Co-production between the MESS International Theatre Festival, SARTR Theatre, Maladype Theatre and the Budapest Spring Festival

Translated to Bosnian by: Senada Kreso
Translated to Hungarian by: Dorka Porogi

Director: Zoltán Balázs

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, at the 63rd MESS International Theater Festival, on 10/01/2023, Susan Sontag's absurdist play Alice in bed directed by Zoltán Balázs was presented. The joint performance of the MESS International Theater Festival, the SARTR - Sarajevo War Theater, the Maladype Theatre and the Budapest Spring Festival celebrating the birth and death of the American writer, was the opening event of the international theater festival held between the 1st and 9th of October in 2023.

Alice in bed is a free-flowing 'phantasmagoria' commemorating the brilliant sister of William and Henry James, Alice James (1848-1892). At the age of nineteen, Alice fell into a deep depression, suffered from various obscure and debilitating illnesses, stayed in bed, tried to commit suicide, wrote a diary, and finally died at the age of forty-four. In Sontag's play, Alice James merges with another great Alice of her time, the heroine of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The dramatic work with a special structure is the apotheosis of the cyclic projections of despair, hopelessness and rage, the failures and victories of imagination. The twisted, multi-dimensional story reveals the mazes of Alice's damaged soul and the causes of constant family conflicts. Susan Sontag writes about her work: "I think I have been preparing my whole life to write Alice in bed. A play about women's concerns and emotions, and ultimately, a play about the imagination. The reality of the prison of the spirit. The triumph of imagination. But imaginary victory is not enough.”

Susan Sontag, the literary, feminist and pacifist icon, was passionately searching for the truth throughout her life. She spoke out against the war in Vietnam and Yugoslavia, and also carried out significant humanitarian work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In besieged Sarajevo, she directed and staged Samuel Beckett's existentialist drama Waiting for Godot with Bosnian actors who rehearsed and performed by candlelight amidst the bombings. The large number of audiences present at the performances, despite the constant danger to their lives, became a symbol of commitment to peace and unity. The jubilee direction of Zoltán Balázs also pays tribute to the legendary performance presented thirty years ago, as well as to the premiere of the writer's play Alice in bed, which was also seen by the audience for the first time three decades ago as a production of the New York Theater Workshop at the La MaMa Theater in New York.

Sontag, one of the most influential philosophers of the last century, whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages, wrote short stories, historical romance and fantasy novels, as well as four plays, the best known of which is “Alice in bed”.

Zoltán Balázs’ Sarajevo direction of Susan Sontag's cult play imbued with deep humanity is not without dynamism and playfulness, multifaceted synchronicity running on several levels and strands, storytelling combining specific content and form solutions, and the emotional execution that is completed through verbal and non-verbal signs and intellectual enhancement.

Cast:
Alice James: Snežana Bogićević
Mother/Nurse: Ana-Mia Karić
Alice's father "Henry": Kemal Rizvanović
Alice's brother "Harry": Sanjin Arnautović
Margaret Fuller: Matea Mavrak
Emily Dickinson: Hana Zrno
Young man: Enes Kozličić

Creators:
Director: Zoltán Balázs
Dramaturg: Zoltán Balázs
Set designer: Zoltán Balázs
Costume designer: Ljiljana Majkić
Mask: Sanela Aličković Ćatović
Music director: Tijana Vignjević
Editor of sound: Nedim Zlatar
Sound: Irhad Hodžić
Light: Armin Berberović, Džani Dimovski
Assistant directors: Ajla Medanhodzić, Minja Novaković
Production assistants: Lejla Hsanbegovic, Belma Jusufović
Production managers: Katalin Balázs, Maia Salkić
Producers: Sylvia Huszár, Nihad Kreševljaković

Venue: SARTR - Sarajevo War Theatre, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Opening night: 10/01/2023

Duration of the performance: 90 minutes

Awards:
Golden Mask Award - 63. MESS International Theatre Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2023

Sponsors: Ministry of Culture and Innovation, Ministry of Culture and Sports of Bosnia and Herzegovina