Boško and Admira

About the performance

The starting point of the project is a wartime photo of a dead couple, embraced, on the Vrbanja Bridge. The Muslim Admira Ismić and the Orthodox Boško Brkić tried to escape the occupied Sarajevo in 1993, but were shot by an unknown sniper mere metres before the border. The author of the photo, the American photographer Mark H. Milstein, and the journalist Kurt Schork named the couple "Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo" and – despite the protests of both their families – turned the tragic death of two young people from opposing sides into a sensationalist story of a young couple in love, caught in the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia. When analysing the photo, the creators questioneed war photography and their own attitude to it. And war photography, torn between glorifying wartime violence and being an essential reminder of the horrors of war, is actually in a similar position as the production found itself.

This is a documentary performance that skilfully navigates the fragile balance between authenticity and artistic interpretation, without being theatrically grandiose or melodramatic. It eschews any type of moral doctrine that could easily creep into the topic, while managing – by shifting between the actual and the symbolic – to position the story [...] in the universal and to focus not on their unwavering love that persists beyond death, but on the context of their death – war and crime.

Benjamin Zajc, Delo, 20 February 2025

Through the touching theatre experience, Živa Bizovičar and her team raise a spectrum of questions without providing any answers. [...] The ensemble is harmonious and acts like a cohesive unit. [...] The artistic team devised a smart, investigative and powerful theatre piece which, using minimal interventions and sparse stage elements, takes us on a rich and sensitive journey, through the emotional, historical and metaphorical contexts.

Taja Lesjak Šilak, MMC - Multimedia Center RTV Slovenia, 2 February 2025

Bizovičar constructs the complexity of the play’s subject matter with responsibility and appropriate distance while also highlighting its sensationalist portrayal – for example, in the opening podcast scene – by using parody, irony and, at times, cynicism. [...] The cast [...] proves to be extremely fluid in shifting through layers of expression and languages. [...] The actors infuse the production with the right dose of humour, which they then instantly swerve back to more serious tones.

Jaka Smerkolj Simoneti, Sigledal, 7 February 2025

110 minutes, no interval

Video

Photo gallery