DAMNED BE THE TRAITOR OF HIS HOMELAND!
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.
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
OLIVER FRLJIĆ (LJUBLJANA + ZAGREB)
MLADINSKO THEATRE
Agitator
A writer, director, theorist, choreographer and actor, Oliver Frljić is truly the enfant terrible of ex-Yugoslavian theatre, moving freely from street theatre to performances in established institutions, from small intimate spaces to the large National Theatre. His plays provoke discussion and generate contrasting reactions. He pushes the limits, blending reality and fiction, and public and private spheres.
