Bitef

cated solely to the development of mutual language and ideas among the mixed Serbian and Holland crew. When, at the end of the third session, we finally decided which course we would take while working on the Orwell's novel, we had three weeks of collective work left, and one month of individual work, in order to get what we wanted. The shooting was strenuous, and it took place in The Netherlands and Serbia. The recorded footage was edited and stored in a machine called media server. Then a young computer genius, Jasper Buurman, programmed all that, making a kind of a sequence of images. Meanwhile, Vuk Tatalović and Ivana Vasic filled the mages with digital surroundings, spaces, rooms, symbols of Oceania, excerpts from Winston's diaries... In parallel with that work, I (Nikola Zavišić) was writing the script of what would be happening on stage. It is my first experience that the written material depends on recorded and programmed material. Everything was connected. I had to follow the complex impulse of the collective dive into the depths of Orwell's anti-utopia. The Result We have arrived somewhere. Something has really happened. We produced an unusual and very unique theatre form. The audience recognized it, supporting us with a thunderous applause, and staying for an hour and a half after the performance to talk to us who made it, asking all sorts of questions, from what it is like in Serbia today and is it the same like in the world that Winston lives in, to discussing at great length the topics such as: the role of media in today's global information technology madness, or to what extent a man is really free today? The goal is achieved. The dialogue is opened up. 1 am very happy that my imaginary childhood fear has become a real theatre performance and an image of a probable world. Not because the world today is a terrible place to live, but because there are people who can understand it and are trying to alleviate the existence of humankind by asking the right question in the right place. In theatre, which is supposed to question life. Always. About the author My name is Nikola, last name Zavišić. I received my M.F.A. in theatre directing in Prague, from the Department of Experimental and Puppet Theatre. I have worked in Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Sweden and Serbia. And it is different everywhere. I am trying to understand why. I am exploring various forms, from interaction between actors and puppets, to adjusting video projections to the movement of an actor in an imaginary space of digital scenery. I am trying to understand why. I often work in theatre for children and youth. It brings me closer to my own childhood, most of which I have forgotten. I am trying to understand why. I am 31 years old, and in all probability I am right in the middle of my life. It is clear to me what I did in the first half, but I don't have an idea where the second half will take me. I only know that I will continue exploring unknown territories, because only in that way I can feel worth living this life. Whether I will succeed almost doesn't concern me. I am trying to understand why.