Wednesday, May 3 2023, 7:30 pm
Croatian House of Culture in Sušak
Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
Elena FERRANTE: My brilliant friend
Director: Marina Pejnović
Cast:
Iva Mihalić, Ivan Jončić, Mirta Zečević, Jadranka Đokić, Alen Šalinović, Vanja Matujec, Ivan Colarić, Milan Plestina, Ana Begić, Filip Vidović, Luca Anić, Franjo Kuhar, Daria Lorenci Flatz, Luka Dragić, Iva Jerković, Tin Rožman, Zijad Gračić, Barbara Vicković, Dušan Bućan, Mislav Čavajda, Marin Klišmanić, Jelena Otašević Babić, Goran Grgić, Olga Pakalović, Marin Stević, Ivana Boban, Silvio Vovk, Tesa Litvan, Ksenija Marinković
Text adaptation: Nina Pavlović and Filip Jurjević
Playwright: Nina Pavlović
Set and costume designer: Zdravka Ivandija Kirigin
Composer: Josip Maršić
Light designer: Elvis Butković
Video designer: Ivan Lušičić Liik
Stage movement: Pravdan Devlahović
The novel by the contemporary Italian writer Elena Ferrante, which already won over readers and critics with its first edition, tells the story of two friends, Elena and Lili, growing up in a poor Neapolitan neighbourhood in the 1950s. We follow the fates and coming of age of two girls, their complex but extraordinary friendship, integrated into a rich picture of society interspersed with conflicts, love and rivalry. They grow up and become adults in post-war Naples, an environment burdened by poverty, uneducated and torn between the exhausting manual labour and the profound impact of the mafia scene. Petty crooks, patriarchal families, murky jobs and arranged marriages lace this story of a past world that has deeply influenced the present. The novel is a lavish fresco depicting a society over several decades and Elena Ferrante’s writing is stylistically and emotionally one of the pinnacles of world literature.
Premiere: December 30, 2021
Running time: 2 hours and 40 minutes with intermission
Photo: Mara Bratoš