In the autumn 2017, a 24-hour long theatre play ‘Mount Olympus’ was featured on TV, in a live broadcast and on a public service station. Itcaused waves of disapproval, indignation and even disgust in Belgrade and Serbia.
Directed by Jan Fabre, the play opened an international festival of theatre BITEF in September 2017.BITEF was foundedover 50 years by one of the greatest women in the history of Yugoslav culture, Mira Trailović.
The polarisation of the audience was evident and expressed in extremes typical for Belgrade and Serbia.
Just a few weeks after the broadcast there was widespread support for a church official making disgusting misogynist remarks. Bishop Amfilohije, otherwise known for his nationalistic, homophobic, misogynist and generally discriminatory outbursts, who stated thatSerbian women who undergo abortion ‘kill more children in a year than Hitler and Mussolini’; thereby comparing abortion with infanticide, and women who decide on their bodily integrity and reproductive health with Nazis and fascists.
Book Review of Mount Olympus: to Glorify the Cult of Tragedy