55+

Who can get this country going? Is it the generation 55+, or is that responsibility, along with the accumulated debt, left to the youth? Will the generation 55+ leave this world disappointed? Can we save bits and pieces of solidarity left in our society? Is generation 55+ tired of life?

55+

This is a unique cultural event – theatre performance, political rally and public making of a documentary at the same time. In it, the 44 protagonists speak right from the stage of Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall on their own behalf and on behalf of the whole generation. The performance is a result of several months of work and its aim is to map the road this generation went down in the process of development of a society. Lined up in front rows, each and every one of them presents their idea of the last minute of their lives, and then, one by one, they step onto the stage, exposing themselves to the eye of the camera and the audience’s eye. Each protagonist gets exactly as many seconds as their years of age and has to use the short time to tell about the most important minute of their lives. In a series of touching and moving stories of illness and death of the loved ones, war and post-war traumas, stories of transition, happy and unhappy loves, the protagonists bravely share their most intimate and at the same time the universal for all of us.

In the second part of the performance the protagonists step onto political stage. At that point the audience is informed that unless they want to participate in a political rally denying the principles of representative democracy in which the elite speaks on behalf of the silent majority, they can leave the hall. At the 55+ rally there is a rule: one person – one vote. Each protagonist addresses the audience through their political speech, drafted in the process of their interviews. The generation 55+ faces decades of their own silence, reviews the possibilities of social change and admitts their own responsibility for the current state of affairs in this country. 55+ generation has never been so brutally honest so far.
 

Credits

Concept and direction: Borut Šeparović / Dramaturgy and transcript adaptation: Nataša Mihoci, Borut Šeparović, Jasna Žmak / Assistant director: Nataša Mihoci / Performance: Miljenka Androić Marić, Jadranka Barlović, Miran Cencić, Renata Dossi, Mira Egić, Zvonimir Fritz, Marijan Frković, Josip Grosek, Mira Inkret, Branko Ječmenjak, Barbara Juraja, Ante Kaštelan, Lidija Kleščić, Ana Knežević, Marica Komljenović, Nada Kos Balen, Zlata Lešković, Blaženka Levak, Marija Lovinčić, Gordana Lovrić, Jasna Paravina, Stanka Pavuna, Nada Pejša, Emil Pernar, Eduard Pešun, Ljudmila Peterfai, Božidar Petrina, Miljenko Pinterić, Višnja Pleško, Žarko Potočnjak, Ljubica Radmanović, Vlasta Ritting, Hermina Rukavina, Franciska Šimenić, Vladimir Šimenić, Slavko Šoić, Miro Šola, Dražen Tišljar, Sonja Tomac, Vojko Tomašić, Rozalija Travica, Predrag Vrabec, Mirjana Žerjav, Nevenka Žigić / Volunteers: Buga Klara Blanuša, Iva Bunčić, Ivan Fedor, Hana Grgić, Vera Pfaff, Sara Renar, Bernard Tomić / Technical director and lightning design: Miljenko Bengez / Scenography: Borut Šeparović / Director of photography: Marko Stanić (Kadar 22) / Sound recording: Valentin Vejić / Video software programming: Ivan Marušić Klif / Photography: Damir Žižić / Graphic design: Katarina Eljuga / Coordination: Nataša Mihoci / Executive production: Iva Milley, Nataša Mihoci / Production assistants: Hana Grgić, Petra Milojković / Public relations: Nataša Mihoci / Public relations support: Ana Mikin / Project financed by: City office for education, culture and sport, City office for social protection and people with disabilities, Ministry of culture of the Republic of Croatia, Croatian audiovisualn centre, Open society institute, Foundation „Zajednički put“ / Project partners: Zagreb centre for independent culture and youth – Pogon, Concert hall of Vatroslav Lisinski, International centre for service in culture – Travno, Youth centre Ribnjak, Culture centre Trešnjevka, Zagreb youth theatre / Media coverage: Večernji list, Radio Sljeme, tportal, net.hr / Project manager: Borut Šeparović / Production: MONTAЖ$TROJ