Bitef

5

TRAGICOMEDY - THE TRAGEDY OF OUR TIME

From Aristotle to Hegel to postmodernist theoreticians the notion of the tragic in the theatre has received many different interpretations. Although the tragedy is one of the oldest theatrological terms which are almost self-explanatory, the definition of the tragic in the modern world, and the modern theatre, is by no means an easy task. The present-day world is replete with the tragic potential yet it is very intriguing how the present-day theatre responds to it. It is clear that the reach of the theatre is limited and that television with its political programmes or reality shows has long substituted for the theatre as the place of catharsis. It is as clear that for a long time the average political life of a country has involved more elements of the classical tragedy (pathos, catharsis, tragic error etc.) than the modern theatre. Nevertheless the theatre has survived the battle with modern media and won for itself a particular space which may not affect the social order in any substantial way but can certainly challenge it, examine it and criticise it. And that is what it has been doing, more or less conspicuously and in a more or less revolutionary way, for several thousand years. This year BITEF focused on the phenomenon of manipulation with the notion of the tragic in the modern world. After we saw a host of productions, we could not but arrive at one conclusion only and it gradually morphed into this year's slogan which, in a nutshell, says that the tragic quality of today's world as perceived by the theatre always turns into a tragicomedy. One of the definitions of tragedy reads; "The very possibility of the tragic is associated with the social order as it presumes constant values to which the hero defers of his own free will. In the end, the order is always established, be it divine, metaphysical or human." The question ofthat order on which the modern civilisation is based is, in fact, what makes today's theatre authors and their audiences laugh and what prevents the modern man, all too cynical and self-centred, to find himself at the centre of the tragedy along the lines of the ancient or Shakespearean model. This selection thus brings together some of the most outstanding and prestigious names on the international stage who, each in his or her way, address modern phenomena, balancing on the thin rope stretched between the tragic and the tragicomic perception of the world they live in. They include artists like Marthaler, Goebbels and Gotscheff whom the Belgrade public already knows and artists who, although long present on the international theatre stage, come to Belgrade for the first time. It is, first and foremost, Meg Stuart, the American choreographer and dancer who lives and works in Europe. Lack of Space is the title of Marthaler's production and an excellent metaphor for the present-day humanity and, clearly, a major tragicomic topic for the modern theatre.

Anja Susa and Jovan Cirilov