Svijet lutaka nahvao

Abstract

The title The World of the ‘Nahvao’ Puppets (dishonest, emphasises three terms essential for Bourek’s oeuvre, in particular in the context of per formances he created as sole author. In these performances, each in particular and all in general, he formed a world of his own, regardless of the general rules of dramaturgy or di -recting. Neither was his starting point the text nor did he search for the most suitable man ner for transferring the author’s ideas; he was rather in search of the text that would best suit his puppets. The puppets even defined his directing moves. Everything he did was for the sake of the puppets, to make them as strong in expression as possible. He indeed created a world of his own, however not by using either the text or director’s moves, but rather by using colour and shapes – his puppets of strong and recognisable visual charac -ter. He tenderly addressed them as freaks or ‘grdači’ (the ugly ones). Same as Držić’s people ‘nazbilj’ (good, honest) and people ‘nahvao’ (dishonest, only pretending to be good) exist only in the Prologue to the comedy Dundo Maroje , spoken by the Necromancer Dugi Nos (The Long Nose), Bourek’s ‘grdači’ exist only in Bourek’s world. Držić’s people ‘nahvao’ are freaks, ugly both in appearance and character. Bourek’s ‘grdači’ are always ugly, but they are mean only when their character has been designed thus in the play. Nonetheless, even so, they are not unpleasant. Bourek’s joy of creation, and his sympathy and love for his theatre of freaks , moved to the audience. Bourek indeed succeeded in creating not only a world of his own, but also admirers of that world.