THE LEGEND ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD

Performers: Sanja Krsmanovic Tasic, Valentina Milivojevic, Maja Mitic
Scenario and Direction: Dijana Milosevic and Jadranka Andjelic
Set and costume design: Antonella Diana
Music: Nenad Jelic (original songs), Serbian traditional song and Irish lullaby
Texts from: "The City" by C.Cavafy, "Cassandra" by C.Wolf, "The House of The Spirits" by I. Allende, Zvonko Tarle's poetry, The Bible, Tibetan Book of Dead, Tibetan Legend About The End of The World

The Legend of The End of The World is based upon researching the myths of Creation and re-creation, as well as the traditions which preserve knowledge about the Death and meaning of Life - from the standpoint of three contemporary women who evoke archetypes from the past.

Three women remain in the ruins. It could be a house, church of any religion, library, home or their own inner space. They are determined to create life upon the ruins, to save the knowledge which can guide them. They look back in their past, tradition, legends and myths from different cultures, various songs and dances. They invoke symbolic meaning of colors and gestures. They are searching for the way to continue the Life.

Through three contemporary women archetypal characters from literature and mythology are emerging: Cassandra, Arishba, Panthesilea, goddesses Kali, Shakti and Durga, three Moiras - Past, Present and Future or Clara, Blanca and Alba from "The House of The Spirits".

"In one enigmatically beautiful image, they pour out bags of salt to form a massive hieroglyph round a miniature town square, itself harbouring their treasured photographs. It's an image of desolation, isolation, yet somehow of hope, and out of the anguish emerges a forceful plea for life."
Mark Fisher
("Glasgow Herald", 8/30/1995)

"This is Dah Theater performing "The Legend About the End of the world", an exotic mix of mythologicaal storytelling and primal dance-theater. Many of the themes reflect the confusion and madness of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the troupe's home."
Amber Scott
("Austin American-Statesman", 8/14/1996)

"The three actresses, who developed the play, are wonderfully expressive. The evocative staging holds mysteries in reserve and lets each theatergoer interpret the sights and sounds in light of his own experience. The result is theatrically liberating and incredibly moving."
Roy Proctor
("Ricmond Times-Dispatch", 8/7/1996)

"The Legend About the End of the World" is a remarkably honest performance for which we feel a great need today.
In the treatment, the "shaping" of the scenes and story, the authors of "The Legend About the End of the World" combine scenic movement and verbal speech; the interaction of these elements provide the performance with a greater and total significance. The fascinating energy and ability of the three actresses Maja Mitic, Sanja Krsmanovic and Valentina Milivojevic has incorporated itself in a remarkably honest, and by all means true, performance that we need greatly here and now; also because maybe, for a moment, it brings us back to ourselves."
Aleksandar Milosavljevic
(Dah teatar The Dance on the Remains of the World, 12/4/1995, "Vreme")

"It is a theater forcefully driven by the desire to sustain and re-create life out of the ruins of a society that has allowed itself to be suffocated."
("Theater Journal", December 1996)