Nottingham Playhouse represented Britain at the Sarajevo Heart of Europe Festival as the world commemorates the centenary of World War I.
The theatre staged Nottingham writer Michael Pinchbeck’s Bolero, a co-production with ODA Theatre (Pristina) and Sarajevo War Theatre.
In 1914, Sarajevo became the symbol of the outbreak of the war. Throughout 2014, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be hosting a series of events marking 100 years since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The bond between Nottingham and Sarajevo was sealed at the 1984 Winter Olympics when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the ice skating gold medal, performing to Ravel’s Bolero. Eight years after their victory, the stadium in which they danced was bombed during the Bosnian war.
In an effort to bridge the two stories, Pinchbeck’s Bolero takes audience members on a journey from Paris to Sarajevo from 1914 to 1994 and from World War I to the Bosnian War.
Bolero premièred at Nottingham Playhouse as part of the Nottingham European Arts Theatre festival neat14. The six-strong cast from the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany also performed at the Sarajevo War Theatre on Sunday (29 June) as part of the commemorations. Nottingham Playhouse is the only British theatre to be included in this international festival.
The Playhouse’s artistic director Giles Croft, who attended the festival in Sarajevo, said, “It’s a great privilege to be the only theatre company representing the UK at the festival.
“And it’s thrilling that a Nottingham artist, Michael Pinchbeck, has created the work in collaboration with artists from the UK, Bosnia, Kosovo and Germany.
“It also highlights Nottingham Playhouse’s role as a regional theatre, making bold, new work for national and international audiences.”