Inseparable: Lessons from a Nation Divided is an emotive educational experience for students in Scottish schools, based on the events surrounding the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 during the Bosnian War.

James Nicholas, Collingwood’s writer/director and author of Inseparable, shares his thoughts about the recent research trip to Bosnia with Remembering Srebrenica Scotland.

What were the most memorable moments of the trip?

There were two main things that stood out for me in Bosnia. Firstly, the warmth and friendliness of the capital Sarajevo. Seeing mosques and churches and synagogues on the same street, people mixing. The combination of the old and the new, a feeling of hope and acceptance. The second, in contrast, was visiting the genocide memorial centre in Srebrenica, commemorating the thousands of Muslims killed in acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Listening to the stories of genocide survivors – a woman who had lost 22 members of her family through ethnic cleansing, and the man who had miraculously survived a mass execution during the conflict, were stark reminders of the brutality and inhumanity on display during the conflict of only thirty years ago. Profoundly humbling and moving. The experiences I had in Sarajevo and Srebrenica were different and yet one thing shone through the people I met – “Hope”. That feeling was powerful for me yet tempered with a slight unease about the current situation in areas of the country and the question “How can we ensure this is never allowed to happen again” was one that I frequently asked myself.

Why is Inseparable, a play featuring adult themes (such as hatred and division) targeting teenagers as an audience?

I don’t see these as purely adult themes. These are themes that are relevant to us all. Young people experience hatred and division as much as adults, perhaps at school, on social media, in their community. The idea of Inseparable, through highlighting the atrocities of a conflict that took place not that far away, not that long ago, and borne out of ethnic division, is to challenge young people to think about their own lives and their own behaviours. What are the effects of comments that seek to divide us, whether through gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or religion? How can we break the cycle of divisive comments? Or challenge hate speech? So that we can see the things that make us different as something to celebrate, rather than something to segregate us. 

How important is immersive storytelling as an educational tool?

Theatre and the Arts are incredibly visceral learning tools that can move and empower us. I saw this myself in Bosnia visiting exhibitions that highlighted the conflict through photography and the curation of childhood objects that told a story. With Inseparable, we use Theatre as a powerful engagement mechanism that aims to connect with the audience on an emotional level, raises questions and challenges young people to think more deeply about the themes of the play. In the workshop which follows the show we explore in more depth the themes of Inseparable, empowering young people to take meaningful action in relation to hate speech and divisive language in their own lives.