The programme has been announced for the 57th edition of the Belgrade International Theater Festival (BITEF).
The festival will take place between 3rd-10th October 2023, slightly later than in previous years. The slogan for this year’s edition is: Snago, ne pristaj da budeš nečija.
The 57th edition of the festival will be the first of new artistic director Nikita Milivojević. He was appointed to the role earlier this year, taking over from theatre critic and scholar Ivan Medenica, who was BITEF’s artistic director for the past seven years.
Milivojević previously revealed that he was working with a co-selector team on this year’s festival, working in conjunction with BITEF producer Ksenija Đurović and dramaturg Tijana Grumić. In a press conference announcing the first details of the 57th edition, he explained how they worked as a team with different interests and expertise, with Đurović more focused on the dance scene, and Grumić more focused on dramatic theatre,
The programme of the 57th edition will consist of a selection of nine performances, of which three are domestic and six are international. In the spirit of continuity the festival will retain some of the structure aspects as it had during Medenica’s tenure.
As in previous years the festival will start with an out-of-competition “Prologue” performance. This year’s prologue, which will take place on 3rd October, will be Frank Castorf’s epic five-hour performance of The Divine Comedy, produced by Belgrade Drama Theatre.
Nikita Milivojevic
The grand opening of the 57th edition of BITEF will be a production of Children of the Sun, based on the work of Maxim Gorky, directed by Slovenian director Mateja Koležnik, a Schauspielhaus production which will be performed at Yugoslav Drama Theatre.
On 5th October 5 there will be a performance of Goodbye, Lindita by young director Mario Banoushi, for the National Theater of Greece from Athens, which will be hosted at the National Theater in Belgrade.
On 6the October, there will be a performance of All Adventurous Women Do by Tanja Šljivar and director Selma Spahić on the main stage of Atelje 212.
There will also be a Hungarian piece Singing Youth by the authors Judit Berec, Bence Gyorgy Palinkas and Mate Sigeti, produced by Trafo House of Contemporary Arts from Budapest, which will be performed on 6th and 7th October.
Audiences will then have an opportunity to watch wo nights, October 7 and 8, are reserved for Sun and Sea in Kalemegdan, a contemporary opera performance which premiered in 2017 at the Lithuanian National Gallery of Art and won the “Golden Lion” at the Venice Biennale.
On 8th October, Bitef Theater will present The desire to make solid history will end in failure by author and choreographer Igor Koruga.
The final two performances will be Joan of Arc – Jeanne by the Croatian author Ivana Sajko, directed by Anja Suša, a production of the Riksteatren theater and Dramaten in Sweden and Wakatt by author and choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly from Faso Dance Theater, which will close the festival, though venues for these last two performances have yet to be decided.
Main image: Sun and Sea
for more information, visit: bitef.festival.rs
Further reading: Ivan Mendenica announces his departure from BITEF
Further reading: interview with Mateja Koležnik: “Art is a tool to open people’s minds.”
Natasha Tripney is a writer, editor and critic based in London and Belgrade. She is the international editor for The Stage, the newspaper of the UK theatre industry. In 2011, she co-founded Exeunt, an online theatre magazine, which she edited until 2016. She is a contributor to the Guardian, Evening Standard, the BBC, Tortoise and Kosovo 2.0
