SARAJEVO - In Your Pocket

14 Culture & events
INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL
MESS - SARAJEVO
Sarajevo is a city of a long theatre tradition and culture, and MESS Festival (Small and Experimental Stages), was one
of the best theatre events in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The MESS Festival forty nine years of its existence
undoubtedly promoted modern theatre expression. Since 1960, the year when the Festival was established, numerous
ensembles from almost all the world’s major theatre centers (Warsaw, Paris, New York, Moscow, Zurich, Bologna,
Bucharest, Budapest…) have taken part in it.
As it was impossible to organize an International Theatre Festival during the siege of the City, in 1993 the International
Theatre and Film Festival started presentations and productions of artistic programs whose aim was, under the siege
conditions, to contribute to the cultural life in Sarajevo, international reputation of the city, to the establishment and
development of international cooperation. Culture as a fundamental human need was used as one of the ways to break
up to the siege, to maintain life, to cherish quality… Within its activities, the MESS organized the First International
Film Festival in 1993, which was estimated to have been the most important event in 1993, then the Festival of the
Sarajevo Alternative Scene. The theatre production was also continued so that from 1993 to the end of the siege ten
performances were produced, among which there were “Waiting for Godot” directed by Susan Sontag, “Alcestis” ,
“Silk Drums”, “In the Country of Last Things”, “Golden Eternal Braid” directed by Haris Pašović, “Circus” directed by
Peter Schumann. In 1994 the Sarajevo Festival Ensemble, as part of the MESS Festival, with two of its performances
did its large tour of Europe, organized by Peter Brook Theatre, Bouffes du Nord (Paris), playing on the stages of Paris,
Amsterdam, Geneva, Berlin… The MESS also organized a multimedia festival “Baby Universe” (the summer of ’94)
and a large project Memory Module (’96) under which published were the translations of Paul Auster’s books, Claude
Lanzmann’s “Shoah”, and presented was the series of “Mahabharata”, held were concerts and exhibitions…
In 1997, the Festival was resumed. Inter alia the following were presented: Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz
Theater, Stary Teatr, Picollo Theater, Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Centre Choregraphique National D’Orleans, Living
Theatre, Divadlo Komedie, Theater Lliure, Rosas Company, Theater A.D. Ruhr, The Moving House Theater Company,
Meno Fortas Theatre Company, Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz, schauspielhannover, staatsoperhannover, Moskovskii
Teatr Yunogo Zritelya, Katona Jozsef Színház, Le Volcan – Scène Nationale du Havre, Pandur Theatres, State Academic
Drama Theater named T. Shevchenko, Centre for Theatre Practices “Gardzienice”, Teatro delle Albe, Les Ballets C. de
la B., Footsbarn Theatre, Oskaro Koršunovo Teatras, National Theatre Ivan Vazov, Betty Nansen Teatret, Complicite,
Kretakor Szinhaz… And directors and actors such as Eugenio Baraba, Frank Castorf, Giorgio Strehler, Josef Nadj,
Ariel Garcia Valdes, Phillipe Adrien, Rudi Häusermann, Roberto Ciulli, Anne Teresa de Keersmaker, Paolo Magelli,
Eimuntas Nekrosius, Thomas Ostermeier, Wlodzimierz Staniewski, Mark Tompkins, Pippo Delbono, Olivier Py, Sidi
Larbi Cherkaoui, Mark Tompkins, Alexandar Morfov, Oskaras Koršunovas, Luc Dunberry, Robert Wilson, Simon
McBurney, Arpad Schilling, Nicolas Stemann, Marco Martinelli, Peter Brook, Kama Ginkas, Tomaž Pandur, Rodrigo
Garcia, Andriy Zholdak…
Unrestrained theatre play and specific theatre expression established themselves as the Festival aesthetic and ethical
postulates. This means that the Festival is open for contemporary trends in the world theatre (and exchange with it)
without the narrowing of horizons of understanding the theatre language, respecting the freedom of author’s concept
and system, his attitude to “old” and “new” forms of expression and content. Therefore, the Festival aspires to be an
annual review of the most interesting theatre achievements, professional theatres, theatre companies, ensembles
projects conceived and carried out throughout the world the quality of which is professionally recognized.
The Festival also has a production character... During the Festival, symposiums will be held and they will also have
international character with the participation of critics, theatre analysts, drama artists and writers. During their stay,
many outstanding guests will visit faculties, conduct workshops and creative activities.
The realisation of the 49th International Theater Festival MESS Sarajevo has started already. As usual, the MESS Festival
will be held from 16 - 26 October on the all theater stages of Sarajevo, Zenica, but Gorazde and Srebrenica, too.
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