A strong message about a refugee crisis, a shameful image of the 21st century, is the idea of the “Welcome” theater performance directed by Nermin Hamzagic, premiered tonight in an unusual environment – at the Olympic Pool of Otoka in Sarajevo.
The routes through refugees move in a desperate search for freedom of war and escape from terror, full of primary human desire for a normal life, the danger that threatens them in those paths, the lives that are lost in them, and ultimately the shame and loss as a basic emotion which become part of their personality by coming to freedom from their own city and surrounding, are just some of the threads that this piece consists of.
The performance is based on the fact that five million people around the world, only from Syria currently have refugee status, while in 2017, 5.000 people drown in the seas in an attempt to come to freedom. The unusual form in which the show was performed, combined with water and light, and images that shift to one another in the water reflection as a fluid that separate people from freedom, has given the show a special mark, an emphasized emotion and a direct experiential empathy with thousands of refugees.
Major plays were presented by Maja Izetbegovic, Ermin Bravo, Boris Ler, Amar Selimovic and Sanin Milavic, dramaturgy was signed by Asja Krsmanovic, costumes were by Vanja Ciraj and Irma Saje, and set design was done by Adis Vatres Selimovic. The performance was produced by the association Kontakt, organizad by the Olympics Pool Otoka, and with the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Sarajevo Canton, the Foundation for Musical and Performing Arts, and the MESS Festival.
The first reprise performance was scheduled for December 3rd .
(Source: Faktor.ba, photo fena)