Practicing Communities in South-Slavic Theatre and Performance

This edited collection contextualizes South Slavic performance as a response to Yugoslavia’s socio-political disintegration and the crisis of self-management. The volume explores how theatre and performance became powerful tools for community-building, activism, and reimagining identity in post-Yugoslav societies through critical, site-specific, and participatory artistic practices.

Practicing Communities in South Slavic Theatre and Performance, edited by Leo Rafolt, sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of performance practices in the former Yugoslav region. Framed by the expression “Jugoslavija je okružena brigama”, authors of this volume contextualize different performances within the socio-political, cultural, and ideological tensions of the post-transition era. The texts highlight how the contextt of post-Yugoslavia’s unique post-communal model, rising nationalism, and economic instability create a fertile ground for politically charged, community-oriented artistic practices. The volume brings together essays examining diverse performance forms, ranging from avant-garde art, street protests, contemporary dance pieces, traditional forms, storytelling, and site-specific interventions to contemporary post-dramatic theatre and applied theatre. These practices are presented as tools for memory work, social critique, and identity negotiation in a fragmented post-Yugoslav context. Through case studies and theoretical frameworks, this book reveals how artists reimagine belonging and reclaim public space, positioning performance as an active force in shaping cultural memory, political discourse, and collective identity.