This is the first time that the young Croatian director Oliver Frljić has been invited to Belgium. In his homeland he has a reputation as something of a ‘theatre terrorist’. Premiered in Slovenia, Damned be the traitor of his homeland! is based on personal stories from his eclectic ensemble of actors. The play has the break-up of Yugoslavia as its backdrop to evoke the rise (again) of patriotism and nationalism in Europe. With reference to stereotypes and other general viewpoints of recent history, Frljić’s ‘theatre-reality’ targets the notion of identity and the sense of belonging, as well as the clichés these invoke. He lays bare the ambiguities nestling at the heart of collective memory, between reality and fiction.
With this forceful show about the trauma of the Yugoslav tragedy, a political farce in which music and the cheerful conversations hide a darkly humorous malaise, Frljić holds up an unsettling mirror to his actors, audience and theatre itself.