Exiled activist Doroteja Antic uses a play about her life to voice dissent against Serbian authoritarianism.
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Doroteja Antic, a Serbian student activist, is in exile with five colleagues who are facing trial for subversion. Her story of dissent against authoritarianism is being shared with the Serbian public through a theatre play titled Dora, or Who Will Stitch the Vests?, which premiered at the Bitef theatre in Belgrade. Antic and her group left Serbia in March 2025, following a period of escalating crackdown on civic dissent by authorities, which intensified after protests sparked by a railway station collapse in Novi Sad. The group’s departure was viewed by Antic as a calculated move by authorities to suppress dissent ahead of a major protest. The subsequent legal proceedings against the activists, which began in absentia, rely heavily on surveillance recordings obtained without proper legal procedure, a point highlighted by Antic’s lawyer. The play incorporates elements of Antic’s real experience, allowing her to address the public through the performance. Despite her exile and concerns about the fragmentation of the protest movement, Antic remains hopeful, viewing the current moment as a critical opportunity to prevent Serbia from deteriorating further.
