Class Enemy: theatre on the front line

by ALAN CHADWICK - Monday, August 18, 2008 Youth violence is at the top of the political agenda. Reports of youths running wild and the soaring rise in the number of teenagers murdered in Britain this year continues to dominate the headlines. For Haris Pašovic, a former wunderkind of Yugoslav theatre, it's an all too familiar scenario. Pašovic knows only too well the problem of social disorder and disaffected youth: he had his cast study it at close quarters by visiting schools in Bosnia for his East West company's production of Nigel Willliams' 1987 play Class Enemy. The play opened in Sarajevo last year and receives its UK premiere at the International Festival. Williams' punk-influenced play was located firmly in the social malaise of late 1970s Britain. Pašovic's decision to adapt the tale of a group of angry and... [read full story]