RE/WRITING A NATION: SYMBOLIC NARRATIVES AND CULTURAL POLITICS IN NORTH MACEDONIAN POSTCOLONIAL AND POSTCOMMUNIST DRAMA

This study examines ways in which theatre has constructed national narratives in postcolonial and postcommunist Macedonian cultures. It focuses on Balkan is Not Dead, or the Magic of Edelweiss (1992), Dejan Dukovski's acclaimed remake of the 1900 melodrama Macedonian Blood Wedding by Voidan Cernodrinski. Both plays reflect on specific cultural politics resulting from the decentralization of the Ottoman Empire and the communist 'Yugo Empire', respectively, in order to construct symbolic narratives in reaction to local as well as global contexts. The analysis attempts to unravel the extent of Dukovski's postmodern deconstruction as well as restorative re-construction that simultaneously undermine as well as assert post/national formations. Ultimately, it attempts to throw light on the unique Macedonian identities that have emerged within as well as against postcolonial discourses throughout the twentieth century.