he upcoming 23rd International Small Scene Theatre will keep to its basic strategic postulate that has made it an essential artistic area of recognizable character from the very beginning: it will be an encounter of convincing author?s and actor?s theatre seeking to find social and aesthetic answers to the questions of its age. The grim reality and severity of our time differentiate this year’s festival from its formative years. A few years ago we celebrated “the magic of acting game”, while today we are eagerly looking for answers on the stage. Many global threats overcast humanity, making us hold our breath over its future for the first time since World War 2. New ethnic separations, war, “killer capitalism” and religious intolerance have become a combustible mixture that can at a critical moment render completely senseless most of the values of modern civilisation. Therefore our choice of plays tries its best to suggest that this Festival will not take the role of “the festival that forgets about problems”. Instead, it will truly vibrate at the tip of the tongue of time: it will have aesthetic potential as well as be humanely concerned and socially responsible.

The working slogan of the 23rd International Small Scene Theatre, “Is the theatre on fire?”, tries to illustrate our belief that, in times of temptation and crisis, art must remain in the arena of human anxiety and efforts. Therefore, the chosen plays are not neither cheap nor indifferent, they do not aim to be a spectacle nor are they a slave to contemporary smug trends. Their honest authorial pondering and devoted actors? expression on stage try to reach a human being that is better than the human beings of today.

Bojan Munjin