DANS LA SOLITUDE DES CHAMPS DE COTON/IN THE SOLITUDE OF THE COTTON FIELDS
Bernard-Marie Koltès
Director: Ivica Buljan
Starring: Marko Mandić and Robert Waltl
Dramaturge: Diana Koloini
Set and light design: son:DA
Costumes: Ana Savić Gecan
Authors of music: Nenad Sinkauz and Alen Sinkauz
Translator: Suzana Koncut
Corrections: Simon Šerbinek
Set design assistants: Eve Ormisson, Paula Bučar, Matis Mäesalu
Technical crew in Ljubljana: Tilen Vipotnik, Anže Kreč, David Cerar, Ivan Waltl, Blaž Mahkota, Rosana Knavs
Technical crew in Ptuj:
Head of the performance and sound master: Simon Puhar
Wardrobe: Irena Meško
Sound master: Danijel Vogrinec
Stage master: Andrej Cizerl Kodrič
Coproduction: Mini teater Ljubljana, City Theatre Ptuj, Novo kazalište Zagreb and Maribor 2012 - European Capital of Culture
Premiere in City Theatre Ptuj: 21st June 2012 at 9 p.m. in Hall B, Talum Kidričevo.
Repeats in City Theatre Ptuj: 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th June 2012 at 9 p.m. in Hall B, Talum Kidričevo.
Premiere in Mini teater Ljubljana: January 2013
The set for the premiere in Ptuj was designed and prepared under the leadership of Andrej Cizerl Kodrič in the workshop of City theater Ptuj. We thank Talum d.d. Kidričevo for their cooperation.
ABUT THE PLAY
The play about a desire, illegal and unspoken desire, which is even more forceful since it cannot be fulfilled. The play about “a business transaction of forbidden or highly controlled goods” Bernard-Marie Koltès
Mini teater. Koltès. New dimension of the theater. Above the entire relationship Buljan-Koltès-Mini teater floats the text In the solitude of the cotton fields. Due to the friendship with François Koltèsom, Bernard-Marie’s brother, we were able in some cases to carry out world’s ancient realizations of his texts. The Solitude remains as a black pearl amongst them.
The masterpiece of the 80’s, stylishly complete work of art from the end of the last millennium, the dialogue between the Dealer and Buyer in an extremely precise yet sophisticated way writes the history of our time. The history built upon trade, libidinal economy. When we do not know what the cause for the deal is, what is being traded with, we are not deprived of beauty, passion, sorrow and happiness at retrieval of the wanted thing or person.
Ivica Buljan, director, artistic leader and winner of the Prešeren’s fund 2012 meets in the Solitude with, as he says himself, his most important actors, Robert Waltl and Marko Mandić. Robert Waltl from the beginning of Mini teater performs in The night at the edge of the forests. A wounding monologue of a lonely stranger in a rainy night, surrounded by dealers, whores, drunken passer-byes and Arabs. In The solitude of the cotton fields, as Buljan says, Waltl’s “emblematic role” awaits. Marko Mandić has in Sallinger and later on in its radical version Ma and Al created a character of an American veteran who lost one son in the war. The other disappears in fron of his eyes in unsure acting waters. For Mandić’s brave interpretation Koltes’ Solitude makes it unforgettable.
To see the selection of critiques click here!
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
»Buljan’s theatre as it appears in an unusually wide and incredible opus from the last two years seem like »theatre-river«, for it flows with its unfailing emotive and energetic flow through the scenes as on one side thorough differentiated performative wave and as a whole theatrical magma on the other side and cleaning those scenes of unimportant and unneeded scenery, illustrative, psychological and symbolic »dirt«. His plays are thoroughly thought through yet always with trustworthiness and almost invisible softness carried out theatrical nudes in which the viewer takes a crucial place by side the actor - as a live witness of the passionate drive of male bodies slamming at each other in an attempt from whether his own or the body of the one next to him to root out, rip out, destroy the strength or life as such (Macbeth after Shakespeare), as an embarrassed voyeur at the turbulent erotic relationship between two loving/hating creatures that strangle and kill each other in front of his eyes (Ma and Al) or as a turned on member of the satire ritual that influences him more with its ecstatic texture than with its sophisticated »spiritual« structure (Kiklop).« Blaž Lukan, theatre critic
The director Ivica Buljan (1965) has taught at Academie experimentalle des theatres in Paris, Brussels and Moscow as a guest professor and as a professor in National Theatre schools in Saint Etienne and Rennes in France. In the period between 1998 and 2002 he was the director of the Croatian National Drama Theatre in Split, he is the co-founder of the Mini teater in Ljubljana and also the co-founder and artistic director of World theatre festival in Zagreb. As a director and dramaturg he stems from intense interest in modernist dramatics and poets such as Marina Tsvetaeva, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Heiner Müller, Robert Walser, Elfriede Jelinek, Miroslav Krleža, Botho Strauβ and Bernard-Marie Koltès while his productions took part in numerous international festivals in France, Portugal, Spain, Cuba, Seoul, Italy, Turkey, Venezuela, Austria, Greece, Macedonia, Belgium, Switzerland, Russia, Great Britain, Bulgaria, France, Iran, Poland, Slovakia and Albania.
For his work he received a great number of prestigeous awards: The Dubravko Djušin Award (1997), the Petar Brečić Award (1999), the Peristil Award (2001, for Oedipus), the Borštnik Diploma and a Special Award from the Jury (2004), Grand Prix of Tempus Art festival (2004), and the Medal of the City of Havana (2005), Golden Lion for the best performances (2006 for Hamlet, 2007 for Princesse's Dramas), the Borštnik Award for the best Slovenian performance (2007 for Oedipus, 2010 for Macbeth after Shakespeare), the Sterija Award for the best performance (2008 for Oedipus), the Gavelle Award for the best performance (2010 for Garage), Grand Prix of Festival Rijeka (2011 for Cyclops), Prešern’s Found Award (2012 for performances Macbeth after Shakespeare, Sallinger, Little Mermaid, Ma&Al, Hunting scenes from lower Bavaria, Cyclops, Werther and Cat on a hot tin roof).
The performance was created within the international European projects “Puppet Nomad Academy 3” and “Nomads of beauty” co-financed by the European commission, program 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.
