Extremism is a broad enough term that everyone understands in their own way, the way they want, and anyone can manipulate its very meaning. The way we will understand all forms of behavior that are hidden behind this term is often dependent on sporadic information that we receive, and that is influenced by political situation. That’s why the arts, especially theater, are a good means for the analysis and interpretation of the phenomenon of extremism.

Three Faces of Mirror is an experiment. It merges into one actor as a person, as a character and as a socially-conscious being. In this specific theater experience viewers become active participants and partakers. Through their direct communication an artistic act is created, one that should lead us to the social insights and awareness.

The play was produced with the support of the Open Society Foundation, Serbia.

Thirteen is a play about love, created through the process of inquiry, with no previously existing or set elements. Individual subjects emerged through shared experimental work in rehearsals, followed by scenes and all other aspects of the play (music, text, choreography, set, costume). The play is about people who continue to search, regardless of whether this search brings them pain, despair, indifference or happiness; about people on a journey that can, if allowed to, lead to revelations on what love is, what it consists of and whether they are able to live it.

Play of Folly was inspired by Erasmus of Rotterdam’s work The Praise of Folly and Spiritual Exercises by Ignacio de Loyola. Experiment in this project was based on connecting these structurally diverse texts and adapting them into a theatre play. Work with actors was based on Buto techniques, with the goal of achieving an accurate and exciting expression in interpretation of these controversial contents.

The play was realised in coproduction of Omen Theatre and Bitef Theatre.

Story about the Young Man and a Thousand Angels was inspired by the structure and symbolism of fairy tales and myths and their portrayal of man’s existence and his quest for the meaning of life. Through a series of scenes, relying on the principles of fragmentary dramaturgy and theatre of movement, the Young Man encounters characters inspired by Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Wilde and a certain variation on Jung’s ‘Shadow’. This performance addresses the dark side of our local history, at the same time speaking about the fragility of contemporary civilisation’s masks of and the Young Man’s struggle with its demons.

The play Ordo Virtutum is inspired by music of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century German nun. It is based on investigation into medieval theatre and its relationship with contemporary expression. Its images display the apocalyptic fall of humanity, permeated with the music and mystic writings of Hildegard von Bingen herself. Since its premiere in June 2000 at INFANT Festival in Novi Sad, the performance has experienced dramatic transformations through spatial adaptations: at Bitef Theatre and Hotel Moskva in Belgrade, Arcotel Wimberger hotel in Vienna, and a monastery in Lyon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

Charlotte Salomon, a German painter of Jewish descent, was born in 1917. In 1943, she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival she was murdered in the gas chambers of the camp.

The production Life? Or Theatre? is inspired by a series of approximately 800 gouaches painted by Charlotte Salomon between 1940 and 1942. Subtitled ‘Ein Singspiel’ (a comic play with singing), the play consists of three parts: prelude, main part and epilogue. Each of these parts is divided into a series of scenes of varying length that mirror certain periods of Charlotte’s life.

Charlotte Salomon’s paintings are now a part of the collection of Jewish Historical Museum Amsterdam.

www.jhm.nl/collection/themes/charlotte-salomon