The First Russian Performance in Belgrade: Rukovet - A Walk Through the City

IIlya Seleckiy: "Rukoveti" is a special work by Mokranjac. I love the surprised and amazed looks of passersby. The next performance will take place in a winery

Ilya Seleckiy: The power of this performance lies in its emotions PHOTO: S. Jovovic

Belgrade recently welcomed a completely new artistic form: the site-specific audio performance titled Rukovet, created by the team from the theater I Want to Hear That and the Russian production company Emotions Dealer. This is a theater format in which a part of the city becomes the stage, and its sounds and atmosphere become equal elements of the performance. There are no actors in the traditional theatrical sense, and the audience does not sit in a conventional theater hall - they move through the streets, experience the story through headphones, and become part of the city, which comes alive and reveals itself to them in the present moment. The performance’s name is inspired by the rhythm and idea of the eponymous work by Stevan Mokranjac. The concept creator and director is Russian artist Ilya Seleckiy. The general producer of the performance is Pavel Makeev - the founder of the theater I Want to Hear That and owner of the production company Emotions Dealer. Serafima Orlova is the dramaturg, actor Luka Grbic is the narrator, Marija Takic is the executive producer and PR, Boris Mijatovic is the sound engineer, and Sara Krstic translated the text from Russian into Serbian. After one evening performance in Belgrade, we spoke with Ilya Seleckiy and Marija Takic.

Ilya is one of the Russian emigrants who, over the past few years, have found a home in Serbia, in Belgrade, building a new life and career. This is already his fourth year in Belgrade. He studies Serbian, though he admits his knowledge is still limited, but he finds comfort in the fact that people understand him even when he speaks Russian.

-So today I went to the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund to take care of something. I spoke only in Russian, didn’t know the procedure, but they helped me with everything. Everything gets resolved quickly, and that’s really good.

Before coming to Belgrade, Ilya had lived his entire life in Saint Petersburg and, as he says, had never spent long periods away from home. He comes from a very artistic family - his father is a sculptor, his mother an architect.

I am also an artistic soul; I used to paint. I completed my education in Saint Petersburg. I started getting interested in theater, working on performances, making videos, writing music - I did a lot of things. After all that, I came to Belgrade.

How did the decision to move to Belgrade come about?

- A close friend of mine is from Belgrade; she studied and graduated from the theater institute in Saint Petersburg and worked as a director in a contemporary theater there. We worked together on a project, and when I met her, I was amazed by her as a person and as someone from Serbia. When the war started, she told me she wanted to return to Belgrade. So I went with her. By that time, mobilization had already started in Russia, and there were no plane tickets. Suddenly, a ticket to Belgrade cost a million rubles, which was more than 10,000 euros. So we bought tickets to Istanbul, then to Sarajevo, and finally took two buses to Belgrade. I had only one suitcase, completely damaged, guitar disassembled… I arrived in Belgrade in that condition.

What was your first encounter with Belgrade like?

-My first encounter with Belgrade was the western gate, the Genex building, because that’s where I arrived first. It was an encounter with concrete and brutalism. That was the first thing I saw.

Do you like anything in Belgrade now?

-Belgrade is a very lively city, developing rapidly. When I first arrived, I mostly walked around the Genex area. I was used to doing the same in Saint Petersburg, walking around my neighborhood. It’s very interesting how the old part of the city combines different historical influences - Roman, Turkish etc. Now I live in Voždovac, in the Šumice neighborhood. I love that area; I walk, run there, and I really like it.”

How did the idea for the performance Rukovet come about?

-As a director, I have worked with non-traditional formats and wanted to create something new here. I first explored the city, and at one point I was walking around Slavija and near old buildings behind the bank. I explored that area from Slavija to the Hilton Hotel, photographing and observing. I liked the location; it had many stories, its own history, restaurants - it was unusual, yet such a small part of the city. I had already started working on that route for the performance and developing the idea. I created the story, recorded my voice, and uploaded it to Spotify. After that, I presented it at a festival - I don’t remember the name - but it was well organized. Then that part near Slavija was demolished, and a large concrete and glass building began to be built. I realized I had nothing more to do there.

