Montenegro

„The Virus”, a sweeping story about stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV

Podgorica, 19 April, 2011

Last night, KIC Budo Tomovic Podgorica hosted “The Virus”, a moving theater play about love, happiness, belonging and pain of rejection and discrimination. Moreover, this is a story about the problems faced by the people living with HIV and the ways the other people perceive them. The play was written by Sinisa Kovačević, directed by Dragan Knežević and performed by the Akord – Youth Theatre of Nikšić .

The play is a story of a young, successful and popular rock star that gets infected with HIV. Through his girlfriend’s and family’s reactions related to his “tragic guilt”, the play realistically depicts a drama caused by ignorance about the infection and panic fear from it. In this way, all the parties involved become victims and executors at the same time.

The idea of the play was to use art to improve the knowledge and the level of public awareness of HIV/AIDS issues, especially when it comes to the comprehensive struggle against deeply embedded prejudices and ignorance regarding HIV transmission modes.

The UNDP Project Team for scaling up response to HIV/AIDS among most-at-risk populations in Montenegro took hold of some of the young audience’s reactions immediately after the play:

Bojana: It’s the first time I saw the play and I must say I’m leaving the theatre very disturbed. However, it helped me realize how realistic the possibility of getting HIV is, and how devastating can be the consequences the infection brings to the people living with HIV and their family members. I will definitely recommend the play to all my friends, as it helps truly imagine such a situation happening in our vicinity. The play definitely makes you think more carefully about your own living habits.

Milan: I’ve seen the play before, but the feeling was again the same. I felt sad and shocked seeing the ignorance regarding the HIV/AIDS and rejection that the people living with HIV face. I was deeply shaken by something that the young rock star’s father said, when he got desperate while under attack of his family to do something with his son. The sentence was something like: “What do you want me to do with him and the other people with HIV?!! Should we arrest them, take them to the city square and shoot them all while the national television would make a live broadcast of the execution..?!” Dreadful, really…

The play has been supported by the National Commission for HIV/AIDS and the Country Coordinating Mechanism for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. It has been financially supported by the UNDP Montenegro through its “Support to Implementation of HIV/AIDS Strategy in Montenegro” project, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); UNAIDS; Fund for Active Citizenship (FAKT); NGO Montevita and the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro.