July 2nd SUNDAY, 7:30 pm
Theatre Carte Blanche

IVAN TOMIĆ, PRODUCT
 
Gamba and Cultural Centre of Pančevo

PRODUCT

Playwright: Mark Ravenhill
Translator: Đorđe Krivokapić
Set and costume design: Katarina Grčić Nikolić
Producer: Milorad Miki Jovanović
Photographer: Sanja Veljković
Participant: Milena Predić
Director and performer: IVAN TOMIĆ
RAVENHILL’S PRODUCT
In Ravenhill’s drama “Product“, the producer James tries to convince Olivia the actress to accept a role in his new movie. During their one hour encounter (the duration of the play) he gives her a rundown of the plot: a love affair between an Englishwoman, Amy, an employee at the marketing department of a big telecommunications company and Mohammed, a member of the Al-Qaeda, who was sent to London to organize a terrorist attack.
Ravenhill satirizes awful-Hollywood scripts in this piece. He reveals the superficiality in their portrayal of important topics, such as today’s war conflicts and modern relationships. He mocks the triviality of the plot and the stereotype dialogues by successfully mimicking them.
It should be noted that in this play one of the two characters on stage, the actress Olivia, doesn’t even have a single line of dialogue!
Mark Ravenhills’s “Product“ is one of those plays which are easy to adapt and perform on any stage of the world, even ours. This play mimics the time we live in perfectly, the events he describes, his point of view and the unusual structure of the play are what sets this innovative piece apart.
Ivan Tomić

MARK RAVENHILL
British artist born in 1966 in Haywards Heath (West Sussex). He studied English and Drama at Bristol University. He thought about becoming an actor but soon turned to directing student plays. His first job was at Soho Poly, the new theatre for writers, as an administrative assistant, then as a freelance director. He taught dramaturgy and worked at Finborough Theatre. On Christmas of 1994 he directed the play Hansel and Gretel. Afterwards he returned to London, and co-wrote a series of short erotic stories with  Louise Mulvey. He met director Max Stafford who asked him for a full-length play. He completed the first draft in the spring of 1995 under the name ’Fucking Diana’, later named ’Shopping and Fucking’ (1996). He had his acting debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2005 with the play ’Product’. He wrote five more full-length plays: Faust is Dead (1997), Sleeping Around (1998), Handbag (1998), Same Explicit Polaroids (1999), Mother Clap’s Molly House (2001).
This play had its premiere at the Cultural Centre of Pančevo on 22nd March 2017, and on 7th April 2017 it had its Belgrade premiere at Bitef Theatre.
It was the first time ’Product’ was performed in Serbia and this part of the Balkans.