Balkan Women

By: Jules Tasca

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Synopsis: Full Length, Drama / 2m, 3f, chorus / Simple set. This meditation on the horror of war set in 1990 brings the spirit of Euripides to a Serbian detention camp for Muslim women. Men are pitted against women, Christians against Muslims, and Croats against Serbs in a drama that bares the inner conflicts that result when society is governed by illogical ethnic hatreds. A hard boiled, devoutly Christian guard is torn by conflicting inner voices as he interrogates a prisoner and her mother about an explosion that killed sixteen of his soldiers. The arrival of a new, wounded camp commandant triggers murder and inevitable catastrophes reminiscent of ancient tragedy. "Theatrically bold and politically moving.... The dialogue has an odd and effective stateliness, as though we're listening to a translation of an ancient work." Variety. Winner of the 1997/98 Barrymore Award for Best New Play.