Daphne Kuhn presents
CHEERS TO SARAJEVO

20^th September – 8^th October

Written by AIMEE GOLDSMITH and LIDIJA MARELIC
Director LIDIJA MARELIC (Naledi Nominee 2016 - Best New Emerging Voice)
Assistant Director LARICE KELLY
Designer KAYLI ELIT SMITH

starring
Duane Behrens, Aimèe Goldsmith, Chris van Rensburg, Yiorgo Sotoropolis and Julian Kruger

“Cheers to Sarajevo” has just returned from its international premiere in Austria

Daphne Kuhn proudly presents a riveting and new, locally written play on an international theme, which opens at Sandton’s Auto & General Theatre on the Square on the 20^th September. The production has just returned from its international premiere in Austria after great critical acclaim. CHEERS TO SARAJEVO, written by Aimee Goldsmith and Lidija Marelic, is directed by Lidija Marelic (Naledi Nominee for Best Emerging Voice) and designed by Kayli Elit Smith. The production stars five brilliant young actors with already established names in the industry – Duanne Behrens, Aimee Goldsmith, Chris van Rensburg, Yiorgo Sotoropolis and Julian Kruger.

It is December 1991, Post WWII. Yugoslavia is about to erupt in a civil war as different regions fight for their independence. Where religions, cultures and languages once represented the country’s rich diversity it now becomes the catalyst for unimaginable atrocity. Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina is at its epicentre; and Bosnia has since been immortalized as one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing in the history of Europe. It is here that the play unfolds.

Peter, a young South African photo-journalist finds himself torn away from his team. In order to find his way back to them, he begins his journey, cutting through the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. Upon arrival, Peter captures a photograph of Mirela and Aleksander’s forbidden love affair. Using this photograph as blackmail, he is able to lure Mirela into being his guide to return to his team. Before they have a chance to leave Bosnia, the siege of Sarajevo begins and these characters now find themselves at the centre of the civil war.

As the story develops, friendship, love and loyalty is questioned. The realities of war become raw and any sense of heroism falls away. Serbian nationalism comes up against Bosnian culture and tries to cut through the most basic form of human interaction – love. How does Peter’s loss of innocence, Mirela’s impulsive instinct and Aleksander’s never-ending pride help these three people survive the same war?

“We feel an absolute urgency to tell this story so it is remembered and never forgotten. So much of what happened in Sarajevo was about violence against difference. Without expressing our traumatized past we merely manifest war into our daily mentality. A mentality of destruction perpetuated into our homes as rape, into our friendships as betrayal and ultimately into our society as apathy. This story is about the endurance of the human spirit to overcome insurmountable acts of violence and hate. It brings message of healing, history and love that is relevant not only on our own soil but to the world.” - Aimèe & Lidija

There will be 6 performances per week including two shows on Saturdays at 6pm and 8.30pm. Call the theatre on 011 883-8606 or book online: www.ticketpro.com. Enquire about group discounts and dinner show bookings by arrangement with many of the adjacent upmarket new restaurants on the Nelson Mandela Square at Sandton City.

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After performances the Cheers to Sarajevo team offer an enlightening panel discussion. Previous audience members who have engaged with this have referred to the panel as a means of debriefing after watching the events of Cheers to Sarajevo unfold.

The panel discussion will commence after the performance (on request). The panel will include, Aimèe Goldsmith, co-writer and lead actress of Cheers to Sarajevo, Lareece Kelly, assistant director and Anne Marie Du Preez Bezdrob, former UN Peace -keeper in Bosnia.

Discussions will centre around the creation of the work as well as the subject at hand, being genocide. The platform will be opened to the audience who will be invited to engage in a dialogue.

Anné Mariè du Preez Bezdrob is an author, former United Nations political and information officer, award-winning political journalist and radio and television anchor.

During the war in Bosnia she spent two years, from 1993 to 1995, in the capital Sarajevo as a member of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Her responsibilities included assistance to victims of ethnic cleansing and negotiating the exchange of hundreds of prisoners of war; and prompted her to write a book about the suffering caused by war and the horror of genocide. When she recognised the crucial relief which art brought to the besieged population of the city she incorporated assistance to local artists within the scope of her responsibilities.

Her published works include the acclaimed political biographies ‘Sarajevo Roses: War Memoir of a Peacekeeper’; ‘Winnie Mandela – A Life’, which is the subject of the film ‘Winnie Mandela’; and The Nelson Mandela Story.