Written and performed by Kolektiv Igralke from Rijeka, the documentary performance Bakice (Grannies) has been winning the hearts of audiences all over Croatia ever since it premiered as part of the programme Rijeka 2020 – European Capital of Culture. The play is now beginning to conquer the international theatre scene, reports Novi list.
Following the international festival of contemporary performing arts Mladi Levi in Ljubljana, the Zoom Festival in Rijeka and the Ulysses Theatre, the play is now heading to the prestigious Theatertreffen Festival in Berlin.
Out of 357 applications from 61 countries, the expert jury selected only five projects to be included in the programme of the Theatertreffen-Stückemarkt Festival in Berlin. Among them is the play Bakice, a project of the artist collective Igralke from Rijeka.
Authors and actors Sendi Bakotić, Ana Marija Brđanović, Anja Sabol and Vanda Velagić will perform their play in Berlin in May 2022, accompanied by the Bakice director and co-author Tjaša Črnigoj from Slovenia.
The Theatertreffen Festival is one of the most renowned European theatre festivals, which historically featured great names such as Pine Bausch, Samuel Beckett, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Heiner Müller, Thomas Ostermeier and many others.
Theatertreffen-Stückemarkt is a platform that presents new progressive authors and projects from all over the world. Kolektiv Igralke and Tjaša Črnigoj were invited to stay in Berlin for two weeks and participate in various workshops and networking programmes with foreign artists and producers. They’re also in the running to win a production of a new project at the Schauspiel Leipzig theatre in the 2023/2024 season.
The play Bakice which got the authors invited to the Berlin festival redefines the classical boundaries of theatre and art. It was written based on testimonies of poor elderly women from Rijeka who survive by collecting discarded plastic bottles.
Touching and unexpectedly entertaining, the play speaks about work, dignity, youth and old age, survival and life of women over the age of 65. In a time where it’s become ‘normal’ to dig through garbage bins, Bakice are questioning where we are and where we’re headed as individuals and as a society.
The play’s impact goes beyond theatre walls, as donations for programme booklets go directly to the four women who shared their personal stories which are featured in the play: Albina, Ludmila, Marta and Suzana.
