Statement from the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia on the occasion of International Theatre Day

In an international message on World Theatre Day, Mrs Vigdis Finbogadottir outlines reasons for the survival of the theatre which, in our modern civilized world, is faced with serious problems.

The same modern civilized world has placed all of us, our country and our theatre in a situation which is irreconcilable with its own proclaimed ethical standards. Therefore, we consider that our reasons for the theatre to survive at this moment are far stronger.

Confronted with bombs, destroyed towns, lost lives, and the whole aggressive attack upon human integrity, we are trying to justify the very existence of the theatre and to go on living the only way we know - by performing. Our own individual and personal reasons may be different. On the one hand, it may represent an escape from the present awful reality; on the other, the reason may lie in a clear, conscious and critical stand against the horrors which someone has decided to "stage" in another country at the end of the twentieth century.

Fully aware that our decision cannot influence objective circumstances, like air raid warnings, loss of electricity, a ban on public meetings and other unpredictable events, we shall do all in our power to ensure that the theatre goes on as long as is humanly possible. Therefore, the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia calls upon its members to continue to play in their theatres as far as is realistically possible at this very unreal time.

We do not have the right to ask others to join us, but in this way we wish to inform our audiences that we shall continue to be when they can always find us - an that is, on stage.

Let the theatre be our bomb shelter!

Tihomir Stanic, President
Presidency of the Association of the Dramatic Artists of Serbia