The 15th edition of the regional contemporary theatre festival, Desiré Central Station will include work by Haris Pašović, Irena Popovi and festival director Andraš Urban.
The festival will take place between the 17th -26th of November at multiple locations in Subotica and the programme will consist of a selection of 11 performances and one film on the Jadran stage of the National Theater Subotica, in the Deže Kostolanji Theater and Aleksandar Lifka Art Cinema.
The slogan for this year’s edition is: Hit me baby final time. The organizer of Desire, director Andraš Urban, explained that this year’s festival title is an allusion to the famous hit Baby One More Time by Britney Spears because it has a bit of a rebellious character which reflects their point of view towards everything happening in the world right now.
On the opening day, 17th November there will be two performances – the play Vojcek, based on Georg Bihner’s text and directed by Atila Vidnjanski the Younger, in production by the National Theater from Budapest; and a festival premiere of the play The Poetics of Silence by Urban produced by and performed in the Deže Kostolanji Theater.
The following day there will be a performance of another show by Andraš Urban, Totovi based on the text by István Ékes and produced by the Sarajevo War Theatre SARTR. At the Aleksandar Lifka Art Cinema the audience will be able to watch the screening of the film Vitić Dances directed by Boris Bakal, as part of the Desire Academy.
Children at National Theatre Belgrade
On 19th November the audience will have the opportunity to see Who Plays Sonja Savić by Andraš Urban, co-produced by City Theater Čačak and Bitef Theater, Belgrade; and Oxygen written by Ivan Viripajev, directed by Tibor Palfi and produced by Theater „Aron Tamaši“, St. George, Romania.
On the 20th, Bosnian director Haris Pašović’s show Marlene Dietrich: Five Points of Indictment, produced by National Theater Sarajevo will be performed on the same day as the play Mandićcircus, produced by SNG Drama Ljubljana and Via Negativa and directed by Bojan Jablanovec.
The fifth day of the festival will feature the play Quiet, Quieter, directed by Ana Janković and performed by the Belgrade Drama Theatre. The workshop within the Desire Academy with Adrijana Hoda titled Unusual Symptoms begins the same day.
On the penultimate day of the festival the play Škofjeloški Passion directed by Jernej Lorenci and performed by the Prešeren Theatre Kranj and the City Theatre Ptuj, will be staged. The play Coexist will also be performed, with choreography by Adrijan Hoda and performed by the Bremen Theatre, Adrijan Hoda, and Unusual Symptoms.
The festival will conclude on 23rr November with the play Children/Deca, directed by Irena Popović and performed by the National Theatre in Belgrade. Desire after Day will be on Sunday 26th November there will be a performances of the play Hero 4.0 – Business as Usual, the latest in the popular Heroes series of performances directed by Uroš Kaurin and Vito Weis, and performed by Glej Theatre from Ljubljana and Moment from Maribor.
This year, the Desire Academy will be held with Žofija Serda and Branislav Filipović, who will conduct workshops for high school and college students. The workshops will focus on understanding theatre and performances, as well as how to discuss and write about them.
All performances will have translations into Hungarian and Serbian languages.
Main image: Marlene Dietrich: Five Points of Indictment, photo: Velija Hasanbegović
For more information, visit: desirefestival.eu
Further reading: Desiré Central Station Festival 2022: exhilarating, playful, questioning
Divna Stojanov is a dramaturg and playwright. She writes mainly for children and young people.
