Sarajevo

Symbolic City

‘The city contains good, gentle people, beautiful women and innocent children. Animals that delight in their lives, butterflies on the stones of the Turkish cemetery. And yet the war started here, the world was destroyed, and Sarajevo still stands. It should not be just a city, but a monument, a terrible reminder to everyone.’ - Joseph Roth

1993: the former Yugoslavia collapses. Sarajevo is an occupied city. Where Christians and Muslims once lived together peacefully, there is now war. The dream of a tight-knit multicultural community has been shattered. Europe stands on the sidelines and watches.

1993: on the other side of the world, in New York, five characters meet. One of them has just returned from Sarajevo, but also for the four others this symbolic city becomes the benchmark against which they gauge their own questions, expectations and even ambitions. What can they do? What should they do? How does one cope with impotence in the face of others’ misery? Their questions are our questions too. Not just then, but even today.

In Sarajevo, Rudi Meulemans explores new territory in his writing. Whereas his previous plays were mainly composed of monologues, he has now opted for the dialogue. Sarajevo is composed of a series of short scenes in which the five characters talk their way towards solutions to their concrete relational, ethical and political problems.