For six hours on Sunday 20 September the whole of Belgrade became a stage. Or, more accurately, 60 ‘micro-stages.’ In cultural spaces and bars, in private apartments and out on the streets, Serbia’s theatre community held a variety of performances, talks and screenings. Audiences were given a map and were invited to curate their own mini-festival, moving from space to space, shaping their own route through the city.

This was all in aid of the fact the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) turns 60 this year. But while people were in a suitably celebratory mood, this event was not part of the official festival programme. That was taking place elsewhere.

This was ne:BITEF, an unofficial guerrilla action which saw a large part of Serbia’s theatre community – plus several notable international guests – coming together. Former BITEF artistic director Ivan Medenica was in conversation with German director Thomas Ostermeier. Another former director of the festival, Nikita Milivojević, was hanging out with Milo Rau. Playwright-performers Maja Pelević and Olga Dimitrijević sat under the unnecessarily massive statue of Stefan Nemanja in downtown Belgrade and engaged in an act of antiperformance. Teater Mimart’s Nela Antonović staged a six-hour outdoor durational performance in homage to Frank Castorf that involved raw meat and fake snakes (it got so hot the glue in their shoes started to melt). Nikola Knežević, a regular collaborator of Florentina Holzinger, was walking round the city dressed as a police officer in a homage to Romeo Castellucci’s Bros. Pussy Riot was in town doing something. (I am still not sure what Pussy Riot was doing). I hosted a screening of Alexander Zeldin’s LOVE (though fittingly, the lengthy presentation on Zeldin’s work I had prepared ended up being distilled into a series of micro-presentations). As more than one person commented on the day, the biggest issue was one of chronic FOMO.

Read More on Natasha Tripney’s substack.

Ne:BITEF Photo: Nata Korenovskaia