35 square meters or Neverland
35 square meters or Neverland is a play about five characters, one couch and too small a space for everyone who squeezed into this handful of square meters. Thanks to the new social measure of the Government of an unnamed country on the edge of Europe aimed at young people up to the age of 33, five incompatible characters begin a coexistence that leads to them wrestling each other and their own ideas, often at odds with the real world. Perhaps the five characters share nothing more than belonging to the same age group, but from tenant 1 to tenant 5, all are marked by the turn of the millennium, which trapped them in a state of eternal childhood they were supposed to grow out of quickly, even though there is no future for them. None of them have better options or a concrete vision of where else they could be, so they lie around the couch, empty beer cans, spend their money at the local pizzeria, and try to find their place under the sun in the big bad world. The comfortably cramped thirty-five square meters become a safe haven for Žuto, Iva, Siniša, Bella and Anton since it is less chaotic than anything else beyond the threshold, poses a lesser danger that their beliefs will collapse and, most importantly, represents a refuge where they are free from Mom and Dad and all their expectations (and lack thereof). This means that Žuti can peacefully sleep through half the day, while forging his successful future in his dreams. Iva will never become a better version of herself, even if she burns out three times. Anton feeds his inner shark, who would rather eat all the fish in the sea so there is more food for him. Siniša can escape the currents of this universe, and Bella can try to be like everyone else. At the end of the day, everyone is trapped in a vicious cycle of their own insecurities and inabilities in a social context that is uncertain and impossible to navigate. Without the strange aleatory and outlandish local policies, they would perhaps never have met or socialized, but squeezed into these 35 square meters, they have become part of one story: the story of a generation that doesn’t know what to do with itself or with the future of the planet. Most likely, they will stay in the apartment and watch Netflix once they have had enough of external horrors and their internal demons.
Acknowledgements:
Croatian Screenwriters and Playwrights Guild – SPID
playwright
Lucija Klarić
director
Ivan Planinić
