Music as a Mediator of Identity Transformation of Dramatic Characters in the Directorial Works of Miroslav Belović

Abstract

This comparative study examines the scores for two theatrical productions of the play Mister Dolar, the first of which premiered at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in 1973, and the restaged production at the Belgrade Drama Theatre (1997). The two productions are rare examples of an almost identical restaging with minor changes (different casts, theatres, and musical authors), which aimed to re-examine the themes of greed and hypocrisy in this play by Branislav Nušić (1864–1938) within a new social context. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to understand the peculiar position of the musical collaborator in the process of staging the play, and secondly, to examine how music helps communicate the identity transformation of one of the characters, the waiter Žan/Jovan Todorović. To achieve this, the author applies the reconstructive-analytical method to the available documentation on the aforementioned productions.