theatre/ensemble: Oliver Frljić & Ensemble
seen on 21st June in Wiesbaden during the New Plays From Europe Festival
plot: Zoran Đinđić, elected Serbia’s Prime Minister in 2001, followed a democratic, Western-oriented strategy that made him the enemy of the country’s communist and nationalist camps. The extradition of war criminals and his fight against organized crime mobilized further opposition and on 12 March 2013, he was shot by a sniper. Oliver Frljić and his company take this assassination as a starting point to examine the context and circumstances that led up to it. The text is based on interviews conducted with the actors and persons who either were close to Đinđić or are continuing his political work. Central questions are those of collective guilt and the options for action each individual has in times of chaos. The author says: “Of course it is wrong to commit a crime, but it is equally criminal to just sit around and do nothing. [...] It is my aim to make the audience aware and to confront them with their own responsibility. That is why the actors are constantly addressing the audience.”
verdict: Sometimes I get punished for randomly chosing plays without getting any background information before. This evening was one of them, if not the worst.
The biggest problem is/was: I don´t know anything about Serbian/Croatian politics apart from recognizing a few names from the news. Therefore I couldn´t understand any of the depicted problems.
This "play" wants to provoke and it certainly does using strong images and actions that are way to blatant for my taste. A burning church, people in body bags, hands dunked in blood...then comes the extremely harsh, fast and loud language that forced me giving up on the translation at some stage.
All the names and accusations I couldn´t grasp anyway.
My "highlight" came right at the end (fortunately) - well, now I can say that I have witnessed an actress puking live on stage. Thank you very much indeed. The emetophobic in me was delighted, not.
Not an evening for the faint hearted, not one that does me wanna find out anything more about all the conflicts past and present in their countries. I was just very, very happy to go home.
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