Theater Kikker - Utrecht

we 10,  th 11, fr 12 February: Sanja Mitrivic/ hetveem - Will You Ever Be Happy Again

Explore how nationality influences one's personal identity. Both English and Dutch subtitles.

In February, Theater Kikker has a very special performance. The performance, by Sanja Mitroviç, is partly Serbian and partly German spoken, with both English and Dutch subtitles.
Therefore it’s a great opportunity for not native speakers to come and explore Theater Kikker.

"’Are we ever going to be happy again?,’ the German population asked themselves at the end of the Second World War. A significant part of the Serbian population is facing the same question in the wake of the new millennium. The Germans called that moment ‘hour zero’, to symbolise their desire for a fresh start. But this appeared to be an illusion, because one can’t escape one’s own history; one can only hope to survive it."

Will You Ever Be Happy Again? is structured as a succession of performative situations, based, amongst others, on childhood games, primary school classes and sporting events. The performers' personal and collective memories outline the narratives of good vs. bad, of victim vs. criminal, and how these distinctions can easily be turned upside down. The German performer relates his family memories, the period after the Second World War and the Cold War era. The Serbian performer reflects on her childhood in the 1980s, the ethnic conflicts and disintegration of Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and the recent experience of becoming a Dutch citizen. Counter–pointing and mirroring each other’s cultural and historical backgrounds, they attempt to approach the problem of self–representation, the way one looks at the other, and the urge to see oneself through the eyes of another.