The Sarajevo War Theatre (Sarajevski ratni teatar, SARTR) was founded on 17 May 1992 on the initiative of Dubravko Bibanović, Gradimir Gojer, Đorđe Mačkić and Safet Plakalo.
Actors and associates of the three existing professional theatres in Sarajevo, which had ceased all activities at the beginning of the Bosnian war, gathered around SARTR and proceeded to give some 2,000 performances during the four years of siege. In January 1993, SARTR was officially recognised by the Sarajevo City Assembly as a public institution of special significance for the defence of Sarajevo. Its spiritus movens and director, Safet Plakalo, has often spoken of SARTR as Sarajevo's spiritual weapon against the surrealism of war, summarising its charter in the catch-cry 'theatre against death'. Despite limited resources, SARTR is today a successful professional theatre company with a number of international co-productions, appearances and awards under its belt.
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or theatre:
“Once lead this people into war and they will forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“I can get dressed earlier in the evening with every intention of going to a dance at midnight, but somehow after the theatre the thing to do seems to be either to go to bed or sit around somewhere. It doesn’t seem possible that somewhere people can be expecting you at an hour like that.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)