FACULTY OF ARTS AND EDUCATION MASTER’S THESIS Programme of study: Spring semester, 2015 Master in Literacy Studies Open Author: Dina Abazović ………………………………………… (Author’s signature) Supervisor: Brita Strand Rangnes Thesis title: Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo, 1993 Susan Sontag’s war production of Samuel Beckett’s play Keywords: No. of pages: 88 + appendices/other: 22 Sarajevo, theatre under siege, Susan Sontag, Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett, war, memory studies, cultural resistance Stavanger, 13th May, 2015 Abstract When Susan Sontag staged Waiting for Godot in besieged Sarajevo in 1993, several dramaturgical changes were made to Samuel Beckett’s play. Within the framework of memory studies, the thesis explores why and how the war affected the production and looks into the significance of the event as a part of the cultural resistance towards the aggressor. This has consequences on both the reading of the play and for the understanding of the role of art in times of crisis. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Associate Professors, Brita Strand Rangnes, my supervisor, for her tireless support and guidance, and Ingrid Nielsen, for her advice and always asking the right questions; Almir Imširević for his help and support in Sarajevo; Izudin Bajrović and Admir Glamočak for unreservedly sharing their memories and experiences from the production and thereby giving me invaluable information for this thesis; photographers Paul Lowe, who generously gave his permission to use the photos of Sontag and the cast from 1993, and Amar Bidžević, who contributed by taking the photos of the sites and objects in April 2015; Kaja Schjerven Mollerin, for valuable insights and photos from the Susan Sontag archive, UCLA library; my fellow master's students, especially Mona, Torje, Elena and Astri; and Øyvind Berg, for his rigorous readings and inexhaustible patience. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 3 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 6 2 Background and Theory ........................................................................................................ 10 2.1 The Event ......................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Waiting for Godot ................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.2 Beckett ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 2.1.3 The Bosnian War ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Sontag .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.1.4.1 From Local to International ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Material ............................................................................................................................................ 18 2.2.1 Textual ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2 Visual .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Oral ............................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................. 25 2.4 Literature review ........................................................................................................................... 29 3 Sarajevo ..................................................................................................................................... 33 3.1 Pluralism through Time ............................................................................................................... 33 3.2 Before the 92-95 War .................................................................................................................... 35 4 Theatre under Siege ................................................................................................................ 38 4.1 Theatre in War Sarajevo .............................................................................................................. 38 4.2 The Production of Waiting for Godot in the Sarajevo Youth Theatre ................................ 42 4.2.1 Casting – gender blindness and number of actors ........................................................................ 42 4.2.2 Tripling the roles ..................................................................................................................................... 44 4.2.3 Manhandling the Boy ............................................................................................................................. 46 4.2.4 Nationalities .............................................................................................................................................. 47 4.3 Rehearsal conditions ..................................................................................................................... 49 4.3.1 Electricity ................................................................................................................................................... 50 4.3.2 Hunger ......................................................................................................................................................... 50 4.3.3 Fatigue ......................................................................................................................................................... 53 4.3.4 Set and props ............................................................................................................................................. 54 4.3.5 Language .................................................................................................................................................... 55 4.4 Dramaturgical changes ................................................................................................................. 56 4.5 The Performances .......................................................................................................................... 58 5 Performing the City ................................................................................................................ 60 5.1 Godot in political context: Production ...................................................................................... 61 5.2 New Layers of Meaning ................................................................................................................ 62 5.2.1 Cultural Resistance or Survival? ........................................................................................................ 63 5.2.2 Waiting and War ...................................................................................................................................... 64 5.3 Parallels ............................................................................................................................................ 66 5.3.1 City as Body .............................................................................................................................................. 68 5.3.2 Lucky the City .......................................................................................................................................... 69 5.3.2.1 Analogy ................................................................................................................................................................ 72 5.3.2.2 Representation ................................................................................................................................................... 75 4 5.3.2.3 Performance ........................................................................................................................................................ 77 5.3.2.4 Resistance ............................................................................................................................................................ 79 5.3.3 Waiting for… Clinton? .......................................................................................................................... 83 5.3.4 Lucky the City and Pozzo the Aggressor ........................................................................................ 84 5.3.5 Hungry Estragon, Hungry Citizens ................................................................................................... 88 6 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................