Jean Genet
SPLENDID’S
Director: Senka Bulić
Set design and Music: Tomislav Čurković
Costume design: Oliver Jularić
Light Design: Nikša Mrkonjić
Assistent director: Juš A. Zidar
Performers: Gašper Jarni, Klemen Mauhler, Lun Sevnik, Stane Tomazin, Domen Valič, Miha Rodman, Benjamin Krnetić, Andrej Zalesjak and Matija Puž
Voice: Miša Molk
Opening Night, November 12th, 2011
SPLENDID'S
Jean Genet
On the 7th floor of the luxury hotel Splendid the police has surrounded seven gangsters and a police officer who joined them. On the radio there is a female announcer commenting on the situation. A daughter of an American millionaire has been taken hostage. This night the notorious gang “Huja” is once again challenging the police. Outside the hotel there is more and more curious people waiting to see what is going to happen. Tired, unshaved and in black ties Genet gangsters never put their weapons down. Not even while they’re dancing. In a moment of carelessness one of the gangsters unfortunately squeezed the hostage too tight which resulted in her “misfortunate death”. To solve the situation and prevent the attack of police forces the gang leader comes up with heroic solution – to personally appear on the hotel’s balcony, dressed up in the woman’s clothes with her fan, wearing her lace and glitter.
Splendid’s is a criminal thriller in two acts, written in 1948 but never published for the time of Genet’s life. In 1952 he claimed to have destroyed the manuscript and it was therefore believed to be nonexistent. In 1993 a copy of it appeared and soon after put on stage by Klaus Michael Gruber with the actors of the Berlin Schaubuhne, by Stanislas Nordey with his team in theatre Nanterre-Amandiers and in Great Britain by Neil Bartlett. Besides the fiction of the action Splendid’s is a play of precise rules and travesty. The text deliberately uses and brakes some certain literate, theatrical and movie genres. Basic tone, plot, images od beautiful men and lustful woman, terminology etc. owe a lot to the criminal novel and film noir of the 1940’s. The second lair remains quite hermetic; the speech is encoded in words and sexual rituals of the Genet’s subculture in the time between both wars. Besides that, the main theatrical model of Splendid’s is Racine which abides strict classic rules of the uniqueness of time, place and work. It is, even if a parody, the drama of the court’s plot, the passageways of the palace are as Racine’s lobby, the words give role without the usage of metaphors etc. As in Racine, the value lies in the concept such as Court, Dignity, Duty, Misfortune etc.
Jean Genet was born in Paris in 1910. As an illegitimate child he never got to know his parents and was in custody of French social services and fosters care. When he was 10 he was sent to juvenile correctional facility for stealing. He was convicted of theft for 10 times, the 11th time he was convicted for life. Under the influence of French literate circles (amongst those was also Jean Cocteau) he was pardoned by the French president at that time Auriola. He died in Paris in 1986. He was a poet, writer and play writer and author of known novels: »Our Lady Of The Flowers«, »The Thief's Jurnal«, »The Miracle of the Rose«, »Querelle of the Brest« etc.
Some young writer told me the story of how he saw five or six kids playing war in the town’s garden. Divided into two armies they were preparing for an attack. They claimed it was dark even though it was broad daylight. They have concluded that one of them will be Night. The youngest, most fragile, turned into elementary became the boss of the Battle. “He” was Time, Moment, the Inevitable one. He came, or so it seemed, from far at peace of the cyclical happening but with sorrow and pomposity. As he approached the Men would become nervous, worried … The boy according to their opinion arrived too soon. He was ahead of himself. So it was decided and concluded between the Army and the Leader to terminate the Night and that the boy was to become a soldier for one of the sides … with this formula I think I could actually be drawn to the theatre and fascinated by it.
Jean Genet, Letter to Jeanu-Jacques Pauvert, in Fragments.
The performance was created within the international European project »Puppet Nomad Academy 2«, financially supported by the European Comission, programme Culture (2007-2013). This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Mini teater is engaged in several European projects, financially supported by the European Comission, programme Culture (2007-2013)
The programme and activity of Mini Teater is co-funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana - MOL.
