Page 123 - 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. 123
Contemporary Slovenian Stage-plays and the Political 123
should be equally researched and interpreted but by use of new, more ap-
propriate methods and understandings which are not dealing only with
traditional categories of drama theory (like drama action, character, time
etc.), or, on the other hand, of theatre studies, but with those that include
and consider the changed relationship between both. Several shifts of the
paradigms should be considered; one of them is a new understanding of
the role of the author, deriving from Barthes’s death of the author. Today,
Barthesian playwright is topical again—e.g., “either as the voice of a rhap-
sode (Sarrazac) or as the invisible narrator and a kind of DJ of discourses
and stories” (Toporišič 2015, 99). In Slovenia one such author is Simona
Semenič. Other important present changes, like the crisis of the subject,
the changed position of theatre etc. should be taken into consideration in
today’s augmented and mixed reality where theatre’s role has been over-
taken by faster media. All these changes inevitably impact the role and
position of drama and theatre today and their relationship to the politi-
cal issues, e.g. political power and range of theatre today.
Art and Theatre in the Age of Post-politics
Social and political engagement of Slovenian theatre should be first-
ly understood within the context of the position and function of art in
contemporary society, and secondly within the context of contempo-
rary changes of politics in terms of post-politics, yet, last but not least, it
should also be understood with regard to specific attitude toward the po-
litical issues in Slovenia. Where are the locuses of (political) power today?
How are they addressed by contemporary Slovenian drama and theatre?
Which strategies and tactics do they use and which message do they try
to convey to the audience?
In 2005 Lado Kralj wrote: “Today, theatre is simply not as a relevant
institution as it used to be prior to 1991. Crucial moral and social issues
are being discussed elsewhere” (Kralj 2005, 116). In 1991, when Slove-
nia gained independence, theatre lost its relevance. According to Kralj, it
stopped perceiving and criticizing the repression of communist regime.
As a result, Slovenian drama diminished both in terms of quantity and
quality (Kralj 2005, 116). However, 15 years later, the situation does not
seem the same. The interest in socially and politically engaged issues is in
rise again, which is seen both in an increased number of new performanc-
es and on declarative level (cf. announcement of the new season 2018/19
in Slovensko mladinsko gledališče (SMG) with its slogan ‘Me, the art-
ist. Me, the citizen’). Social and political issues have been addressed most
enthusiastically by SMG, especially after 2014 when artistic direction
should be equally researched and interpreted but by use of new, more ap-
propriate methods and understandings which are not dealing only with
traditional categories of drama theory (like drama action, character, time
etc.), or, on the other hand, of theatre studies, but with those that include
and consider the changed relationship between both. Several shifts of the
paradigms should be considered; one of them is a new understanding of
the role of the author, deriving from Barthes’s death of the author. Today,
Barthesian playwright is topical again—e.g., “either as the voice of a rhap-
sode (Sarrazac) or as the invisible narrator and a kind of DJ of discourses
and stories” (Toporišič 2015, 99). In Slovenia one such author is Simona
Semenič. Other important present changes, like the crisis of the subject,
the changed position of theatre etc. should be taken into consideration in
today’s augmented and mixed reality where theatre’s role has been over-
taken by faster media. All these changes inevitably impact the role and
position of drama and theatre today and their relationship to the politi-
cal issues, e.g. political power and range of theatre today.
Art and Theatre in the Age of Post-politics
Social and political engagement of Slovenian theatre should be first-
ly understood within the context of the position and function of art in
contemporary society, and secondly within the context of contempo-
rary changes of politics in terms of post-politics, yet, last but not least, it
should also be understood with regard to specific attitude toward the po-
litical issues in Slovenia. Where are the locuses of (political) power today?
How are they addressed by contemporary Slovenian drama and theatre?
Which strategies and tactics do they use and which message do they try
to convey to the audience?
In 2005 Lado Kralj wrote: “Today, theatre is simply not as a relevant
institution as it used to be prior to 1991. Crucial moral and social issues
are being discussed elsewhere” (Kralj 2005, 116). In 1991, when Slove-
nia gained independence, theatre lost its relevance. According to Kralj, it
stopped perceiving and criticizing the repression of communist regime.
As a result, Slovenian drama diminished both in terms of quantity and
quality (Kralj 2005, 116). However, 15 years later, the situation does not
seem the same. The interest in socially and politically engaged issues is in
rise again, which is seen both in an increased number of new performanc-
es and on declarative level (cf. announcement of the new season 2018/19
in Slovensko mladinsko gledališče (SMG) with its slogan ‘Me, the art-
ist. Me, the citizen’). Social and political issues have been addressed most
enthusiastically by SMG, especially after 2014 when artistic direction
