DAMNED BE THE TRAITOR OF HIS HOMELAND!

Yugoslavia was devoured by civil war and chopped up into a handful of wounded statelets. The Croat Oliver Frljić leads an explicitly humanist charge, presenting a manifesto where private dramas and historical dramas are interwoven. This is theatre of combat where killings multiply in a ritual that is a clear reminder that the land is still damp with the blood of thousands of victims.

A forceful look at individual responsibility, the play is performed by an incredibly true-to-life cast of Balkan actors from the Mladinsko Theatre in Slovenia. Extreme pain and suffering, immoderate joy, unchecked hatred, tears beyond measure – everything is heightened. But the spirit of the piece is not so much theatrical illusion as blunt clarity.

The angry young director displays the still raw open wounds of this brutal split-up in this powerful punch to the gut. Shocking, accusatory and disturbing, Damned Be the Traitor of His Homeland! (the last verse of the Yugoslav national anthem) is a bracing cry for civil and artistic liberty.

PRODUCED BY MLADINSKO THEATRE
DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BYOLIVER FRLJIĆ
WITH PRIMOŽ BEZJAK + OLGA GRAD + UROŠ KAURIN + BORIS KOS + UROŠ MAČEK + DRAGA POTOČNJAK + MATEJ RECER + ROMANA ŠALEHAR + DARIO VARGA + MATIJA VASTL
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNOLIVER FRLJIĆ
SOUND DESIGN SILVO ZUPANČIČ
DRAMATURGY BORUT ŠEPAROVIĆ + TOMAŽ TOPORIŠIČ
LIGHTING DESIGN OLIVER FRLJIĆ + TOMAŽ ŠTRUCL

WRITTEN BY DIANE JEAN
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH

PREMIERED AT MLADINSKO THEATRE, MARCH 2010