Tech-Savvy Tesla-Inspired Play Premieres in Belgrade

A new play entitled 'FBI - The Tesla Files' premiers at Belgrade's Sava Centre's main hall on December 18.

Written by Nele Karajlic, a popular Yugoslavian musician, writer, performer and overall Renaissance man, the play premiered in November in Novi Sad and has now taken up residence in Sava Centre.

2016 marks several important anniversaries for Tesla's legacy. It's his 160th birthday this year and the 80th anniversary of his naming as an honorary citizen of Novi Sad. The play starts symbolically at 8.21pm, to remind people that Novi Sad has won candidacy as a European Capital of Culture for 2021.

However, the play's plot unfolds far from the Balkans - in New York City. The year is 1943, soon after Tesla's death on January 7, 1943. The great inventor's death sparks a race begins between secret governmental organizations as they scramble to find documents and information regarding a secret weapon which could have a very profound effect on the outcome of World War II that Tesla reportedly designed.

While the plot takes place after Tesla's death, he is still very much present in the play. In fact, the play highlights some of Tesla's most important life events, from his birth in the Austrian Empire town of Smiljan, in what is now modern Croatia, to his schooling and first important scientific discoveries made on European soil, to his relocation to America and the many achievements and failures that he experienced there before his death.

Karajlic has long been a prominent figure of the Yugoslav cultural scene. He is best known as the leader of Sarajevo-based band Zabranjeno Pusenje (and its more-recent incarnation, Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra) and sketch comedy troupe Nadrealisti (Surrealists).  He said at a...