HUNTING THE TEPIŠAR BEAR
- Anthropological melodrama -
TOPIC: common life and the shadow economy
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 1 male and 1 female
NUMBER OF SCENES: 5
PLACE: the wild frontier (after a total war)
TIME: the future
SUMMARY:
The mythical country of the Balkans. Hunting of the Tepišar Bear (which serves as a personal heater!) is in process. Two members of the heroic tribes that are forever at war charge at each other. They insult each other in the ritual manner, almost exterminate each other on several occasions,
but eventually they arrive at minimum common grounds - how to catch the bear before the United do (they are absolutely negative characters). And this is, one may say, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship...". A happy end?
The play was first produced at the ITD Theatre in Zagreb in 1990, and it won the Marul Days Festival Award in 1991 .
THE SAD TROPICS
- Chronicle of a European in the colonies -
TOPIC: events at the Sad Tropics Inn
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: S male and 3 female
NUMBER OF SCENES: 15 changes of location
PLACE: a Caribbean island
TIME: World War I or II
SUMMARY:
Amadeus is a European who is looking for his adventuress mother. In the "colonies", he deals with the European elite, local freedom-fighters a pater inn-keeper and a Fatima. He does not find his Mamma. The revolution starts and everything falls apart. Everybody goes their different
ways. Only the pater and the Sad Tropics Inn still linger.
DRY LEPROSY
- A Play of Horrors -
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 3 female, 8 male
NUMBER OF ACTS: 4 scenes
PLACE: A Mangy Pastoral Setting, a Town
TIME: Some time of heritage
WRITTEN IN: 1985
SUMMARY:
Samuilo [Samuel] a foundling inspired by the Devil, sells the mangy village sheep in town. A disease called Frenzy (Dry Leprosy) spreads. Samuilo is sentenced to death, reprieved, and sent to a monastery to be educated. Then he falls unhappily in love. At a crucial moment he recognised the trader who was responsible for the disease in the town - the uncle of his undestined love, the brother of the town's chief policeman.
A bloody finale in the presence of the Devil. Samuilo will set sail in the trader's ship to become a pirate, and the copper will be able to hound him as a great criminal.
AUTHOR's NOTE: This text is written in a specific archaic language spoken in the town of Prawn Burrow and in Magpie Village (on the coast of the Sea of Scowls).
The play had its first showing in 1988 as a concert performance at the &TD [Etc.] Theatre in Zagreb, and was broadcast in 1989 on Croatian Radio.
ONCE, WHEN THE BRIDE WAS EVIL
- A Fairy-Tale -
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 3 female, 5 male
NUMBER OF ACTS: 12 scenes
PLACE: Fairy-Tale Land
TIME:-As in all fairy-tales
WRITTEN IN: 1991
SUMMARY:
Once upon a time there were two sisters completely identical, but one was good and the other was not. The Good Sister was to be married to the young Leader ofthe Country and the other had to slave away in a well, because she had performed forbidden acts of Magic. However a powerhungry
General appeared togetherwith his servant Servus, and the Evil Sister made a bet with the Good Sister... Finally, under the power of Magic which was forbidden the General turned out to be mad, and the people cheered for the Bride to be their new Leader. And there was nothing happy about that ending.
INTRODUCTION TO OVČARE
- Amorality (a Black Comedy) -
THEME: An optimal projection into the future
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 7 or more
NUMBER OF ACTS: some 20 scenes
SETTING: Out in the terrain
TIME: Post- ... (after the endless pranks of the Balkan tribes)
WRITTEN IN: 1994
SUMMARY:
A journey. A group of shepherds is driving a herd of mutated sheep (with
webbed-feet) towards the sea where an exchange is to take place. On the way,
they make a chance but lucrative catch (Salamander, a member of the armed force)
who can be handed over for big money. They pass through many control points of
diverse colours and forms. They reach the sea, but... (what should they do with
their catch whom nobody wants, not even the Court in The Hague?!) The question
is: should they try him themselves, or...
The play has been translated into English.
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY - THE DAY OF LOVERS
- A Small Urban Play -
THEME: Werewolfing as a socio-political phenomenon
NUMBER OF CHARACTERS: 4 (2 male, 2 female)
NUMBER OF ACTS: 5
SETTING: A house and the land around it
TIME: Post- ... (after the endless pranks of the Balkan tribes)
WRITTEN IN: 1995
SUMMARY:
Sunce (Sunny) and Tim are a happy young couple in the imperfect post-war world.
The only thing is that Tim suffers from an embarrassing although widespread
ailment. He, namely, is a werewolf. One day Sunny and Tim call the Exorcist and
he comes to see them. After that, nothing will ever be the same again.
The play was published in the Gong Author's Group book of plays The Ocean in a
Hat - Rast Editions, 1996.
BIOGRAPHY:
Milica Lukšić was born in Zagreb in 1964. She engages in dramaturgy,
literature and linguistics. Her play The Hunt for the Tepišar Bear performed in
1990 at the &TD Theatre in Zagreb, and from 1989 to 1995 on Croatian Radio.
Ms Lukšić has had some twenty titles published, featuring as both author and
co-author (the Gong Author Group), dramatisations/translations of prose and a
novel for young readers A Cruel Story (published by Znanje in 1995).
ADDRESS:
Milica Lukšić, Vincenta od Kastva 2, 10000 Zagreb