The End of the Guessing Game

Rumour had it that Aleksandar Bercek had been given "instructions form the top" to resign, and that the strike of the theater's employees only speeded up the process. That's when the Minister of Culture Nada Popovic-Perisic stepped in and Bercek resigned. That's when the public was given the arduous task of guessing who will be the new director. The interesting thing that Nebojsa Bradic was hardly even mentioned as a candidate for the post. Probably because he had just joined Atelje 212, so people probably thought he would stay there for a while. On the other hand, he had everything else going for him. Everything apart from one thing - his age. People here believe that a forty-year-old (Bradic was born in 1956) is still too young of a person. Bradic has directed over 50 plays in the former and present Yugoslavia, he won a number of prestigious awards, he was the director of the Krusevac theater for a while.

The assessment that Bradic has no experience in managing an institution like the National Theater is absurd, all the more so because this theater is one of a kind in Yugoslavia for its organizational structure, financial construction and significance.

"I was surprised myself to hear that I was appointed the new National Theater director as the consultations on the matter have not yet ended," Bradic told Vreme. "Managing such an institution requires an entire team, and I hope I will be able to finish what I started in Atelje 212 in the coming period and put together a team for the National Theater job. I expect the Ministry of Culture to approve my requests and I am sure the audience will offer full support too," Bradic said.