Abstract
This chapter offers a glimpse into remarkable cultural events during the siege of Sarajevo and their impact on Sarajevans trapped in the city. The focus is on the extraordinary collaboration between local artists and foreign cultural ambassadors and celebrities who visited Sarajevo during the war. Together they created an art scene that flourished under the most difficult circumstances. War and post-war art scenes are analysed in the context of approaches to adaptations of literary sources for the stage.
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Notes
- 1.
“Before his return to Sarajevo, Dragan Klaić and Pašović had been working on a show later named Sarajevo, Tales from a City, which they felt would be appropriate to tour around Europe and bring awareness to the plight of the city ‘with the city as hero and martyr’ Pašović was not there to work on the final production in Antwerp …” (Bilić, p. 18).
- 2.
Baez was invited by the Open Society Fund of Bosnia-Herzegovina in association with Refugees International.
- 3.
Pjer Žalica, who at the time was a student of directing at Sarajevo’s Academy of Performing Arts, made the film Godot Sarajevo (1993), which includes scenes from the performance, interviews with the participants, and other documentary material.
- 4.
Writer Ferida Duraković gives the statistics about the cultural events in Sarajevo during the war: “The chroniclers and researchers of the Sarajevo siege have carefully recorded the facts about culture and art in the city under siege: there were 3102 artistic events held in the three war years, the Sarajevo philharmonic gave 48 concerts, 263 books were published, 177 art shows held, 156 documentary films made, and 182 plays premiered with more than 2000 performances. Beyond this number are the prayers for peace, the countless artistic improvisations held all over the city, the reading of books to children in the entranceways to buildings and in cellars, and all of this was done, as people say, on a wing and a prayer, most often in candlelight, with humanitarian food packages as compensation for the artists” (Duraković Oct. 7, 2019).
- 5.
Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr.
- 6.
My translation of the quoted sections.
- 7.
My translation of the quoted sections.
- 8.
My translation of the quoted sections.
- 9.
My translation of the quoted sections.
- 10.
My translation of the quoted sections.
- 11.
Their web page lists the company’s major achievements to this day: “Our programs have participated at Festival d’Avignon 2015 and Official Selection of the Edinburgh International Festival 2008, two world’s biggest theatre festivals; We opened the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia 2010; Won the Best Contemporary Show Award at the 2009 International Festival Kontakt, Poland; We participated at the official program of the City of Culture of United Kingdom in Londonderry/ Derry 2013 and the Official program of the European City of Culture Maribor 2011; We also won the Special Contribution to the Art of Theatre Award at the 2009 International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo; we played at the Singapore Arts Festival 2008 and 2010, National Arts Festival of South Africa, Sibiu International Arts Festival in Romania, Queens Festival Belfast, Central European Forum in Bratislava as well at the festivals and the most prestigious venues in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia” (East West Centre).
- 12.
“Comes from. ‘shælva:r’ which is used for pants in Persian” (ucp.br).
- 13.
My translation from Slovenian.
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Garić-Komnenić, S. (2024). War and Post-War Theatre in Sarajevo. In: Bosnian Literary Adaptations on Stage and Screen. Adaptation in Theatre and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47134-6_8
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