Life in Tight Shoes

24-5-11

Hotel Royal, Belgrade

This morning we decided to look at Museums around Belgrade…well, two in particular.  We wanted to see the Fresco Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum.   The Fresco Museum was just a block over from Hotel Royal towards Kalemegdan where as the Contemporary Art Museum was near the Sava River, but in New Belgrade.  We walked to the Fresco Museum and looked around for a little while.  There were no replicas or original frescos there, only photographs of the originals.  It was really cool to see the differences in how the Serbian Orthodox Church depicts its Saints versus how the Catholic Church does. 

However, was there were replicas of were monasteries and large stone archways.   The archways guarded most of the entryways between rooms.  They were large and imposing and very detailed.  I’ll post some pictures of them up here as soon as I have an internet connection that will handle them.  The models of monasteries were extremely detailed, even down to the lawn they were on.  There were no inside views – just exteriors.

After we finished with the Fresco Museum, we decided to head towards the Contemporary Art Museum – supposedly a much large museum than we had seen so far.  We decided to walk across the bridge, rather than walk to the bus station and get on it the hot and muggy weather…it was about the same amount of walking either way.  However, as soon as we get to the museum, we realize that Dennis had been correct and Jonathan misinformed – the museum was indeed closed.  However, since we were already by the river we decided to eat at a nearby restaurant. 

We checked a couple of the boats, but nothing was promising and they only served fish soup…One of the waiters recommended a nearby restaurant that had a view of the river and was only about fifty yards away from the shore.   We went there and the food was delicious.  I ordered only desert because I was planning to eat somewhere cheaper.  What I ordered ended up being a boiled and skinned apple, stuffed with cinnamon glazed nuts and a dollop of whipped cream on top.  Delicious. 

Lucas on the other hand ordered pljeskavice (burger patty) with kaimak (butter cream).  When it arrived, his eyes went wide in surprise.  He actually received what he ordered.  To the letter.  He got a 200-250 gram meat patty absolutely drenched in melted butter cream. No bread, no fries, no salad – just meat and butter cream.  He would later claim he could have finished it had there been some sort of carbs…I’m not sure.  He did make a valiant effort though and only gave away a small portion of the meal to people wanting a taste.

After lunch we walked back to the Hotel where I planned to spend the afternoon writing journals.  Only to fall asleep soon after sitting down.  I wake up in time, with some help, to get ready for our trip to Zvezdara Theatre, Theatre of the Stars, that evening.  Zvezdara is owned by Dušan and we were going to see his newest piece, Life in Tight Shoes.   We sat down with Dušan before the performance, with his daughter translating (who incidentally is a pretty famous pop star in Serbia…), to talk through the play before we saw it.  Tight Shoes takes place in an old shoe factory.  Five workers are on strike (and have been for two years) and they have decided to begin hunger striking.  It is important to note that the head of security has rigged the factory with explosives and continually threatens to blow the factory up throughout the entire show.  After some time, a reporter comes in and offers them a chance to be on a game show if they agree to end the strike.  There is a catch though – they must see the hunger strike through and the last person alive is the winner of a big house, nice car, and a bunch of money.  After some argument, they agree on going ahead with the show. 

Act two begins and the set has transformed from a ratty squatters residence to a game show floor.  Flashing blue lights all over the stage, a camera man (offstage, though actually filming) and a TV in the background so we can see – entirely transformed, yet very obviously the same space.  Some time goes by, they introduce everyone.  Each contestant has been given a pair of shoes from the factory for the show.  Unfortunately, they are all slightly too tight.  The dialogue continues and the contestants continue to starve themselves…until they all die. 

After they are all dead, the host of the show (the reporter’s boss) calls the owner of the factory and tells him the strike is broken and he’s free to do what he wants.  The reporter walks in on this conversation and flips out – she didn’t think anyone was going to actually die and she thought there was going to be a winner.  She was under the impression she was genuinely helping these people.  An argument occurs and eventually the reporter detonates the explosives in the factory.  The show ends with the five strikers in a sort of Elysian Fields afterlife, taking off their too tight shoes.

After the show, Keegan and I stuck around to get a closer look at the set.  I was particularly curious how they had done the flashing lights around the door.  When I went over and inspected the doorway, it was literally lined with raw LED chips – no bulb, no reflector, just a raw chip.

We then walked from Zvezdara to Katie’s apartement.  We stopped on the way to get some pljeskavice and other food at a little shop before we started drinking – Katie had bought about ten or fifteen liters of beer for that night.   We ended up not staying super late at her place – everyone was tired.  We brought the beer back to the hotel for another night instead.