Harrower: THE BLACKBIRD

David Harrower's "The Blackbird", directed by Zijah A. Sokolovic is a play about a transforming and paralyzing sexual affair; it questions the relationship between love and sexuality, as well as the abuse of human emotions. In the painful process, the souls of two protagonists remain completely uncovered and unprotected so what we see on stage are two unprotected and totally vulnerable, completely naked people. In contrast to many plays which deconstruct the world using intellectual pretentiousness, this production is reduced to basic human and theatre elements: a man and a woman in deep, recognizable human drama. This is neither a mere warning, nor a moralistic pamphlet pointing at societal irregularities or deviations, to put it in dry administrative language. Furthermore, it is not even a call for a conference where psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologist and other experts dissect a topic in order to better present themselves. If it were so, this wouldn't be an intimate drama. "The Blackbird" is about sexual abuse and as such belongs to those topics that are still social taboos, which is this year's festival main theme.