A PROFESSOR, A PRODUCER AND A WRITER AS JURY OF THE 63RD MESS FESTIVAL

Professor Marina Katnić-Bakaršić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), producer Jana Bäskau (Germany) and writer Ana Stojanoski (Macedonia) are members of the jury of the International Theater Festival MESS Competition Program. Eleven performances from eleven countries are competing for festival awards, the famous Golden Laurel Wreaths.   Marina Katnić Bakaršić, PhD (Sarajevo, 19th June 1960) is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo and the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. She teaches Stylistics and Discourse...

DRAMADŽILUK IS A NEW PROGRAM WITHIN THE 63RD EDITION OF THE MESS FESTIVAL

As part of the 63rd International Theater Festival MESS, the Festival’s Management Office presents a new program – Dramadžiluk. The idea is to present the recent works of playwrights from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ex-Yugoslav region through stage readings. The aim is to create a platform for promoting and networking of playwrights as well as all the other theater workers. “The MESS Festival, apart from its regular program, has also  developed the Memory Module, Mini MESS and MESS Library programs, and our intention is to...

THE OPENING CEREMONY OF 28TH MEMORY MODULE TO TAKE PLACE ON 5TH APRIL

- Vječita Vijećnica by Rikard Larma returns to the City Hall – On 5th April 2023, J.U. MES will host the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition titled “Sarajevo, vječita Vijećnica” (Eng. Sarajevo, the Eternal City Hall) by photographer Rikard Larma. This exhibition will officially mark the opening of the 28th edition of the Memory Module cultural program. The opening of the exhibition is organized in cooperation with the City of Sarajevo, to mark the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo. This year, the program runs from the...

SARA-JE-VO: How to heal a soul?

By: Stela MiškovićThe premiere of the dance performance „Sara-je-vo“ by choreographer Edhem Jesenković took place at the Sarajevo Youth Theater last night (performed by dancers Mojca Majcen, Ognjen Vučinić, Miona Petrović, Luka Ostrež, Ana Kuzmanović, Emir Fejzić).The minimalist stage design is dominated by a monolith which stands as a symbol of integrity, unity, firmness and stability. Alongside the monolith, there is also a metronome whose sound reminds us of a clock ticking, which in turn symbolizes the passing of time and...

AMORE: Love, deadly and navigable

By: Lamija MilišićAs the audience is gathering at the auditorium of the Sarajevo National Theater, a bent tree surrounded by red stones numbly greets them from the stage. The first banal association with the imagery comes in the form of a question – are we going to wait for Godot here? I soon come to realize that the tree is completely withered and pale and that while watching it, time does not pass. The musical „Amore“ begins soon afterwards as a male figure dressed in white walks up to the auditorium and sits in one of the back...

PICTURE PERFECT: “It is not about feeling, it’s about showing”

By: Stela MiškovićThe performance “Picture Perfect” by director Achim Wieland engages the audience from the very beginning. We are instructed to prepare ourselves for the performance, to turn up thirty minutes early and to install WhatsApp on our phones beforehand. We are awaiting the unknown with great suspense. However, it soon turns out that WhatsApp is actually meant to be a theater space, whilst we, the audience, are put in a group chat as mere observers. Establishing such a comparison evokes the famous quote by W. Shakespeare...

OEDIPUS REX: One-way ticket

By: Stela MiškovićUnlike the majority of other modern interpretations of Sophocles' „Oedipus Rex“ in which, precisely for modernity's sake, there is an evident attempt to deflect from the very being of ancient tragedy, from the fatal connection between the character and Fate, i.e. Gods as symbols of inevitability, Diego de Brea's interpretation is actually relying on that fatum. On hubris and hamartia. What's ahead of us, is ahead of us and there is nothing we can do about it. Bearing in mind that this performance was being staged...

LJUBIČASTO: Let me go, I’m going for a walk

By: Stela MiškovićHaving gained shape without an actual text, through mutual improvisations and building of relationships and the text itself, based on an idea and structure developed by director Selma Spahić, „Purple“ unmasks the myths that have been perpetuated (by Balkan peoples in particular) about family and about relationships within the family.By means of a perfect adjustment of realism (naturalism for that matter) and irrationality, through the cohesion of the concrete and abstract, we stand face to face with ourselves and...