This week, the ‘Second Europe’ programme arch presents new festival which focuses on social inclusion and audience development of socially marginalised groups, erases borders between professional and youth, institutional and non-institutional theatre – UPAD Festival, which will take place in Novi Sad from 30 October until 9 November.

New theatre festival is launched by the Students’ Cultural Centre Novi Sad, and is part of the ‘Be SpecACTive’ European project, which aims at the audience development, i.e. the creation of the so-called ‘active observer’ or ‘selectors’. The group of young, active observers, formed by the Students’ Cultural Centre Novi Sad, selected the UPAD Festival, and audience in Novi Sad will have a chance to see seven theatre plays.

The ‘Naši Preci, Jedite sa Nama’ theatre play by Puls Theatre and Sterija National Theatre, is the first theatre play within the UPAD Festival, which will be performed in the Novi Sad Theatre, on 30 October at 8 p.m.  As Stevan Bodroža, director, said himself, ‘The ‘Naši Preci, Jedite sa Nama’ theatre play by young playwright Goran Milenković, presents the contemporary ‘reincarnation’ of the famous ‘Sabirni Centar’ by Dušan Kovačević’.

The repertoire of the UPAD Festival will include the ‘Jeste li za Bezbednost’ play, which will be held in the Novi Sad Theatre, on 31 October at 8 p.m. The theatre play by the National Theatre in Belgrade reveals, designates and deconstructs different mechanisms of the proclaimed (male) safety in the period of the beginning of the collapse of Yugoslavia, when it was still possible to prevent destruction, sufferings and deportations of people. It is dedicated to ones who, with their actions, public appearances, joint activities, did their best to prevent the rhetoric that leads to the madness of war, truly inform, help people who have been hurt and banished, and lessen their suffering.

In addition to this, the ‘Severoistok’ theatre play by Beo Art and Bitef theatre, will be held within the UPAD Festival on 2 November. The play emerged from true confessions of survived people in hostage situation in Moscow in 2002, when the group of Chechen terrorists got in the theatre and required from Russia to withdraw the troops from Grozny.

The ‘Talas’ theatre play by the ‘Dadov’ Youth Theatre, inspired by school experiments performed by Professor Ron Jones, will be held on 5 November.

On 6 November, the play will be followed by the ‘O S(a)vesti’ theatre play by the Hleb Theatre, and it covers the topic about Dada Vujasinović, journalist of the ‘Duga’ magazine, who got killed and whose death remained unsolved, while the ‘Rubište’ theatre play by Šabac theatre will be held on 7 November.

All plays will be performed in the Novi Sad Theatre, at 8 p.m. except the last play by the Grammar School from Lebane, which will be held within the ‘Mrtvo More za Početnike’ Festival in the ‘Laza Kostić’ Grammar School, on 8 November at 8 p.m.

You can buy tickets (RSD 500) at the ticket offices of the Novi Sad Theatre and via Gigstix sales network. The ticket package for all seven plays is RDS 2,500. The ticket price for students and high schools students is RSD 300, and ticket package is RSD 1,500.

The ‘Be SpecACTive’ European project is co-financed within the Creative Europe – Culture programme. The project is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia and the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation.