foundation of their marital agreement. She traded her erotic gentleness towards Glembay for her emotional and sexual freedom.

From an unexpected telephone call that she receives from the bank, Baroness realizes that she had been robbed by her deceased husband. She lost everything that she had ever possessed. Baroness at first believes it to be some kind of mistake, so old Glembay angrily goes to check what it is all about. He soon returns with bad news, and Baroness goes to check what is happening with her finances herself.

Leone is with Sister Angelika, completely out of his mind and trying to get close to her. He becomes even more anxious: although he had been fighting against everything connected to the Glembays all his life, he is aware that he is one of the Glembays himself, and he cannot get away from that. Leone and Angelika's vague and distressed emotional relation is interrupted by Baroness.

                                                                                                                                 

[Opera starts]

The Baroness is in agony as she discovers the fraud, and she appears to be a living proof that the Barboczy legend is not only a legend – all the Glembays are murderers and cheaters. Baroness Castelli-Glembay has her final confrontation with Leone when she finds him talking in a rather intimate manner to Sister Angelika in his dead father’s room. Leone tries to chase her away from the house and asks her to at least shut up. He threatens her at first with a razor, then with scissors. However, Baroness knows that Leone does not have the nerve to kill her. He still loves her, although his love is hidden somewhere deep inside him. Leone puts down the scissors and lets Baroness kiss him. After the kiss, the Baroness exults.

[Director's intervention] >>> While in Krleza's text Leone famously kills the Baroness with scissors, in this play, an unexpected twist in the end happens, as Leone is killing his father again, instead of killing the Baroness. There is no need of the rather melodramatic killing of the Baroness; it is the capitalist tycoon that needs to be killed, since once was not enough, or since it was not for eternity.

The performance ends with the already established parole uttered by Ignjat Glembay at the very beginning: “Everything is so blurry within us”, and with the familiar sound of the sewing machine which did not reach the right address on time, now carried by the impoverished Baroness.

 

Even apart from the striking twist of the ending, this reading and interpretation of Messrs. Glembay is rather unconventional in many other aspects.

It opens certain possibilities of different relations between characters; Ignjat and Sister Angelika seem to be more closely connected to each other than given by Krleza, Leone is not as reserved towards his father, and it is even not certain whether Silberbrandt is innocent or not. The Baroness strongly stands for her erotism and carnality and she is far from any lasciviousness, so that one could honestly believe in her true feelings towards Ignjat and towards Leone. Moreover, the whole play includes fictional elements which are only hinted at in Krleza's text: the dead are walking among the living, headed by dead Glembay in Act III. The play is woven by the voice of the ghostly lady Anita (only a chambermaid in Krleza's text) – her vocal performance, at times divine, other times infernal – very precisely and subtly emphasizes each overtone of the dramatic action and atmosphere in general. Young Oliver – barely mentioned in Krleza's text, is an important character in this play, torn somewhere between Puba's jurisprudence and Leone's art, while Glembay’s cousin Fabriczy manages to convey all of his thoughts to the audience without uttering a single word throughout the play.

All of the characters are clearly crystalized and differ to a greater or lesser extent from those written by Krleža.

 

Lidija Mitoska-Gjorgjievska

 

REVIEWS

 

The result is an incredible condensing of symbols and actions in a space that dictates the movements of actors. It is a way to achieve a stylistic consistency of all the elements of this performance. On one hand, Krleža's text is reduced, and on the other it is supplemented with quotes by exceptional European authors, which goes to show that we are watching a postmodernist theatre piece that is powerful and effective. (..) The performance is filled with irony and sarcasm that seems to attack the viewer through the aesthetics of the scene. The small, chamber-like space is contaminated by the presence of criminals, murderers and frauds that wallow in their irrelevance. (...) "Glembays, another Legend" is a strange, original and effective performance about the demise of a family. The chamber-like universe of the stage attacks the viewers senses and makes us wonder about "that which is blurry" within ourselves.

 

Todor Kuzmanov

teatarskikritiki.wordpress.com, October 2019

 

"Glembays", directed by Branko Brezovec, brings us a reinterpretation of Krleža's text, new questions, and with that - new Glembays. Mislav Čavajda has no issues as an actor, and with each scene more of his acting potential is on display, while still keeping his dramatic and theatre worlds a secret.

 

Mira Muhoberac

Vijenac, July 2019

 

Brezovec once more offers a new and somewhat twisted interpretation of this still relevant Krleža's play, using his recognizable theatre poetics and aesthetics, and casting the young actor Domagoj Janković in the role of the Baroness Castelli, while giving the role of old Ignjat Glembaj to Zlatko Burić Kićo. What also helps to create this twisted world are visually impressive images and sets with multiple meanings designed by Ivana Knez, expressive acting interpretations and songs inspired by Brecht.

Brezovec, this time a bit muted and less chaotic, using irony and even grotesque, managed to remove the halo of holiness from Krleža's Glembays and succeeded in showing their absurdity and human viciousness.

 

Nina Ožegović

Tportal, July 2019