<nettime> Statement from the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia

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Statement from the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia on the occasion
of International Theatre Day, 27 March 1999

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

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


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