This year’s edition of the Festival – the 31 st in a row – is perhaps the first in its history not
showing the plays following a common thread. The world today and how it affects the
individual is far too complex an image to be reduced to a single issue. And since theatre
always reacts to its environment, the ancient metaphor of art as a mirror of society and
modern humanity has also been significantly changed. The mirror today is in pieces, and the
society and humanity are reflected in its shards, making it difficult to see a recognizable,
homogeneous whole.

That is why our six plays from four countries reveal a complex image of the individual in a
world made up of painful fragments that are intimate and universal in equal measure.
Based on Oscar Wilde's novel about the fanatical obsession with beauty and the agony of
what aging does to immaculate looks, The Picture of Dorian Grey by the Yugoslav Drama
Theatre from Belgrade directed by Nataša Radulović takes on another meaning, one that
Wilde could not have even imagined. A proposed psychological condition of our modern
developed world obsessed with selfies and influencers bears the name Dorian Gray
Syndrome (DGS). The fixation of one`s own appearance and the daily updates for the
viewers has reached alarming proportions, resulting in a refusal to accept a regular life, one
that leads to maturity and ultimately – old age.

Matija, by the Arterarij association based on the novel by Drago Hedl and directed by Patrik
Lazić, is a painful confrontation with the personal trauma of losing a son. This mirror shard
shows a completely different aspect of modern life: a successful man suffering from a
burnout due to the society-imposed measure of success – the American dream, as well as
the consequences such a decision caused, scorching the emotions of the nearest and
dearest left behind.
Frljić’s Incubator by The Mladinsko Theatre from Ljubljana is facing us with the brutal war in
Gaza and the consequences it has on the most vulnerable – prematurely born children
whose very survival is threatened by the electricity shortage. The play becomes a metaphor
for the callous modern world obsessed with weapons, war and killing for higher goals, a
world that has lost all of its empathy, even for the newborn children.

And while the Incubator dissects the global disruption of humanity, Jean Cocteau’s Human
Voice by the Istrian National Theatre and directed by Jug Đorđević, delves deep into the
intimacy of an emotionally broken woman. How do we find meaning and go on about our
days after a painful breakup? Where and how do we find a new identity without the love
that is gone, along with the loved one? Completely devoid of the external influence, The
Human Voice can be heard only in the greatest depth – inside the soul.
A production by the Austrian Aktionstheater and Martin Gruber, SPEED (kills content) is a
testimony to the fear and uncertainty about what the future holds. As we are forced to live
faster and faster, speed – as the title suggests – kills all content, thus reducing the ability to
not only shape our own lives but also the humanity that only love and intimacy can bring.
Where are we really rushing to – and for whom?
A completely different issue, one that is nowadays hardly even discussed, is hidden deep in
the realm of intimacy. The Belgrade Heartefact Fund tells us about it in How I Learned to
Drive by author Paula Vogel and director Tara Manić. This complex drama about a woman`s
life scarred by trauma lends itself to interpretation of sexual violence and abuse of minors
through depiction of a manipulative, violent and incestuous relationship.
Thus, this year’s theatre, at least in our festivals eye, is a reaction to a fragmented world and
problems we encounter in every aspect of our lives, whether they are deeply intimate or
completely universal.
Jasen Boko