THE “ST. SAVA” CASE IN YDT – THE IMPACT OF THE POLITICAL CONTEXT ON THE RECEPTION OF A THEATRE PLAY
THE “ST. SAVA” CASE IN YDT – THE IMPACT OF THE POLITICAL CONTEXT ON THE RECEPTION OF A THEATRE PLAY

Summary/Abstract: The suspension of the “St. Sava” performance written by Sinisa Kovačević and directed by Vladimir Milčin, on May 31, 1990 at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade is, undoubtedly, a key milestone in the history of censorship in former Yugoslavia and a symbolic beginning of the decay of its shared cultural space. This text attempts to shed light on the conditionality and inevitable influence of the social and political context on theatre and theatre-makers through the example of this theatre production, known as the official beginning of the disintegration of the state built on the concept of fraternity and unity. The answer to the question of the paradoxically opposing receptions of this performance does not only require reconstruction of the inner-artistic horizon of expectations implied by the performance itself – what ideas and questions it raises and what messages it aspires for the spectator to receive. What is much needed is an analysis of the non-artistic expectations, norms, and roles, mediated by the world in which the spectator lives, so it primarily targets their interests for that performance. Those expectations, norms and roles stem from the historical context in which the world of that spectator is located.

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