The play “Đuka” by the National Theater “Toša Jovanović” Zrenjanin will be performed on the stage of the Park Hall on Tuesday, April 21, starting at 8 p.m., as part of the program of the 31st HAPS.

Writer: Milica Konstantinović
Direction and choice of music: Ana Tomović

Playwright: Vuk Ršumović
Stage speech: Dijana Marojević
Costume designer: Momirka Bailović
Assistant costume designer: Vojin Krajnović
Scenography: Zorana Petrov
Choreography: Andreja Kulesević
Sound design: Pavle Dinulović

Starring: Đuka Mandić, Nikola Tesla’s mother – Gordana Đurđević Dimić (Dobrica’s Ring for 2025)
Anica Petrović, Sara Simović, Staša Milovanović, Sanja Radišić, Nataša Luković, Jelena Lončar, Stefan Juanin, Mirko Pantelić, Dejan Karlečik, Ivan Đorđević and the drama studio NP “Toša Jovanović” Zrenjanin

Milica Konstantinović’s piece “Đuka” is the laureate of the 43rd “Branislav Nušić” competition for original dramatic text of the Association of Playwrights of Serbia. The decision about this award states: “the idea of the text (is) that even the greatest processes of humanity depend on whether a useless human being has meaning, compassion and love for at least one other human being, and with its ultimate lesson and message it represents one of the most moving dramas in the history of almost half a century of the competition ‘Branislav Nušić’, (and) stands out for its dignified wisdom in contemporary Serbian dramaturgy.

Director Ana Tomović on the play: I really liked the play at the first reading, because Milica managed to tell the story of the great scientist Nikola Tesla in a new way, through his family and, above all, through his mother Đuka… What is classic or traditional in it is that it takes place in space and costumes, in the consciousness of people from the end of the 19th century in Lika. But, on the other hand, the piece is also modern due to the “address” of Đuka, who comes as a woman from the future. Namely, she is the narrator in this story, she guides us through the events that happened, and therefore has a higher consciousness, a deviation in relation to the situation in the piece. In this sense, this play is about the clash of tradition and modernity…

In a short time, becoming one of the most awarded plays from last season, “Đuka” shines a light on the life of Nikola Tesla’s mother and represents a significant contribution to the nurturing of the domestic text and the affirmation of historical figures whose importance goes beyond the local framework. The play permeates the themes of the strength of mothers and women, faith in the future of humanity, support for genius in moments when no one else believed, as well as the position of women in a patriarchal society. Đuka, as a paradigm of silent heroines, was “imprisoned in drawers” for years, only to finally see the light that belongs to her and all women whose faith shaped the world on stage.

We are glad that HAPS can present the Zrenjanin theater to the audience with a work like this!

You can buy tickets at the price of 10 euros at the ticket office of the Park Hall, as well as online: hercegfestulaznice.me