How to catch the boomerang of the past

The Sarajevo War Theater's guest appearance at the 29th festival in Budva continues tonight with the staging of the play "Flour in the Veins" by Igor Štiks, directed by Boris Liješević (co-production of SARTR and the MESS festival), which is played on the stage at Sveti Stefan.

It is interesting that "Brašno u venama" reunited two young, extremely gifted creators - for the direction of the play based on Igor Štiks' novel "Elijah's Chair" (produced by JDP from Belgrade), Boris Liješević received the "Mira Trailović" Bitef Grand Prix, the "Ljubomir Muci Draškić", five awards at the festival in Rijeka, recognition at guest appearances abroad.

Today, Igor Štiks is one of the most prominent intellectuals from this region - he received his doctorate in Paris and Chicago, his prose and poetry have been translated into a dozen European languages, together with the famous Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat, he is the author of the essay "The right to rebellion - an introduction to the anatomy of civil resistance ", and publishes texts in the British "Guardian" and the magazine "Open Democracy".

The play that the audience in Budva will see tonight is about a traumatic past, and according to the famous Croatian author, it has been in the making for years:

"The first motives appeared during my stay in Chicago, where I met families of our origin in which I saw a deep generational misunderstanding - the children could not fully understand their parents, the experience and history they brought with them to America. seemed like an injustice, to inherit all those traumas and to live and want to develop in a world where there is no place for them and they are even an obstacle to development. That's why I think we have to learn to catch that boomerang of the past before it hurts us again, no to prevent and forget it, but to prevent it from crippling our future", said Igor Štiks.

As one of the most important themes that the play focuses on are wars - the First and Second World War, as well as the last wars in the great Yugoslavia, and as Boris Liješević points out, it is important that the artists of our area tell the story of the past:

"Wars shape us. Unfortunately. They shape our history, and geography, and economy, archeology, politics... We constantly live the consequences of wars. And in order to understand the reality and the life around us, we always return to the past, and so we always come to of the last war. And the causes of the last one are always rooted in the penultimate one. I am a little ashamed to talk about the war in Sarajevo. At the first rehearsals, I had the feeling that the actors needed me to interpret the context and circumstances in which this play takes place, not me to them Liješević wrote.

The cast includes Miki Trifunov, Kaća Dorić, Izudin Bajrović, Admir Glamočak, Selma Alispahić and Jasenko Pašić. The dramaturgy is written by Dubravka Zrnčić Kulenović, the scenography by Vedran Hrustanović, the costumes by Lejla Hodžić, and the music by Duško Šegvić.