Slavic Orpheus is a theatrical play by Serbian playwright Zoran Stefanović, in which the ancient Balkan-Thracian myth is interpreted in the language of geopolitics, Slavic rituals and science fiction. The theatrical premiere was performed in North Macedonia by the "Anton Panov" National Theater in Strumica and the radio performance in Serbia by the Radio Belgrade Drama Program. The play "Slavic Orpheus" directed by Goran Trenchovski is one of the founding plays of post-Yugoslav dramaturgy and theater in Macedonia and Serbia. Drama has been favorably received by both domestic and foreign critics, has entered in foreign encyclopedias and the history of drama and theater. It has been published in print and electronic form several times, and a television adaptation of the Strumica performance by the state Macedonian Television has been broadcast more than twenty times via satellite in the 20th and 21st century. Translations: Macedonian by Goran Trenchovski, English by Dragana Rajkov, Ukrainian and Russian by Ludmila Markyevich. An adaptation into the comic book series by Zoran Tucić and Vujadin Radovanović has been exhibited at several comics exhibitions in Serbia.
Characters
Orpheus, but also is "Apollo" and Leader–Evilboder;
2010: Italian encyclopedia "De Agostini" lists Stefanovic among the four most significant Serbian playwrights in the post-Yugoslav period, because of Slavic Orpheus.
2012: Theatrological books edition "Slavic Orpheus" began in Macedonia, which has published the books of Boro Drašković, Saško Nasev, Goran Trenchovski and Zoran Stefanović so far.
Critical reception
Successful symbiosis of ancient myth and modern mass media experience. — Gojko Božović, Pobjeda daily, Podgorica 1992.
What distinguishes Stefanović as an autochthonous author, which is a pledge of his authenticity, is his austerity, bitterness, combativeness, direct provocation. The credit for this is not borne out by his age, but rather by the legacy of the forcefulness of the barbarogenie, the precipitate of a true artistic rebellion characteristic of this part of the Balkans. This combination of a Central European thinking of the world and a violent, Micić would say 'savage', spirit and momentum, now dark, now cheeky, is the peculiarity of the writer Stefanović. — Dubravka Knežević, afterword for Slavic Orpheus and other plays, Belgrade, 1995.
The writer brings, for the local theatrical routine, an atypical sensibility inclined to experiment, fantasy and grotesq, which captivates with layering and multiple meaning levels. — Ilija Bakić, Vreme magazine, Belgrade, 1995.
Obviously there is a layered intellectual discourse, an original theatrical aesthetics, as well as a reference to a tradition that has been the most demanding in the history of theater. — Petar Grujičić, review of the book Slavic Orpheus and other plays, 1995.
Zoran Stefanovic's poetics quite disparate in our literary space. He does not paint, he designs. He does not take too much out of reality, and even what he borrows from it serves him as a material for the search for the essence of people and phenomena. — Vladimir Stamenković, review of the manuscript of the book Slavic Orpheus and other plays, 1995.Vladimir Stamenković, recenzija rukopisa knjige Slovenski Orfej i druge drame, 1995).
Stefanovic skillfully uses picturesque metaphors, but also explicit irony, to bring the reader straight to the hidden essence of his plays. He creates a multifaceted and dense manuscript that, quite sovereignly, survives beyond the theater scene. The paradox of its kind is only the fact that, despite their undoubted possibilities, Stefanović's dramas are, to this day, more properly "read" abroad than in Serbia. — Dušan Vidaković, Valjevac magazine, Valjevo, 1995.
What strikes us first is the great linguistic mastery Stefanovic writes in a juicy, playful Serbian language, to which a combination of ancient vocabulary and syntax, and modern expressions, give a special charm. Perhaps the greatest value of Stefanović's plays lies in the great ease with which their actions at various levels unfold: they simply glide over and pull us irresistibly with them. — Ivan Vuković, Pogledi magazine, Kragujevac, 1995.
It is not difficult to find parallels with today's situation in the Balkans and in the world in general And everything is given in a humorous and very interesting projection. — Ranko Burić, Politika daily, Belgrade, 2002.
