I lie, I steal, I eat flies
The story of Othello is simple. Othello, a soldier, chooses as his lieutenant not Iago, a comrade in battle, but a man who "has no more idea of the concept of battle than a crone", Cassio. Iago's distress is understandable, not because of professional "betrayal", but above all because of envy. He envies Cassio's position as lieutenant, but his anger is directed primarily at Othello, which shows that he envies him even more, a successful exotic soldier with a beautiful wife, Desdemona. So Iago schemes, lies, steals and kills; Othello believes and Desdemona frowns. For lies are the best mistress of theatrical delusions.
In the mid-19th century, a production of Othello was staged in Chicago. During the play, a spectator became so absorbed in the action that, convinced of the actual corruption of the person and unaware of the stage illusion, he pulled out a revolver and shot Iago. To death. On the actor's tombstone they inscribed: 'Here lies the greatest actor'. For when the famous child from Andersen's fairy tale says with innocent candour that the Emperor is naked, it frees us from the torment of pretence and unwittingly forces us to face the reality of the situation. But we are still plagued by an illusion of art that changes the world, even if it is false. Because theatre only exists at the moment when we are ready to believe in a lie, that is, when we believe that what we see is real, even though we know that it is not, and that is why we enter into the lie. If we were making a revolution, we should have occupied the courtroom, not like the French students in May 1968, when they occupied the theatre, the place of lies. We have no time for revolution, there are only two ways to live, once for ourselves and once for our dreams, we do not know the truth and we cannot tell you the truth, so we prefer to be liars.
Othello is, because of its simplicity, the perfect theatrical text. Whoever chooses to stage it has at his disposal a skeleton of human relationships, choices and delusions, the cause of which is just enough of a blur to withstand almost any projection. A tragedy like Othello, in its emptiness, invites us to patch up the textual holes ourselves, opening up space for a wild freedom of interpretation. What follows may not be true, and may not be what Shakespeare meant, so the play becomes a product of our interpretive arbitrariness, hoping that our delusions will be as cleverly manipulated as his, and that they will prove to be true.
Matjaž Pograjc
Matjaž Pograjc
Hitchcock said that a film is a piece of cake, not an overcooked vegetable. But life is such that you have to get some things wrong in order to learn to be better. In the theatre world it's very difficult to be honest because there are so many artistic monsters and bloodsuckers around you, so I prefer to avoid the crowd-pleasing and try to live my work. Life is much more interesting than theatre, so I would like to meet that Austrian marathon runner who was a bank robber by profession. He did kill a few people in his life, including a neighbour who got on his nerves with his amateur singing, so much so that he unfortunately had his head blown off. Sir brought two loves together. Running and money. He robbed banks and then ran so fast that he was never caught at the scene of the crime. I wish I could have run till I died and never been caught by the theatre.
Klara Kastelec
In her mini theatre career, she has played a number of maxi leading roles (Slovene Youth Theatre, Anton Podbevšek Teater, Glasbena matica Ljubljana, Glasbena mladine Slovenije, Cankarjev dom ...) and maxi supporting roles (Ljubljana Puppet Theatre), and sometimes she is maxi in her own direction together with her companions on a mini-freedom, which is usually more maxi than many members of the ensemble could ever imagine. In her maxi working hours, she connects numerous mini and maxi events, leads round tables, records on the radio, dubs cartoons, reads audiobooks, writes, dances, sings, hunts for foreign words and translates them, and runs after various mini and maxi opportunities on stage boards and boards that smell more of wood than of stage. She has won a few maxi awards on her mini theatre journey, but she says that compared to Life, they are really mini. Or as she read in the theatre brochure of a mini theatre in Porto, while getting lost in the charming streets of Portugal:
- Vamos ao teatro para ver.
- Mas para ver o quê?
- Para ver …
O mundo.
Or in our dear mini mother tongue, which is in fact very maxi:
- Let's go to the theatre to see.
- But see what?
- To see ...
The world.
Rada Kovačević
I was born in Belgrade in '96, grew up with my parents Milica and Veselin and my brother Miloš. And I just remembered my neighbour Goran, who pulled out my first tooth with a thread. After a few years of ballet (which I didn't really like, but who wants to admit that?), a miracle happened and I fell in love with modern dance. I graduated from the "Lujo Davičo" ballet high school. Then I moved to Linz and graduated from the Anton Bruckner University Dance Academy. There I made a lot of friends that I still keep in touch with and adore. I came to Ljubljana and became a member of the dance company En-knap. However, listening to podcasts, especially Miroljub Petrović, I realised that the system controls everything and that the key is to be your own boss. I married the best man in the world. I became a freelancer. I also launched my fitness programme "Pulzfit" - follow me on Instagram. Outside of the theatre, I think I'm an easy going girl (except for my husband), I love to laugh, enjoy the company of children, God willing, I can't wait to have my own, I love to travel and hang out with friends. I dream of having my own vegetable garden; someone has to think of the future, right? And yes, I am trying to learn Slovenian, but it is going slowly, more slowly than I expected, I have 1000 excuses, but I have no more space to write them down.
Jurica Marčec
My name is Jurica Marčec and I'm an actor. I am 29 years old. I was born in Varaždin, I currently live in Zagreb. In short: I have been acting since I was a little kid, but I never wanted or thought I would become an actor. Meanwhile, like this, here I am where I am... HEHE. I started my education as a precision-loving natural scientist and ended up graduating from the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. I acted in plays in Pula, Rijeka, Zagreb, Čakovec, Ljubljana and Novo Mesto. The vast majority of the projects fell into the category of children's performances. As far as language is concerned, I am good with Croatian, Slovenian and English (of course). I sing, I act and I love music. I also love dance and movement. In 2019, I was nominated for the Hrvatsko Glumište Award in the category of Best Young Actor in the performance Superjunaci by Teatar PocoLoco. I did not win it. Hehe. A year later I went to London, where I became a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. I did projects (Percy Gloom, Melt) that also fell into the category of theatre for children and youth. After a harrowing pandemic and post-pandemic year, I returned back to the Balkans hoping to pick up where I left off in 2019. I am currently acting in two plays (Mama je kriva za sve, Grga Čvarak). If you prefer television to theatre, search Voyo Slovenia and watch the series LP, Lena or on RTL Hrvatska the series San Snova. If you prefer film, eh, you won't see me there yet. Maybe in a year or so. If not, you can certainly find me in the theatre.
Kristina Tini Rozman
You could say that she started her professional dance career in her twenties, and at the age of forty she put on her acting shoes for the first time. In her spare time, she is a DJ. She seeks authenticity in dance, knows more and sees further in a relaxed state. She is afraid of challenges but she conquers them skilfully, thanks to the teams and projects she is involved in. She is part of the precariat, sometimes overwhelmed, but above all still under-activistically involved.
