Kazalište Planet Art

The celebration of the 40th anniversary of Exercises in Style was held on Saturday, January 19 at the theatre Gavella under patronage of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesić.
Mr. Mesić, along with other guests and members of public and cultural life was also present and had only words of praise for the play.

This extraordinary event was further embellished when Marko Torjanac, the director of the Planet Art theatre, stated that the play was accepted as a Guinness World Record for longest theatrical run with the same cast.
The news was received with joy as Exercises in Style, now officially the longest theatrical run with the same cast, entered its fifth decade of performance on 19 January 2008.

We would like to congratulate the actors Lela Margitić and Pero Kvrgić, the director Tomislav Radić and the translator Tonko Maroević on this amazing game of style and we would like to invite everyone to come and see the holder of a world record, the play Exercises in Style.

Marko Torjanac, director of the Planet Art, announces at the celebratory performance that Exercises in Style had become a Guinness World Record holder for longest theatrical run with the same cast.

Pero Kvrgić and Lela Margitić at the reception with president Mesić under who’s patronage the 40th anniversary of Exercises in Style was held.

Exercises in Style monograph published by Planet Art was presented after the performance.

ABOUT ACTORS AND DIRECTOR

Pero Kvrgić
Pero Kvrgić is one of the greatest Croatian actors whose performances have marked an entire era of theatre.
Since his beginnings in 1948 until today, he performed in almost every Croatian theater, company and festival (ZDK Gavella, Teatar ITD, ZKM, HNK Zagreb, HNK Split, HKD theatre in Rijeka, theatre Marin Držić in Dubrovnik, Komedija, Kerempuh, Teatar u gostima, Epilog theater, theater Ulysis on Brijuni, Žar ptica, Bagatella, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Split Summer Festival etc.) He played more than 180 different parts; Pomet, Dundo Maroje, Harpagon, Sganarelle, Pathelin, Nemoćnik, Lear (by Bond), Exercises in Style, Mochinpott, Janez, Kir Janja etc. He starred in a dozen movies, several television films and numerous radio-plays. Vijenac Matice Hrvatske printed his collection of columns titled Exercises in Style.
He received numerous awards and was decorated by the President Stjepan Mesić for his life-long exceptional contribution to culture in Croatia.

Lela Margitić
Lela Margitić was born on 28 July 1941 in Krasica near Sušak. After graduation she enrolled at the ADU (Academy of Dramatic Art) in Zagreb. She is currently an employee of the theater Komedija in Zagreb. She starred in many musicals and for the past ten years she has been working intensively with chanson artist Lada Kos. Fluent in French and Italian she loves the sea, her children, poetry … Roles: Viola – Twelfth Night, Dorine – Tartuffe, Her – Exercises in Style, Poetry and chanson.

Tomislav Radić
Tomislav Radić was born in 1940 in Zagreb, graduated in 1962 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 1973. Since 1965 until today he directed in all Zagreb theaters, he was an occasionally guest at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and an associate for national television. From 1977 until 1997 he taught acting and directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and from 1998 to 2000 he was the editor of the Drama program on Croatian national television.
Radić made around 40 documentaries and docudramas for television and several films. His documentary Živa istina (1971) was described by the critics as combination of direct film methods and a series of documentary segments which describe everyday life in a city, while following a young actress in search of work. His Timon (1972) was thought to be an original paraphrase of Shakespeare’s text where the life of the main character becomes mixed with the life of the character he is playing. Films: Živa istina (1971), Timon (1972), Luka (1991), Anđele moj dragi (1995), Holding (2001) and Što je Iva snimila 21.listopada 2003. (2005).

Exercises in Style are a world class phenomenon. The play had its opening night on 19 January 1968, and the current cast has been performing it together for 38 years. During the first year of performing Mia Oremović had been the first lady and was later replaced by Lela Margitić who, along with Pero Kvrgić, kept this remarkable play on the repertoire to this day. The play, as one of the finest representatives of an outstanding theatre era and due to its exceptional theatrical and acting quality which has lasted for 40 years, belongs on the very pinnacle of theatrical production worldwide.

It deals with an ordinary event from everyday life which, through the excellent interpretation of Pero Kvrgić and Lela Margitić in at least twenty different ways, becomes the ultimate comedy, exhilarating burlesque which attracts salvoes of laughter and delights with its acting virtuosity.
Thanks to the acting mastery of Lela Margitić and Pero Kvrgić, the play has remained attractive to audiences for 40 years and it never had problems with filling seats.
Due to the fact that the theatres in Croatia are of the repertoire type, the play has been performed over 1400 times to this day.

On 19 January 2008 the play Exercises in Style will celebrate 40 YEARS OF PERFORMING and 38 years of performing by the same cast.