Page 121 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 121
Contemporary Slovenian
Stage-plays and the Political
Maja Murnik
Over the last decade we are witnessing a significant increase of theatre
performances in Slovenia, dealing with socially engaged, political or ac-
tivist issues. This applies not only to institutional playhouses (e.g. Ubu Le
Roi directed by Jernej Lorenci, SNG Drama Ljubljana, 2016) and most
notably to Slovensko mladinsko gledališče (Slovenian Youth Theatre)—
but also to the NGO theatres (e.g. Maska) and their co-productions (e.g.
Maska and Slovensko mladinsko gledališče; Kino Šiška and Slovensko
mladinsko gledališče). Even in Slovenian drama after 2000—when in-
timism, prevailing in the 1990s, has ended—it can be noticed that the
plays examine the social issues again, often in an engaging manner and
with an emphasis on social criticism.
Postdramatic Theatre and ‘No Longer Dramatic Text’
The contribution is based on the awareness that in the recent decades it
has no longer made sense to distinguish strictly between drama and the-
atre. Namely, this relationship has undergone great changes. The tradi-
tional concept of drama has proven to be too restrictive and it is not suit-
able any more for a variety of changes stage-plays have undergone. In the
crisis of representation, the performative dimensions of texts have come
into the foreground, as texts have become Barthesian ‘open texts’—i.e.
hybrid, heterogeneous and performative structures which are open in
terms of meaning. We are now encountering ‘no longer dramatic text’
(‘der nicht mehr dramatische Theatertext’ in Poschmann’s terms as well
as postdramatic theatre (Lehmann 1999) or even something beyond both
Stage-plays and the Political
Maja Murnik
Over the last decade we are witnessing a significant increase of theatre
performances in Slovenia, dealing with socially engaged, political or ac-
tivist issues. This applies not only to institutional playhouses (e.g. Ubu Le
Roi directed by Jernej Lorenci, SNG Drama Ljubljana, 2016) and most
notably to Slovensko mladinsko gledališče (Slovenian Youth Theatre)—
but also to the NGO theatres (e.g. Maska) and their co-productions (e.g.
Maska and Slovensko mladinsko gledališče; Kino Šiška and Slovensko
mladinsko gledališče). Even in Slovenian drama after 2000—when in-
timism, prevailing in the 1990s, has ended—it can be noticed that the
plays examine the social issues again, often in an engaging manner and
with an emphasis on social criticism.
Postdramatic Theatre and ‘No Longer Dramatic Text’
The contribution is based on the awareness that in the recent decades it
has no longer made sense to distinguish strictly between drama and the-
atre. Namely, this relationship has undergone great changes. The tradi-
tional concept of drama has proven to be too restrictive and it is not suit-
able any more for a variety of changes stage-plays have undergone. In the
crisis of representation, the performative dimensions of texts have come
into the foreground, as texts have become Barthesian ‘open texts’—i.e.
hybrid, heterogeneous and performative structures which are open in
terms of meaning. We are now encountering ‘no longer dramatic text’
(‘der nicht mehr dramatische Theatertext’ in Poschmann’s terms as well
as postdramatic theatre (Lehmann 1999) or even something beyond both
