Бекет у Београду
Beckett in Belgrade

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the two episodes of the incredible relation between Belgrade and Samuel Beckett. The first is the complicated history of how Beckett was introduced into the Belgrade theater stages. When young writer Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz found himself in Paris, and accidently saw Beckett’s Waiting for Godot inThéâtre de Babylone, where the world premiere was held on January 5th 1953, he was so strongly impressed by the art of then completely unknown author that, when he came back, together with Dušan Matić, who saw the same play in Geneva, they introduced it to Vasilije Popović, the director of Belgrade Dramatic Theater. That was the beginning of the real odyssey of this Beckett’s play: forbidden in the home theater, but still played in a kind of dress rehearsal, it was clandestinely performed in the atelier of the painter Mića Popović on Staro sajmište (Old Fairground) under the unbelievable circumstances. Finally it was officially played in a new opened the waterhouse Atelier 212 on December 17th 1956. The first Godot in a socialist country.The second episode is the story of Beckett’s arrival in Belgrade in July 1958, and his friendship with Radomir Konstantinović and Kaća Samardžić, who published his novel Molloy. Belgrade was, once again, the first to recognize in the former Yugoslavia the greatness of yet unknown writer Samuel Beckett, and that was just another sparkle of the spirit of this town.

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