From the time I walked into the theatre, I was mesmerised by the set. It was one of the most committed I have seen a set designer go in terms of effort, design and it proved to be intentional as the play continues.

 

The play, Sarajevo, written by lead actor, Aimee Mica Komorowsky, tells the story of the siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war.

 

For some context, that I did not have before writing this article, so we’re learning together:

The Siege of Sarajevo (1992–1996) was one of the longest and most devastating sieges in modern history. It went on for 1,425 days, from April 5, 1992, to February 29, 1996, during the Bosnian War.

It was a result of Serbs acting out after Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The ethnically diverse capital city, Sarajevo, saw Bosniak and Croatian lives taken by the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), led by General Ratko Mladić and supported by Serbia. The city’s residents were cut off from essentials like food, water, medicine, and electricity. About 13,000 people were killed, including more than 5,000 civilians.

 

The play is through the eyes of a young Mirela, played by Aimee, who hoped for peace and regarded the place as home. Home is a very powerful and significant place in one’s life – infant to grandmother. For the character, it was a place that she walked, a place she learned to become the person she was, is and will become.

Letting go of a place like that, is one of the hardest acts.

We watched the period piece on the Wednesday night of 15 October, 2025 - three nights before their final performance of the show on the Theatre in The Square stage.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, the set was a big part of the story that was inviting.

It has been in development and evolution since the debut of the play’s first staging in 2014 in Maboneng. They use brown boxes cut into different building silhouettes and shapes on most of the stage. Sarajevo also uses light in multiple thoughtful and playful ways - the candles, the lamp, the torches, the fairy lights. As you continue watching one of the building transforms into a bed. It’s things like that took me on a fun journey experiencing Sarajevo.

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The play takes off with the light and whimsical energy of Peter, the photojournalist, played by Jeremy Richard. I was immediately moved by his entrance; hearing that South African accent did the trick. It was a beautiful feeling; hearing a Bosnian accent and language then having someone familiar in this context. It drew me even more, into the story.

 

The characters - Aleksander, played by Alastair Moulton Black and Slobo, performed by the towering, Ivan Nedeljkovic, together with Peter and Mirela - were absolutely real. The ensemble’s brilliant synergy and performance humbled me. By that I mean, knowing they are being creative and vulnerable meant I understand them in some way. Their race sort of became less important. I felt I had no choice but to see them in that regard. To acknowledge their story. It was an uncomfortable feeling because as a black person, we have history with white people where they oppressed my people. Therefore, seeing them experience hardship was confronting.

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Side comment: Whilst enjoying the Aleksander’s character, I noted that Alastair Moulton Black who plays Mirela’s lover and is also a soldier for the Serbian army, should definitely perform in a thriller. Screen or stage. There is something about his eyes. His face, his hair and his smile.

 

30 minutes into the story, I asked myself:

• How long I was going to sit and watch white tragedy?

• And what am I supposed to receive here?

• When will it or does it resolve?

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It was uncomfortable.

Because it is definitely acting out. All of it. It’s boys acting out of fear.

 

“Pain is pain”, that line stuck with me.

 

Among the multiple systems that colonialism introduced, English winning the oppression and cultural dominance as a language, is tragic. Look at us. Whilst watching Sarajevo, the realest parts for me were mostly felt – I did not have to understand the language they spoke. It is important that you speak your language when you can. Use it to record that you and your people are here and you deserve to be here and you exist and you have your secrets and things the oppressor will never know or understand. They have clearly used language to neutralise us. But I say use it to protest, to say the things. Out loud. In their language.

 

Is meaning made from our differences? Is that how we learn from each other? That there aren’t many things that make us different. And there will always be boys playing power games with politics then the rest of the world suffers in the name of these personal or political qualms.

Then they prey on young or sometimes even old souls that want to be seen and put them into the army. It’s not only a psychological game they play on them – it’s unfortunately a capitalism game at play too. I would like to think that some soldiers genuinely want ‘peace’ so much they are willing to give their lives. Life. Isn’t that wild?

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Because they literally offer their lives for a country. Hmm, what kind of childhood did that person have? Soldiers have the power to shape worlds. Because a human life is on the line. That’s what is asked of you. Watching Slobo’s character experience his own kind of pain was annoying. I had an understanding of why it would ache him to be a soldier but I had no sympathy for a grown man wailing at the consequences of actions and decisions he made. A side he picked. Hmm.

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Throughout the play, you witness Mirela be moved and passed around as though she has no control or agency. And when she did use her power, her sexuality, where and how she wanted – it shook the men. It destabilised them. It shocked them. I love that they used gun sounds during that sex scene. Fitting.

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The most powerful frame from Sarajevo is the symbolism they use for ethnic cleansing and genocide. They have children’s clothing hanging on a washing line. And Peter cuts them off one by one. Is that how people end a whole community? That they are ridding the world of the people of that land. So that what, they can have it or be the winner or the stronger one? Because nothing makes sense as a person of duty, to go ahead and kill a child and that makes sense to you. Just because you were tasked to. I have to say, it becomes important the kind of things you expose your child to. Especially where history is concerned.

 

“The dead can’t do shit. The living either”, that’s a line from the play.

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But they can. The living can take pictures the same way Peter did. Write the story. Keep record. Make sure to archive. Tell, share and keep the stories safe.

Photographers are important for our history. Equally, to have your picture taken is a protest. That is your story immortalised.

 

I asked the producer Youdeshan Padayachy, what is it that drew him to producing the story. He said he’s friends with the writer and the director.  But I wanted to hear how really, on a personal level, he connects with the story. He then got undone. He is an Indian man. And he spoke about him and his brother being the only people of colour in school and being othered. And how that felt.

 

When the play started, it felt and sounded to me like it should be a film and I was right. Aimee confirmed it. This works in our day and age because we enjoy the textures of a film more. The beat of the dialogues is how we like it today. Here now. Shoutout to the writer and director, Thorsten Wedekind, for that.

 

Aimee shared that she wrote the story while she was in her twenties and that’s years ago.

There is so much that is still the same. Kind of. In many different ways.

Why should we act like pain is not pain?

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I asked Aimee for their soundtrack playlist, you'll love it as much as I did: 

Eddie Vedder - Masters of War 

Max Richter, BBC Philharmonic, Sarah Sutcliffe, Rumon Gamba - Sarajevo

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