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Interview: Tena Stivicic
Tena Stivicic. Picture by Tomislav Cuveljak.
Cil: Do you enjoy living in London? What brought you here?
I came to do an MA at Goldsmiths College and stayed. Some small windows started opening and I thought I wanted to
stay and explore those opportunities. In truth, ever since I can remember I knew I would live abroad. At least for a while.
I could list a number of reasons, they could be political and economic and existential, but what it comes down to is –
ever since I was a little girl I felt one shouldn’t spend ones life in one place with the whole world around.
Of course, things are not as simple as that and London is a tough to place to make a home in. It’s a city you fall in love
with at first sight, but then liking it long term becomes a problem. I’ve been here four years and I’m starting to feel at home.
I can be terribly unhappy here, terribly alone and lost, but at the same time I am still fascinated by it and mastering life in
London gives me immense pleasure.
Cil: Your award winning play, ‘Fragile!’ has had a run at the Arcola Theatre in London. How was it received?
The run is just coming to an end and it went really well. I think we are all happy. It’s a small production with very little money
in it which means it takes all the love and effort and energy we have to put it on. And I think the production shows that all
our hearts are in the right place. The director Michael Gieleta is a wonderfully talented guy who deeply understands and
feels this piece and the cast and crew have been wonderful and I think they all enjoy performing every night. We’ve had
some great reviews and great audiences. I think we can all be very pleased.
Cil: The play concerns East European immigrants in London. What were your inspirations for it?
London. My first emotional impressions of London. I’m an experiential writer, I write about what I know, feel and recognize. The play was not meant to be only about the Eastern European immigrants, it was meant to be about foreigners in London. People who arrive daily seeking dreams, who try to run away from their past, who try to reconstruct their lives holding on to that illusion that life can be better somewhere else, sometime in the future. But because I knew quite a few Eastern European stories, they sort of outweighed the other ones.
I think immigration is one of the key issues of modern society and I think talking about it and offering some insight into ‘the other side’ is something theatre can do and should do. I do feel very strongly observing this society and its politics, that we desperately lack compassion and understanding.
Cil: ‘Fragile!’ was your first play written in English. Will you be writing more?
I have just written another one, commissioned by the National Theatre studio. It will open in Zagreb first, in the ZKM theatre
in October.
Cil: Can you tell us something about your next project?
I’ve also just had a book come out. I write a column every month in a magazine called Zaposlena in Croatia. I write about Zagreb and London a lot, transition and capitalism, being a young writer, a young woman in this society and in the one back home, I write about different phenomena of modern living. These columns have just been published in a book called Odbrojavanje (The Countdown). My next thing is adapting Fragile! for film and then starting to work on a new play.
The Closer Croatia Film Festival returns to London
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