Duška Radosavljević speaks to theatre director Andjelka Nikolić and her collaborators about the current student protests in Serbia and what it means to stand in solidarity with them.
The theatre community has been at the forefront of recent anti-corruption protests in Serbia, triggered by the railway station disaster in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024. What began as a bewildered response to tragedy has evolved into a sustained movement of solidarity with student protesters, blurring the lines between artistic performance and political action.
Early on after the accident the Society of Drama Artists published a statement demanding institutional responsibility for deaths and violence which was being read after live performances. Alumni from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts – the very institution that sparked the initial student blockades – have also signed petitions supporting the student movement.
Curtain calls have featured performers and musicians wearing red gloves – a symbol of governmental culpability, representing hands stained with the blood of those lost in the railway disaster. Performance spaces have become moments of collective mourning and political statement, with many shows ending in acknowledgments of the ongoing protests and the broader societal crisis.
There has been a strong sense of admiration and need to show moral support to the students. Actors and directors have played for students in situ at their blockades or made video messages of solidarity. Some of us theatre workers and pedagogues living abroad have offered messages of support in other ways, such as this letter with over 450 signatories including Anja Suša, Milo Rau, Lola Arias, Patrice Pavis and still counting.
More recently, theatre performances have been cancelled in protest. Meanwhile television writers, directors, and technical workers have taken the unprecedented step of demanding their work not be shown on RTS, the national broadcaster widely seen as a mouthpiece for the current government. Following the incident on 16th January when the law student Sonja Ponjavić was hit by a car while standing on a pavement during the protest, several theatres in Serbia including the National Theatre in Belgrade and the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad cancelled their performances.
Citizens have amplified this theatrical resistance through their own performative support. They bring food and blankets to student blockades, join 15-minute silent vigils at the precise time of the railway disaster, and participate in major public gatherings. From Slavia Square (on 22 December 2024) to the New Year’s march and the recent gathering outside RTS, and the 24-hour occupation of the major ring road Autokomanda, these actions have transformed public spaces into stages of collective grief and political hope.
I asked theatre director Andjelka Nikolić how she was responding to the events. In the spirit of honouring the need for collective dialogue in the Serbian society, she responded with a polyphonic response featuring also some of her current collaborators: Anita Dakić (Applied Media student, Faculty of Contemporary Arts, Belgrade), Jana Dekanski (actress), Andrijana Dragnić (actress and teacher), and Ivan Lalić (playwright).
What does solidarity with the students mean to you?
ANITA: I am still a student. It is important to us that the citizens have solidarity with us, that they visit the blockades and the protests, that the students receive space in the media. These blockades are so far the longest in the history of student protests.
Today I heard a witty slogan from a small independent food producer ‘Ne pravimo sok – idemo u blok’ (‘We no longer make juices – we are supporting the student blockades’). It’s really nice that many small organisations, bookshops, cafes, and drugstores are going on strike. It means a lot to us.
JANA: I am somewhere in between – still a student on a masters programme, but not directly involved with the blockades. Of course I support them, but I think that the younger generations should have the spotlight.
ANDRIJANA: I teach at a private university. I put in a lot of effort into supporting the incoming students. I am here for them.
IVAN: I am over the moon that this generation has come about, woken up, got active. I am very positively surprised by their character and vision. It’s the best thing happening to us in the last 30 years. They have a better energy than the protesters from 5th October 2000 (that toppled Milošević), because they are more rational, smarter, more sober. I am very optimistic. I am very grateful. I am 59 years old, but these days I feel ten years younger. I ask please that everyone reading this shows solidarity to our students, because they are a source of light for all of Europe, not just Serbia.
What differences do you perceive between these protests and any previous ones in terms of their dramaturgy, performativity and possible outcome?
JANA: To me they seem more serious, better organised, very witty and charming. They have a prepared response for every provocation, they are not aggressive. They turn everything around to make it more humorous and find a positive side. The initial energy did not quickly fade away as was the case with some previous protests. It’s promising. They are not giving up.
ANDRIJANA: I would also say that it would be good for the students to continue in the same way. They should not start behaving the same as the other side, they should not respond to violence with violence.
JANA: I must add, it is impressive how actively the students respond to every new event. After the incident with Sonja (who was hit by a car), the student monitors now always guard the pavements to protect the citizens. The individual faculties are very well connected among themselves and the rules are clear. Every event has a clear goal and topic.
IVAN: These protests are completely different. The students show intelligent leadership, they always anticipate what the other side will do – and the other side is not innocent, they resort to traps and shenanigans, which the students always smartly avoid. They remediate every danger. It’s worth mentioning for example, that they cancelled the celebration of the Serbian New Year on 14th January. This was done in order to avoid potential conflation of messages with those of nationalist groups. That type of strategic thinking is fascinating and it makes a difference in relation to our earlier experiences. But the main question that interests me is: how to turn this fantastic rebellion into a future political force?
ANDJELKA: That is my main hope too – that all of this energy and forms of functioning, collaborating, decision-making, planning, communication will be formulated into a kind of organisation that can become a lasting factor and main pivot of our political life.
IVAN: It’s incredible how well they speak in public, as if they have 15 years of media experience. They are so calm and eloquent.
JANA: Every faculty focuses on their own subject of expertise according to which they choose their tools. Everyone is doing the things they are best at.
IVAN: Their creativity is becoming infectious. Yesterday I was watching a news item about an incident in a school where someone had left some highly offensive graffiti on the school wall. The teachers were asked how the children reacted to this, and they replied that together with the children, they worked to change those signs into something else. They changed around the meaning. That’s the kind of creativity I mean. The whole society is accepting their humour and their creativity as a new mode of behaviour.
ANDJELKA: It’s striking how kind everyone is too each other at the protests. That is also a change in behaviour that we have got from the students.
How do you interpret the significance of silence as a political tool?
JANA: I know it will sound like a cliche, but it’s really a silence that speaks volumes. It is awe-inspiring to stand in a mass of people that suddenly goes quiet.
ANITA: At the Slavija protest it took half a minute to a minute to establish the silence. You could hear some shouts, slogans, it seemed as if some people needed time to realise where they are. Then, silence.
ANDRIJANA: For me that silence represents unity, accord. As a people, we have always had a problem to agree. In this silence, we become one, we breathe together. Any words are superfluous.
IVAN: For us theatre people that’s a natural situation, because silence is for us a serious dramatic resource and tool. I am not religious but I use those 15 minutes to re-examine important things in life, to weigh up life decisions, do have a chat with myself. I always say how rewarding those 15 minutes are, like some sort of spiritual cleansing. And on top of that there is the actual reason we do it and the surroundings we do it in as another incomparable dimension of the situation.
ANDJELKA: For me it is impressive how those generations, who we have long considered to be so immersed in new technologies – staring into screens, absent from the real life – now bring to us authentic life experiences such as those silences. The silence of a hundred or a thousand people in a public space brings about a sense of closeness and intimacy with strangers. And a shared consciousness as to why we are here and what we have in common, and a readiness to put aside the time and find the space to practice that which we have in common, potentially has a great political significance.
Further reading: All under the canopy: How student protestors in Serbia are making themselves heard
Duška Radosavljević Krojer is a writer, dramaturg and academic. She is the author of award-winning academic monograph Theatre-Making: Interplay Between Text and Performance in the 21st Century (2013) and editor of Theatre Criticism: Changing Landscapes (2016) and the Contemporary Ensemble: Interviews with Theatre-Makers (2013). Her work has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK multiple times including for www.auralia.space (2020-21) and The Mums and Babies Ensemble (2015). She is a regular contributor to The Stage, Exeunt and The Theatre Times.