The Dark Ages

The Dark Ages is the second part in Milo Rau's critical theatre trilogy on the failure of Europe's unification project. The Swiss writer and theatre maker is one of the most controversial and in-demand directors of his generation. Rau has developed an original, minimalist and literary style of theatre, poised between journalism, documentary, film and performance art, often blurring the line between actor and character.

The first part of Rau's trilogy, The Civil Wars, deals with the rise of extremism in Western Europe. In this performance, four actors discuss the complicated relationship with their fathers. For the second part, The Dark Ages, Rau puts five actors on stage who have each been scarred for life by war in Eastern Europe, from the end of the Second World War (1945) to the fall of Sarajevo (1995). Staged on an inventive set – which changes from a monument into a study – using cameras and a large projection screen, these five life stories are interwoven into the performance. Supported by the ominous sounds of Slovenian cult band Laibach – widely known and notorious for their flirt with totalitarian iconography, social realism, nazi art and pop culture – Rau shows us the dark side of Europe. What happens to people when their ideals are shattered and their country is torn apart? What are the foundations Europe is built on?

Vedrana Seksan is an actress with the Bosnian National Theatre. She talks of her experiences during the siege of Sarajevo; how she survived not only the ceaseless shelling, but also the long and deep crisis of the aftermath. Despite the NATO bombings, Sanja Mitrović stayed in Belgrade to dance. Later on, she left Serbia for the Netherlands, where the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was to be held. As a young Bosnian, Sudbin Musić survived mass murders and concentration camps. Now he works as a human rights activist in his home village. He had to identify the remains of his own father which were discovered in a mass grave. Rau's cast is completed by two actors from Munich's Residenztheater: Manfred Zapatka and Valery Cheplanova. Zapatka’s memories go back to post-war Germany, stories about forced evacuations and the return of his father, broken after his stretch as a prisoner of war camp. Cheplanova moved with her mother from the Soviet city of Kazan to settle in Germany, where she became a puppeteer touring the world with Heiner Muller's production Hamletmachine. Five stories about refuge, homelessness, justice, the role of art, despair, loss and carrying on with life.

Laibach's music plays a significant part in the performance. At a concert in Belgrade in 1989, the band prophesied the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia. In 1995, the Dayton Agreement, officially putting an end to the Bosnian War, was signed while the band were playing on stage in Sarajevo. Two of the actors performing in The Dark Ages witnessed the band’s performance: Mitrović at the concert in Belgrade, Seksan in Sarajevo, when the historic peace agreement was signed.

Rau reveals Europe's shaky foundations by investigating their poignant biographies. These intimate close-ups put a face to a continent which in its history has fallen apart numerous times before. Europe is not a realm, but a ruin, desperately searching for a new ideology. The Dark Ages represents a political psycho-analysis of our times.