I found a new location near the fountain in front of the Moscow Hotel and began designing a new route, ending at the Čumić District in the original version of the story. There was no part with the walk to Republic Square yet. Then I called Pavel Makeev, showed him everything, and explained the idea, which at that point existed in many versions. Pavel liked it, but the problem was that it was more like a meditation at that moment, not yet fully theatrical. Then we found the dramaturg Serafima Orlova, who is a skilled writer. We gave her the task to write and organize the story according to my vision. She had previously worked on some tourist tours and had a story about the Temple of Heka, which she incorporated into the text so it would be informative. Everything in the text is factual and centered on the idea of togetherness.

The audience in the performance Rukovet attracts the attention of passersby PHOTO: S. Jovovic

Why did you name the performance Rukovet?

-Because we wanted to connect it with Serbian history as well as the current Serbian vibe. Rukoveti is a well-known work in Serbian culture, a special piece - a part of Serbian heritage and the sense of togetherness that people here share. Mokranjac is an important artist who collected musical impressions from all over Serbia. The word rukovet itself means something that connects, a bouquet, a small gathering - and this performance was created in exactly that way - as a collection of sounds, feelings, memories, gestures, and movements. That is where its strength lies.

In the audience, you gather people who don’t know each other, yet at some point they hold hands?

-That is a theatrical method - immersive theater. We work through its language with different social groups, revealing aspects of ourselves that we usually don’t confront. It’s very important that this kind of theater arises from a need, and you begin to engage with it, like going to the cinema or anything else.

Does the audience participate in the performance in some way?

-The audience understands, the audience feels it. The audience accepts everything suggested through the voice in the headphones. So far, there have been around 15 performances in Serbian and many more in Russian.

Audience reactions?

-Reactions are very diverse. There have been many positive comments. People mostly said: “This is something new.“ I’ve never heard anything particularly negative. For some, it’s unusual to engage too much with other people. In this performance, the audience experiences new things, sees new people, crosses some personal boundaries or limits. Most people are genuinely positive, but of course, there are also those for whom this format doesn’t suit, and that’s completely fine. I don’t think anyone leaves the performance indifferent.

What’s the difference between audience reactions in Russian and in Serbian?

-The Russian audience is usually a group of people who work in the IT industry. They are very specific, unique, and they tend to have less contact with other people; it feels strange to hold someone’s hand - that kind of closeness is less common in Russian culture. The Serbian audience is more open. For example, in one scene, when I say, “Come closer“, Russians approach but keep a certain distance, whereas Serbs come right up to my face, very close, as if we were standing on a crowded bus. They smile more. In the Russian version of the performance, there’s no rakija drinking, no kolo dance, and no scene where it feels like a movie is being filmed. So, those elements were adapted and changed. There is also no scene in the underground passage where you step forward or back according to the questions. I must emphasize that the voice in the headphones is extremely important in this performance. When we were looking for the voice, we wanted it to be young and fresh-sounding - and we succeeded. The voice of actor Luka Grbic met those expectations. Since he knows Russian, we first let him hear the text in Russian. He understood and felt it very well, and then he read it in Serbian. That was very important to us.

Reactions from bystanders and passersby near the performance?

-This is my favorite question. Some people don’t understand at all – “What is happening?“ My favorite moment is when I see in their reactions and eyes the question: “What is this? What a wonder! All these people with huge headphones glowing green.“ I love the scene when we cross a pedestrian crossing and hold hands - it’s really beautiful, and when we move step by step with each other - that is my favorite. Once, when we were crossing the pedestrian crossing near the Square, a DJ was performing there, and we must have looked like quite strange people to them…

Ilija Seleckij najavljuje premijeru nove predstave inspirisanu bajkama Vuka Karadžića

What are your plans for the future of this performance?

