The MESS International Theatre Festival (MESS) is a

theatre festival Theatre festivals are amongst the earliest types of festival. Classical Greek theatre was associated with religious festivals dedicated to Dionysus, called the City Dionysia. The medieval mystery plays were presented at the major Christian feasts ...

that takes place annually in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. It is the oldest living theatre festival in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, programming international experimental performances and emerging artists. MESS was the largest theatre festival in the

Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

and was named one of

Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/po ...

's international showcases in 1974. It survived the

Siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, the city was then be ...

, during which it hosted directors such as Susan Sontag and

Peter Schumann Peter Schumann (born 11 June 1934) is the co-founder and director of the Bread and Puppet Theater, Bread & Puppet Theater. Born in Silesia, he was a sculpture, sculptor and dancer in Germany before moving to the United States in 1961. In 1963 he f ...

. It organized the first edition of the

Sarajevo Film Festival The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internati ...

in 1993 and still acts as a collective board member today. Today it is the largest theatre festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the largest in South-Eastern Europe. In 2009 it expanded its activities to the city of

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The city is k ...

, which now hosts parts of the regional program.

History

The festival was founded in 1960 under the name ''Festival malih i eksperimentalnih scena Jugoslavije'' (Festival of small and experimental stages of Yugoslavia). It was founded on the initiative of Yugoslavian theatre director, Jurislav Korenić. It was originally conceived as an annual gathering of the country's professional theatre companies with the goal of presenting the best experimental theatre pieces of the previous year. The specificity of the concept quickly garnered a wider audience and secured visits from international experimental theatre companies, such as

Living Theater The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/po ...

from New York City, that named the festival one of its four major annual show-piece platforms. With the start of the Bosnian war in 1992 the festival's run was halted, only for it to be renamed and rebranded by a directorate of Bosnian artists and intellectuals, headed by theatre director

Haris Pašović Haris Pašović (born 16 July 1961) is a Bosnian theatre director. Over the course of his career, he has also worked as a playwright, producer, choreographer, performer, and designer. He is best known for his productions of Wedekind's “ Spring A ...

, with the desire to artistically resist the

. Furthermore, the festival organized the first edition of the

in 1993 under the working title ''Poslije kraja svijeta'' (After the end of the world). During this period in time the festival produced numerous pieces by theatre directors such as Susan Sontag and

, who entered the besieged city to take part in the artistic resistance against the war. With the signing of the

Dayton Peace Accords The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски миро ...

the festival was taken over by a team of young theatre professionals headed by newly-named manager Dino Mustafić. The first post-war edition of the festival hosted directors such as

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and die ...

Frank Castorf Frank Castorf (born 17 July 1951 in East Berlin) is a German theater director and was the artistic director of the ''Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz'' from 1992 to 2015. His work is often associated with postdramatic theatre. Biography E ...

and Peter Schumann. In 2008 the festival changed its original format by introducing a handful of new programs. The ''Mittel Europe MESS'' program is designed to showcase the most interesting theatre pieces from the Former Yugoslavia and the wider South-Eastern European region. The ''World MESS'' program hosts pieces from Africa, Asia and Latin America, while the ''Future MESS'' program cultivates the original concept of the festival by showcasing the most experimental and subversive productions from across the globe. Furthermore, a children's program has also been established under the name ''Children MESS''. Theatre directors that have taken part in the festival include:

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

, Robert Wilson,

Eugenio Barba Eugenio Barba (born 29 October 1936) is an Italian author and theatre director based in Denmark. He is the founder of the Odin Theatre and the International School of Theatre Anthropology, both located in Holstebro, Denmark. Biography Barba was ...

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007. Biograph ...

Eimuntas Nekrošius Eimuntas Nekrošius (November 21, 1952 – November 20, 2018) was a Lithuanian theatre director. Biography Early life Nekrošius was born in Pažobris village, Raseiniai district municipality, Lithuania on November 21, 1952. Career In 1978, Nek ...

