Hi Natasha, can you tell us a bit about what audiences can expect from The Return?
The Return is a one-woman show, it is a very personal story and it’s told in a non-linear fashion, mixing storytelling with movement, sound and poetry. The piece is based on my experience of living through the Yugoslav Wars. Every generation there has lived through a war or sometimes two wars – my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, and myself have had this experience. The piece investigates what effect this had on my life. The show is very interactive and I’m talking directly to the audience throughout the show. It has this particular type of humour that some audiences referred to as “very Eastern European” (even though Croatia is not in Eastern Europe, and this is something the audience learns about in the show).
What inspired the concept behind The Return?
I was very ambivalent about the war and the breakup of former Yugoslavia, and I couldn’t put my finger on what I was feeling about this. I was feeling a lot of contradictory things and when asked about the war I often felt irritated – “oh no this question, again!” The show explores why I felt like this and how the indirect effects of war influenced my life. The Return is my own personal reconciliation with the war in the 90’s and possibly other conflicts generations before me I know have been through.
Why do you feel it is important for these stories to be retold?
It’s actually quite unnerving to tell my story at this moment in time when we are witnessing such brutal conflicts happening in the world. The show is called The Return because it’s talking about history repeating itself, but also about the fact that what we do or don’t do has consequences. I think it’s important to be reminded that a war and people doing horrible things to each other in a different part of the world have a big impact on us even if we’re not experiencing the direct consequences or that. I wish this story can plant a seed of realisation that violence is not an answer and, in any war, inevitably everyone loses something and more importantly – someone. Even for the ‘winner’ loss can be often bigger than imagined.
And finally, what do you hope audiences will go away feeling?
Theatre has this unique potential for us to really get something; to fully step into someone else’s shoes; to truly empathise. This can be a very powerful tool for change and can promote healing. I hope that my show can affect people in this way and that it offers a fresh perspective on the results of conflict. I hope that it inspires the idea that after a loss something new can grow, a new life can be rebuilt, and that the human connection is something very resilient and that it prevails.
