The play Ministrants, directed by Zlatko Paković and inspired by the drama The Maids by Jean Genet, powerfully and uncompromisingly opens the theme of confronting trauma and the power of the Church. The performance offers a stage exploration of the relationships between power, faith, and violence, pointing out how institutions that are meant to protect the community often become sources of pain and repression. At the heart of the play lies the question: what does it mean to emancipate oneself from trauma, and how can one confront an institution that has shaped both personal and social identities? Ministrants, through powerful acting and radical theatrical reflection, open a space for thinking about the Church as a place of spirituality, but also as a system whose structure must be critically examined.
Director and screenwriter: Zlatko Paković / Performed by: Davor Kovač, Filip Sever / Production: Domino Association, KNAP Centre / Costumes: HRT fund
Zlatko Paković (born 1968 in Valjevo) is one of the most important Serbian playwrights and directors and one of the few European directors consistently dealing with difficult political and social topics. His performances regularly provoke scandals and controversies, and some have even been banned.
In 2021 he staged Srebrenica: When We the Dead Rise, dealing with the genocide committed against Bosniaks in Srebrenica in 1995. Shortly afterward he staged A Tomb for Boris Davidovich: How We Build It Today at the Bosnian National Theatre in Zenica.
In Serbia he directed Encyclopedia of the Living in 2015, addressing Serbian-Albanian relations and the Kosovo issue. In 2012 he attracted major attention with Killing Zoran Đinđić. He began collaborating with the organisation Domino in 2024 with the performance Wittgenstein’s Students, followed by Ministrants.
