“The play ‘Like a Stone – Velenka Brstinova and Her Daughter Dragana,’ which portrays the suffering of Herzegovinian Serbs during World War II but also depicts life, will be performed at the Cultural Center in Pale on December 10th,” as announced by the institution.
The play “Like a Stone – Velenka Brstinova and Her Daughter Dragana” is scheduled for 7:00 PM, and admission is free.
This documentary monodrama, based on the text by Dragana Mandrapa, a Serbian language and literature professor from East Sarajevo, tells the authentic story of two women, a mother and daughter, their lives, and their sufferings. It also emphasizes the strength they showed during the greatest trials and tribulations.
“‘Like a Stone’ narrates the story of the massacred Serbs in Herzegovina in 1941 and 1944, as well as the ordeals of Sarajevo Serbs who left their homes in 1996 in the same column with their exhumed dead heroes, heading into the unknown. Written in a confessional manner, it depicts different personalities, the mother and daughter, Velenka and Dragan, women with different life stories but exhibiting identical strength in facing life’s greatest tragedies,” as stated in the announcement.
Actress Ljiljana Čekić from the National Theatre of Republika Srpska and the playwright Dragana Mandrapa, nurturing the culture of remembering their ancestors, descendants of families that perished in the genocide against Serbs during World War II, created a performance depicting the resilience of life that always finds its way, as well as the character of women as strong as stone.
The play was officially selected for the 28th Festival of Small Scenes and Monodrama in East Sarajevo 2023, and it premiered before a large audience at the “Petar Kočić” stage in the National Theatre of Republika Srpska on October 14th.
