Undergraduate thesis attempts to find political elements in four selected dramas and tries to determine if the dramas could be considered political theatre. All four dramas were created in a period of nearly twenty years (1979–1996) and in one way or another relate to the situation in (new) Yugoslavia. The discussion begins with a brief historical overview, highlighting the most important political events in the period when plays were produced in Yugoslavia (from about 1980 to 1995), followed by a definition of the concept of political theatre, based on the
interpretation and observations of Siegfried Melchinger, a German theatre critic. Melchinger sets out certain criteria for what distinguishes political theatre from non-political theatre, explaining it in terms of elements such as criticism, public affairs, the desire to disseminate political ideas, unmasking, etc. Dušan Jovanović's play Karamazovi seeks to draw attention to the consequences that the injustice and cruelty of the system can cause, while the play Clairvoyant or the Day of the Dead, ironically intervenes in the sphere of the political elite.
Both plays are harsh critiques of the Yugoslav political regime. In a similar way, the Macedonian playwright Goran Stefanovski also criticises the system. The play Hi-Fi depicts an intergenerational rift and the incompatibility of values between the political leadership and society. Bacchanalia, on the other hand, focuses on the absurdity of wars in the Yugoslav space. In the last chapter, a comparison of political elements (criticism, unmasking, coding,
humour, etc.) shows a clear link between the selected plays and political theatre.
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