Theatre
Бегалка
Not translated into English
Vasil Iljoski · 1928
Synopsis
Kumanovo, in the first decade of the twentieth century. Lenče, a beautiful young girl, is promised to Dose, the son of a rich merchant, but she loves Boško, a young craftsman. Faced with the opposition of her father, Aci-Trajko, she leaves home to live with the man she loves, and the father, humiliated, finds himself powerless before his family and the town.
Context
The play, written in the speech of Kumanovo, which belongs to the Torlak dialects, appeared in 1926 and was first staged in 1928 on a Skopje stage under the title Lenče Kumanovče. It was soon banned by the Serbianization policy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Revived since, notably at the Kumanovo theatre in 1971, it appeared in book form in 1950 and was celebrated in 2023 for the ninety-fifth anniversary of its first staging.
Who it is for
A drama of manners in five acts, between the comic and the tragic, in dialectal Macedonian; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Given by some sources as the first play written in Macedonian, it is still performed and commemorated in the country.