Daniil Harms
Directed By Ivan Peternelj
Co-production: Society for the arts AVGUS and Slovenian Youth Theatre
Premiere: 6. 9. 2019
Performances
Tuesday / 20. 5. / 19: 00 / Maribor
Cast
Dasha Dobersek
Janja Majzelj
Blaz Boss
Matija Vastl
Polona Janezic
On harmonium
Gasper Tesner, Ivan Peternelj
Stage designer
Creators
Translation: Drago Byte
Selection of texts: Ivan Peternelj
Dramaturgy: Jana Pavlic
Costume Design: Slavica Janosevi /
Editor: Mateja Dermelj
Design of light: Matjaz Brisar
Mask design: Nathalie Horvat
Producer: Barbara Hribar
Show manager: Gasper Tesner
We thank Drago Bajt and Primozh Chuchnik (LUD Sherpa).
Description
Why Harms today? The global world is reaching dizzying peaks of human stupidity, nonsense and ethical decomposition. But the worst thing is numbness, which is becoming something completely everyday and seems inevitable. The decomposition of values is self-evident, and the banality of our days has become a habit. The foundation of the modern world is absurdity. And Harms is one of the first absurdists. The absurdity in harms ' literature testifies to the undisguised and indeterminate fear that threatens everyday life from the background, to existential threat and metaphysical horror, which we also understand from his private notes. The staging comes from the unpredictable world of harms, which addresses us in poetic language on the border between the tragic and the comic. He immerses himself in poetry, which is both child's play and a play of imagination in a dizzying world of dream images and surreal scenes, showered with unusual living sadness.
From print
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The refraction of the prism of view, the twisting of meanings, absurdity, grotesque and elements of clown and Variety Theatre in the texts selected by Ivan Peternelj offered the actors a wide field of research, from which they formed acting masterpieces that flowed through a combination of short and even shorter harms stories. How poetic and Pure is the staging, which could easily slip into tragedy. In the gap between wit and the constantly present feeling of anxiety due to unpredictable external circumstances in harms ' works, there is a dense weaving of Polona Janezic's directorial, acting and musical language, which, together with mental guidelines (these reflect precise decisions and definitions of individual semantic sets), create an authentic theatrical entertainment. This stretches between pleasure, which is not easy, but when the meanings are deciphered through the sensual presence of the actors, the viewer or the viewer comes rationally unencumbered [...].
(Petra Tanko, Radio Slovenia, 07. september 2019 )
Storage as a repository presupposes the obscurity of harms ' thought and writing, his outstanding artistic attitude, which turned aesthetic standards upside down so that the world would recognize its true face in disorder and absurdity. The reverse side of the world is lunatic, fragmented, meaningless and utopian, which comically escalates into tragic and sooner or later vice versa. [ ... ] The quartet of performers (Dasha Dobersek, Janja Majzelj, Blazh boss and Matija Vastl) are constantly fragmented through the individual aspect, jerkily changing roles, replaying sets and changing positions of speech, but at the same time this orderly chaos acts as a highly organized unit, which has in common that everyone is different in it. [ ... ] Through comically absurd gestures, the then impoverished society, ideological frictions and the author's harsh everyday life are manifested, all disguised as a grotesque sketch of interpersonal relationships, which deliberately wants to bring us to the criticism of the system through bends.
(J. D., 09. september 2019 )
The notion that absurdism is a literary phenomenon from the beginning of the 20s. century, captures in an original way already with a specific spatial placement [...]. Scenography is thus consistent with harms ' original ideas about theatre, where objects, scenography, light are also the carriers of the content (this is the idea of moving away from the dramatic text as the foundation of the setting) ...; weight in content also in Peternel's layout; he draws attention to the historicity of the absurd, and at the same time to its constant presence. The scenes, which are not (necessarily) connected to each other (harms 'literary world is full of nonsense and withdraws from the linear narrative), are dramaturgically and directionally convincingly organized; the performance flows well, is played in accordance with' absurdist manner', at the same time captures the simultaneous humor and tragedy inherent in the essence of the absurd; music also contributes to the atmosphere, which remains strong throughout the performance, harmony, which emphasizes comedic situations with a certain' retro ' frightening tone.
(Anja Radaljac, Delo, 10. september 2019 )
The direction takes advantage of the grotesque to the end and sometimes leans on the comic; all four actors [...] completely strain their expressions. [ ... ] Because of the unruly and ludicrous acting energy, because of the witty and to the end driven grimaces and ways of speaking, because of the playfulness of the acting team, the art is a wardrobe witty, intense and at the same time decently reconstructive theatrical event.
(Matej Bogataj, contemporary, October 2019 )
Hosting
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MOT festival, Skopje, North Macedonia, 27. 11. 2021
FKK-Kostanjevica Culture Festival, Kostanjevica na Krki, 28. 8. 2021
The days of satire of Fadila Hajji Altera, Zagreb, Croatia, 6. 6. 2021
Awards
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Janji Majzelj award for Best Supporting Role at satire days
Material for journalists
Theater sheet
Photos
MATERIALS FOR EDUCATORS
Pedagogical material.pdf
The performance art is a wardrobe is included in the catalog of high-quality performances on the Golden Rod platform.