-The performance will continue to be staged and has a long life ahead. We also have a serious idea of appearing at festivals, trying to reach a broader theatrical scene. We believe that participating in festivals would help us position ourselves and reach a broader audience. When I tell people: “I have a performance“, they ask: “Where? Which theater?“ Then it becomes challenging to explain that there is no hall, no comfortable seats, no actors. We were invited by the organizers in Negotin, where the Mokranjac Days festival is held, with the idea of creating a version of the performance for their festival. This is very important to us. This format is highly mobile.

Will there be another performance?

-Another performance is already prepared, currently in Russian, and it will also be in English. It will be a performance with dinner and wine, where the audience listens to the fairy tales of Vuk Karadžić. The text was written by a sommelier.

After these performances, do you plan to make a film?

-Not at the moment.

What advice would you give to young people who want to work in theater?

-That’s a difficult question. I think they should be aware that the audience needs to understand what the work is about, and they should know for whom they are doing it. Be bold.

And in terms of life - will you stay in Belgrade or return to Saint Petersburg?

-Since 2022, I only plan for a month at a time. I don’t know what will happen. My parents are there. I am here with my wife. She is an interior designer and an architect. For now, she is not considering living in Saint Petersburg.

What happened with your work in Saint Petersburg since you left?

-It’s not as if I stopped working. I write music, and recently the premiere of the dance performance “Passions“, for which I did the sound, took place. It is staged on the new stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. And in Belgrade, I have another job - I run an immersive theater laboratory for Russians, where we explore Belgrade as a home, talk about it, and generally reflect on this theme. 

Marija Takić: Rukovet promotes the idea of togetherness

Marija Takić: Friendships sometimes form among the audience PHOTO: S. Jovovic

Executive producer and PR of the play Rukovet, Marija Takić, decided to join the team after watching the Russian-language version.

-I was thrilled with that performance and told them: ‘Please, we have to do this in Serbian.’ I didn’t know how realistic that would be, but they embraced the idea. We started discussing it, going over parts of the text-some things that made sense for Russians wouldn’t make sense for a Serbian audience. Their experience is one of emigration, of being guests, whereas for us it has to feel like this is our home, which it is. I then guided them through information important for certain parts of the text and the play, to give it more depth, context about what had happened before, what events preceded it. That’s how I became involved in the project.

I was especially happy because I realized that the Russians who came here to live see Belgrade and Serbia differently, through other eyes than ours. They notice the warmth that Serbs have among themselves, the sense of community, which remains a strong value in our society. They made this play for that reason. And I am grateful to the Russians because through this play they teach us how to nurture our own sense of togetherness.

I am currently working on my master’s thesis on the topic: Can theatre help us overcome loneliness as a society? I am studying this play-whether people who come alone can leave with someone. In reality, we see situations where people who don’t know each other at first end up going for coffee together afterwards. During one performance, an older lady sitting across from me came up and said: ‘We have to hug.’

How do you communicate with the audience?

-We have small flyers with a QR code that, when scanned, takes you to our Instagram page where it explains that this is a theatrical play and anyone can read about what we do. When I notice someone observing from the side, I approach and greet them. Some are initially startled, but when I give them a flyer and explain that it’s a theatrical performance, the reaction completely changes: ‘Oh, wow, thank you…’

Who is the audience for this play?

-I think this is a play for everyone, although I know it’s a bold statement in today’s world. We really designed it that way. Of course, when you say this is a site-specific immersive theatre, the audience tends to be more educated first and foremost. The content of the play is very simple-the language is written in a very straightforward style, so anyone can understand it. Even people who have never been to standard theatre, and who might be intimidated at first, will find it accessible. The only exception might be younger audiences under 18, because they are not yet preoccupied with themes like loneliness, although sometimes parents bring younger children along.

Do you feel ignored by traditional media?

-I have written to everyone, but there hasn’t been much interest. Mostly, we are followed and covered by smaller portals and influencers.