The history of Serbian community theatre in Sydney

Abstract

This thesis is composed of two parts, the exegesis, which offers a history of Serbian community theatre in Sydney, and the creative component, a play, The Land, written to be performed as a contribution to the contemporary development of Serbian community theatre. The focus of the exegesis is on the historical overview of Serbian community theatre in Sydney from the 1950s until 2020. It looks at the community theatre repertoire of three theatre groups. I compare the repertoires of these groups with the visiting theatre productions from Serbia organised by U-next and, also, the work of the local theatre group Pilipenda established in Sydney in 2009, in which I work as a writer, director, and actor. My research shows that the first three to four decades of Serbian community theatre productions were linked to the national and folk element from the Serbian past. The role of the community theatre was to serve as an educational method to preserve the Serbian language and culture within the community. However, as the new wave of the Serbian migration arrived in Australia in the 1990s, the second generation of Serbs growing up in Australia demonstrated that the taste of the Serbian theatre audience has changed. This contemporary audience seeks new forms of writing and more local and contemporary themes. As my next community theatre project with Pilipenda Theatre, I have written a play (The Land) which should bring some innovation to current Serbian community theatre. The play is written in English, and it is targeting the new generation of Australian Serbs. The play portrays a story about an Australian-Serb, character named Pavle, and an Arabic speaker, Wahib. The use of the English language now plays an important role in attracting Serbian youth as the community's new audience. Writing and performing in English will, also, bring the community stories much closer to the larger Australian audience.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English