Expert advisor Mia Roje Đapić, psychologist (MA), Zagreb Child and Youth Protection Center (Poliklinika za zaštitu djece i mladih Grada Zagreba)

Special thanks to Dora Delbianco, Gordana Buljan Flander, Ana Marija Španić, the Gavella theatre and the Board of the Young at the Center: Sara, Borna, Paola, Luka, Lea and Fran.

The ever so frequent and never completely uprooted problem of peer violence strikes children more than we think, while the victims or perpetrators could virtually become all of us. Classmates, neighbourhood gangs one hangs out with, brothers and sisters, cousins, friends and acquaintances, friends of friends and acquaintances of acquaintances – they can all find themselves on either sides of the vicious circle of bullying. How does one deal with problems? What forms does peer violence take? How do we recognize it? How is it related to the social  environment we are living in? And how does it feel to become the target of a bully?

The  performance of ˝Say a word and you’re lost!˝ brings the young audience closer to the difficulties, troubles and insecurity of teenagers happening at the familiar setting of the school. Thus the classrooms on the stage actually turn into a school arena (both real and virtual); the chief weapons students use ranging from insults, extortion, threat, beating up to a fatal click, enough to unsettle the whole universe of the show’s protagonists.

The show comprises four confessions of victims of bullying, staged within the frame of a disjointed reality show, anchored by the Master of Ceremonies, an embodiment of ultimate bullying. The protagonists are familiar characters from the classroom. Due to a skin problem and being mocked by her peers, Ena has to constantly change schools. Sensitive Tomica defies the stereotype that boys never cry. Bela finds love and fulfillment in a bunch of likes. Nika hates top lists and fears she will end at the bottom of the school hierarchy. Actors slip into a number of smaller or greater parts, tackling both positions of bullies and victims.

The school arena of this performance is made of clicks, likes, clips, emoticons and screens, mirroring both performers and spectators. ˝Say a word and you’re lost!˝ points to the very opposite direction from the threatening title, namely to the importance of raising one’s own voice in this merciless arena and on the theatre stage as well, discussing more sensitive issues. It is the only way to create a better society.

Dina Vukelić