 Ever since she graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Applied Arts in 1985 (Stage Costume Design Department), an artist of great talent, Angelina Atlagić has made an enviable career. Both art critics and the public are of one mind that her creations for the stage have long since gone beyond the framework of mere stage costumes to become a new world in itself.
You have worked in Russia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Macedonia, Serbia …. In what way has your work in these different countries differed and/or born similarity?
-As for the artistic and creative work, it is the same everywhere. However, differences do exist on the organizational level, during the preparation stages and in the project execution itself. Thus, in Germany and Russia, the sketches need to be submitted between six months to a full year ahead of the costume-making process. The preparation stage is much longer and more extensive than elsewhere. This makes possible for the costume design concept to be realized to the full and solutions to be found for even the most complicated stage costumes. The situation is more or less the same in Slovenia and Spain. When I began working abroad, I found this mode of operation rather strange but I soon adjusted to it.
 Your costumes for the production of Sergey Prokofyev’s opera War and Peace at the Bolshoi Theater are still remembered by many. What was it like working on a Russian classic at one of the world’s top theater houses for an audience that is used to nothing but the best?
-It was at the same time easy and hard. The Bolshoi Theater is a scrupulously organized theater house where certain rules established by over two-hundred-year long tradition must be observed. The working conditions there are something to be desired; one has at one’s disposal the best workshops specialized to handle all manner of special requests, ranging from dying fabrics to executing details and jewelry. A costume designer is expected to have meticulously drafted sketches, which, from the moment they are submitted, enter realization and oftentimes one cannot even follow the process to the end. Work at the Bolshoi was for me a great privilege and honor, but at the same time a great learning experience. Working on War and Peace opera, I got to know doyen Mstislav Rostropovich and cooperation with him is something I will never forget.
 How do you succeed in attaining stage authenticity, considering the diversity of productions you are involved in?
– I try to remain true to myself and committed to my personal experience, regardless of where and what kind of work I do. It is important for an artist to be well-informed about the new movements and trends, but all these experiences must be carried through the personal prism and transformed by an intimate experience. The beauty of this work is in that one is in contact with classical texts and contemporary drama, i.e. with eternal topics and questions of human existence, on a daily basis.
What do you find more challenging – placing a classical piece of work into a contemporary framework or enveloping a contemporary production into a classical setting?
– One of the things that gives me pleasure in my work is that there are no preset rules. Sometimes I would find translating classical costumes from a historical period into the present day pleasing and challenging, but already in the next production I would be trying to deal with a complete reconstruction of a period, or I would be dwelling on an eclectic blend of modern and historical costumes. It is not as important to me in which period the plot is set as much as the way in which, in cooperation with the director, I create a new reality on the stage. To what measure my work will be inspiring and creative hinges on this.
 Would you single out some of the productions in which you feel you have used your talent to the full?
– There are directors that know how to inspire me to seek out within the best ideas, such as I have never known existed in me. Naturally, to realize some such idea, everything must in tune with the text, the actors and the possibilities a particular theater house is capable of providing. One such production was Inferno that I collaborated on in Madrid with director Tomaž Pandur and another was Poisoned Tunic for which I was presented with the Chaika Award. This production has been running for eight years now by Moscow’s Fomenko Studio. The production of Alisa (Through the Looking Glass) directed by Ivan Popovski was staged at this theater in June and has since become a favorite among youngsters in Moscow.
 Although you are the recipient of many major awards, which one do you take as your greatest success?
– An artist’s life is frequently fraught with suspicions, dilemmas and creativity crises so that awards are invariably pleasing, especially as they are usually wont to come one’s way when one least expects them. Apart from these special situations that do not occur very often, the very fact of doing costume design is what makes me happy – from reading the text, doing the sketches, communicating with the directors, associating with the actors to the very moment when a new production is born. I feel as if the time spent in the darkness of a theater hall is a privilege and not hard work.
How do you manage to meet all your obligations?
– Since early youth, I have been accustomed to an active and purpose-filled life. Apart from my school-linked commitments, I was into sports, drawing, and I also listened to lectures at other Departments at the Faculty. I am used to working on several productions simultaneously. Interestingly enough, the more one works the more one becomes aware just how important organizing one’s time is and then one sets down to spending it more rationally. I love my work and do not find it difficult being at a different place each week. Besides, I love to travel and I have grown accustomed to transforming hotel rooms into my living and working space. Of course, this precludes my having much free time for other things in life, but each one of us must make one’s own list of priorities.
 To what measure is research work of importance to a costume designer?
- The time spent researching is very important, whether it pertains to historical, contemporary or quite fairytale-like approach to costumes. This phase entails researching the historical period as well as researching the characters, penetrating their psychological profile. This section of work is very interesting and may sometimes take months on end. All this collected material and information can be of assistance in further work when creating not only the costumes but also the atmosphere for a particular period and space wherein a particular plot unfolds.
What are you currently engaged in?
– At the moment, I am negotiating with Slovene director Tomaž Pandur regarding Twilight of the Gods production set to be premiered in Madrid in April 2011. Also, there is my participation in the staging of a grand spectacle of War and Peace at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival next summer. I have completed work in Belgrade for the ballet production of Othello, a coproduction of Belgrade International Theater Festival (BITEF) and Budva Theater City to be first-nighted in Budva on August 9. The choreography for this ballet was done by Maša Kolar and Zoran Marković, while musical titled Spring Awakening, directed by Nebojša Bradić at the Belgrade Drama Theater, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Aleksandar Popovski in Istanbul, are in the preparatory stages.
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As full professor, Angelina Atlagić teaches Set and Costume Design at Directing Department of the Dramatic Arts Faculty in Cetinje (Montenegro) since 1999. Also, during the same year (1999), she delivered a number of lectures and held presentations at universities in the US.
Her stage costume designs received the following awards: the MAX Award for the production of Barocco (Spain, 2007/8 season), the Athinorama magazine award for her part in the production of Fourth Sister (Greece, 2003), the Chaika Award for Poisoned Tunic (Russia, 2002).
She is the recipient of Serbia’s Grand Prix for Design and Applied Arts (2005) presented by the Association of Fine and Applied Artists and Designers of Serbia (ULUPUDS) and the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Culture for outstanding achievement and as many as five Sterija Awards.
Critics have declared her in the Scena theatrical arts magazine as the best costume designer for five consecutive seasons - from 1995 to 1999.
She has displayed her works in the Czech Republic, Japan, Israel, the US and Canada. | | 