Alvis Hermanis Alvis Hermanis is a Latvian theatre director, set designer and actor. Since 1997 he has worked at the New Riga Theatre ( lv, Jaunais Rīgas teātris) as artistic director. Early life and education Hermanis was born in Riga and in his early te ...

Olivier Py Olivier Py (; born 24 July 1965 in Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French stage director, actor and writer. Career In 1997, Py became director of the Centre dramatique national d'Orléans. In 2007, he became director of the Théâtre de l'Odéon ...

, Mark Tompkins, Wlodzimierz Staniewski,

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ...

Christoph Marthaler Christoph Marthaler (born 17 October 1951, in Erlenbach, Switzerland) is a Swiss director and musician, working in the style of avant-garde theater, such as Expressionism and Dada, a theater of the absurd elements. In 1998, he was awarded the IV ...

Thomas Ostermeier Thomas Ostermeier (born 3 September 1968, Soltau, West Germany) is a German theatre director. He currently mainly works for the Schaubühne. Biography Ostermeier began his theatrical career in 1990 acting under director Einar Schleef, one of hi ...

Andriy Zholdak Andriy Zholdak ( uk, Андрій Жолдак, born 18 November 1962) is a Ukrainian theatre director. From 2002 to 2005 he was the director at the Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre in Kharkiv. In 2006 Zholdak moved to Germany and worked at Theat ...

, Rimas Tuminas, Emma Dante, Rodrigo Garcia, Heiner Goebbels

Romeo Castellucci Romeo Castellucci (born August 4, 1960) is an Italian theatre director, playwright, artist and designer. Since the 1980s he has been one part of the European theatrical avant-garde. Biography Romeo Castellucci graduated with a degree in paintin ...

, Wim Vandekeybus,

Forced Entertainment Forced Entertainment is an experimental theatre company based in Sheffield, England, founded by Tim Etchells in 1984. Details and history Forced Entertainment originally focused on making and touring theatre performances before expanding to lo ...

, Laert Vasili.

Memory Modul

The Memory Modul is a cultural project initiated by the festival in 1995 with the goal of preserving the memory of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project has worked to keep hundreds of documents, photographs and videos from being forgotten and has offered audiences new and creative works which are related to the Bosnian war as well as other armed conflicts across the world. Furthermore, the Memory Modul has produced a handful of documentary films, including ''Greta'' by Haris Pašović, which documented the life of Greta Ferušić, a retired professor of architecture at the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the largest ...

and survivor of Auschwitz and the Siege of Sarajevo.Greta Ferusic
.

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the oldest Jewish film festival in the world, and currently the largest with a 2016 attendance figure of 40,000 at screenings in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, San Rafael, and Palo Alto. The three-week summe ...

Festival venues

The principal venues of the Festival are: * Kamerni teatar 55 *

Sarajevo War Theatre The Sarajevo War Theatre ( bs, Sarajevski ratni teatar / Сарајевски ратни театар, SARTR ) is a theatre in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded on 17 May 1992 on the initiative of Dubravko Bibanović, Gradimir Gojer ...

Sarajevo National Theatre The Sarajevo National Theatre ( Bosnian and Serbian: ''Narodno pozorište Sarajevo'', Народно позориште Сарајево, Croatian: ''Narodno kazalište Sarajevo'') was founded in November 1921. The opening ceremony was led by ...

Bosnian National Theatre Bosnian may refer to: *Anything related to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its inhabitants *Anything related to Bosnia (region) or its inhabitants * Bosniaks, an ethnic group mainly inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of three const ...

Sarajevo Youth Theatre The Sarajevo Youth Theatre ( bs, Pozorište mladih Sarajevo / Позориште младих Сарајево) is a children's and youth theatre in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 1950 under the name ''Pioneer Theatre''. It i ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

MESS official website
Recurring events established in 1960 October events Tourist attractions in Sarajevo Annual events in Bosnia and Herzegovina Theatre festivals in Bosnia and Herzegovina Festivals in Sarajevo Festivals in Yugoslavia