Sloboština Barbie

The novel Sloboština Barbie follows the wartime everyday life of elementary school children in their transit from the safety and stability of childhood to the world of responsibility and uncertainty of adults. Although war is only present in echoes, the everyday aspects of this war are felt in the discovery of the basement, the cancellation of school, the obligation to play with refugee children and their bald dolls, while the true meaning of life can be discerned in the possession of an original Mattel Barbie.
There are no literal children on stage, but children are present in the adults that populate every scene. The three-member vocal and instrumental group takes us through our own childhood, selfishly penetrated by the war. At their concert, they play a set directly inspired by experiences from the skyscraper of the Zagreb neighborhood of Sloboština – from waiting for the last episode of Twin Peaks, the Eurovision Song Contest, Dynasty, air raids and the breaking of the sound barrier.
In families that would still drive the Renault 4 car had it not become an antique, real adults are only concerned with the news, which is why dolls have become more relevant models of adults. They were not preoccupied by war, accepted the transition from socialism to capitalism overnight and seamlessly adopted capitalist values unburdened by financial constraints. The fake Ken, Dr. Kajfeš, the favorite actress Barbie Crystal from Dynasty, the Ken belonging to Ana M., with the face of Robert Redford, Borna’s Skipper, Barbie’s little sister, riding the Vespa of some ugly short Italian policeman and the entire city of original Mattel dolls belonging to Dee, the daughter of a war profiteer, represent an adult future that is brighter than the one shown on the evening news.
The novel ends where the war stops, and the play begins thirty years later, continuing the lives of the characters created by Maša. In addition to reflecting the period of the novel’s story with music, the play enters into a dialogue with the novel, continuing its plot, stretching it out and expanding it, thinning it out and waiting to see what it has to tell us today when, in addition to reading it, we get to watch it on stage and listen to it.

“Tell me about anything in this world, and I’ll tell you what it can become for Barbie!” Those little Barbie magazines turned my desire into an incredibly painful feeling. The night might have eased this pain, but every new glance at this perfect world, worked out to the tiniest of details, had the power to crush my body, already in danger of bursting from all those great longings.
If a bomb hits our very building and everything becomes a “burning ground spewing and billowing fire and black smoke”, life will not lose its meaning if my Barbie remains intact in her flashy pink outfit with small fluorescent lights, pineapples and bananas, a pink-green purse in in the shape of a watermelon, sunglasses and open-heel stilettos that go best with that outfit.”