Curtain Rising - Index

Curtain Rising - Curtain Rising Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 20 - September 11, 2007 - Index

September 11, 2007
LONDON
Ines Wurth points the way in her one-woman show I Miss Communism.
I Miss Communism muted by lack of political context
By Nick Purves
Contributor
The break-up of the former Republic of Yugoslavia
occurred in 1992 after the fall of the Iron Curtain in
Eastern Europe. It brought to the fore many deep
rooted tensions that existed between the people of the
different countries that made up the former Republic.
Croats, Serbs, Kosovans and many other nationalities
were suddenly set against one another having
previously co-existed in one country. Towns were
divided and communities were ripped asunder as the
violence spread throughout the Republic. Adding to
the issues of national identity were religious differences;
different groups sustained differing amounts of
persecution during the war. The conflict came to a close
in 1995, but left in its aftermath a group of countries
whose citizens were left to form new identities as their
separate independent countries came to be formed.
Photo courtesy of Scant Productions.
Ines Wurth's one-woman show analyzes the changes
that have taken place after the fall of communist
Yugoslavia and the emergence of the capitalist Croatia
that she returns to after leaving the country for seven
years to study and live in America.
The story is based around, and seen through the
eyes, of three generations of women; Wurth herself
and her grandmother and mother. Scenes from
life in communist Yugoslavia are illustrated using
commonplace outings such as a trip to the market,
fermented by her mother's frustration at being held
back in her job as a teacher due to her refusal to join
the Communist Party.
Looking for opportunities in what Wurth sees as 'the
land of the free', she moves to America to study and
is taken in by a Croatian ex-patriot. Although she has
some degree of success in her new home. Wurth soon
sees that there are limits to American freedom and
begins to pine for the days of communist Yugoslavia.
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