Theatre
The Cabinet Minister's Wife
Госпођа министарка
Branislav Nušić · 1929
Opening lines
Савка
Шта си се замислила?
What has got you so lost in thought?
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from sr.wikisource.org
Synopsis
Belgrade, the twenties. The husband of Živka Popović, a good housekeeper, is appointed a minister, and the household changes in a single morning: the furniture, the clothes, the manners. The whole extended family rushes in to claim its share, Živka finds places for her own relatives and discovers ambitions for her daughter, even going so far as to want to find her another husband. No one in the family dares tell her that she is losing all sense of proportion.
Context
The play premiered at the National Theatre in Belgrade on 25 May 1929, in a production directed by Vitomir Bogić; the author had written the role for Žanka Stokić, who found in it the peak of her career. It was performed more than two hundred times until 1941 and toured to Vienna, Prague, Sofia, Warsaw, Kraków and Vilnius. After Žanka Stokić, Ljubinka Bobić and Mirjana Karanović took over the role, and Oliver Frljić staged it in Zagreb in the language of the original.
Who it is for
Four acts, in a spoken language with immediate situational comedy. The allusions to the Serbian administration of the twenties are dated but remain clear.
Prizes and reception
The role of Živka has become a set test for the great Serbian actresses, like Hamlet for English actors.