Premiere | Marijana Fumić: The Melancholy Women of Ragusa

PREMIERE

Festival Drama Ensemble

Marijana Fumić: THE MELANCHOLY WOMEN OF RAGUSA

Subtitled in English

Director: Dora Ruždjak Podolski

Dramaturges: Marijana Fumić, Stela Mišković

Set designer: Stefano Katunar

Costume designer: Manuela Paladin Šabanović

Stage movement advisor: Saša Božić

Composer: Maro Market

Lighting designer: Elvis Butković

Speech advisor: Maro Martinović

Stage manager: Roko Grbin

Marija Gučetić: Nataša Dangubić

Filipa Menčetić: Gloria Dubelj

Jelena Dorotka Hofmann: Nataša Kopeč

Jelena Pucić Sorkočević: Iva Kraljević

Maruša hodočasnica: Anica Kontić

Anica Bošković: Lana Meniga

Pavle Ćelović: Lidija Penić-Grgaš

Lucija Miladinović: Lucija Rukavina

Nika Našimoka: Nikolina Prkačin

All their man: Marin Klišmanić

Research papers used during the creation of the play's characters are:

• Benyovsky Latin, Irena, and Ivana Haničar Buljan. “Social Topography of medieval Dubrovnik: The Estates of the Mençe family in Dubrovnik during the 13th and Early 14th Centuries.” Povijesni prilozi, no. 59, 2020, pp. 263-318.
• Bersa, Josip. The Gleanings from Dubrovnik. Matica Hrvatska, 1941.
• Boscovich, Aniza. Rasgovor pastirski varhu porodjegna gospodinova jedne djevojcize Dubrovkigne, po Francesku Storti, u Mlezieh, 1758.
• Boršić, Luka. “The Woman Philosopher Maruša Gundulić.” Prilozi za istraživanje hrvatske filozofske baštine, vol. 46, no. 2 (92), 2020, pp. 287-308.
• Janeković Römer, Zdenka. The Lineage and the City. Family in Dubrovnik from 13th - 15th centuries, The Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Dubrovnik, 1994.
• Lonza, Nella. “Ego fui per omnia loca sancta: Maruša of Dubrovnik and Her Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1394.” Dubrovnik Annals, no. 23, 2019, pp. 37-63. Cofunded by the Croatian Science Foundation, project no. 5106, 2017.
• Mirković, Stjepan. Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski. Zagreb, 1861. Printed by Dragutin Albrecht.
• Stojan, Slavica. Daughters and Lovers: Women in Everyday Life in Dubrovnik (1600-1815). The Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Dubrovnik/Prometej, 2003 .
• Stojan, Slavica. Anica Bošković. The Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Art, 1999.
• Stojan, Slavica. “Jelena Pozza Sorgo, A Ragusan Noblewoman and the Book Of Poetry Piesni Razlike by Dinko Ragnina from 1536.” Dubrovnik Annals, no. 35, 1997, pp. 185-193.
• Vekarić, Nenad. “Genealogija jednog zločina.” Dubrovački horizonti, no. 37, 1997, pp. 11-13.
• Viđen, Ivan. “Jelena Dorotka Hoffman (1876-1965) – Rediscovering a forgotten female cubist painter.” Peristil, Scholarly Journal of Art History, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 285-294.
• Zagorac, Ivana. “Nikola Vitov Gučetić: on Beauty, Love and Women.” Filozofska istraživanja, vol. 27, no. 3, 2007, pp. 613-627.

The following authors are quoted in the play: Miroslav Krleža, Goran Čolakhodžić, Tomislav Marijan Bilosnić, Josip Bersa and Nataša Kopeč.

We sincerely thank Ana Marinković, PhD, Stanislava Slavica Stojan, PhD, Francesca Maria Gabrielli, PhD, Zdenka Janeković-Römer, PhD, Lovro Kunčević, PhD, Ivan Viđen, PhD, and Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb for their help in the realization of the play.

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From the vastness of destinies which existed through the centuries-long history of Dubrovnik, we chose nine women and one man to not only evoke the bygone days of the glorious Republic of Ragusa, but also to remind us, Here and Now–Today how inextricably we are linked to our primeval existence and that some things, at least as far as women are concerned, some to our regret, some to our luck, have remained unchanged. Each of these women, in their own time and within their means, made a small, maybe insignificant crack in the world which is, as life certainly has taught as, undeniably – Male. It is a particular feature of Dubrovnik’s past, which has, in its great desire to protect its women, systemically played against them. Some of our heroines were aware of it, some not; some rebelled and resisted, while others, on the other hand, silently suffered; some opposed their designated roles and rank, while others resigned themselves to it all. But each of them did something for which history has noted – remembered them. Something that even today is worth being spoken about and asking ourselves about: has our, human civilisation moved past that Sixth day when God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them, at least for one, single Dubrovnik lakat (ell)…?

Marijana Fumić

Photo (c) Marko Ercegović