Traveling exhibition dedicated to the first Slovenian actor Ignacio Borštnik (1858-1919). On the 150th anniversary of the birth and 90th anniversary of the death of the first Slovenian professional theater actor, director, playwright, translator and poet, the Slovenian Theater Museum prepared an exhibition about his life and work. The exhibition shows the most important stages of Borštnik's life, photos of his roles and posters, texts and songs he wrote in his mature years and are preserved in the archives of the SGM, and it concludes with a list and photos of the winners of Borštnik's ring from 1978 onwards.
The first installation of the exhibition
Hosting an exhibition in Gorica, Italy
Visiting the exhibition in Zagreb
At that time, in the second half of the nineteenth century, our actors came to the "professional" stage from amateur ranks, more or less by chance; also the young Gorazd, later the first drama artist of Ljubljana and a prominent member of the Zagreb ensemble – Ignacij Borštnik. His gift was noticed, according to tradition, during improvised social performances, which were accompanied by prominent citizens, including the writer and secretary of the Dramatic Society, the later mayor of Ljubljana, Ivan Tavčar. They gave him a chance on the real stage and a few years later he was sent to Viennese schools. The theater schedule in Ljubljana at the time did not give him great opportunities, but he showed a wide range of his talent in some roles, and was recognized for his elegant appearance, beautiful and sonorous voice, "pure, correct diction and acting suitable to these qualities". It is typical that they noticed his "non-exaggeration" early on, which already indicated the beginnings of his later orientation towards stage realism. When he portrayed the sculptor Rollo in Leonto's play Thorns and Laurels "with the masterful gesture of an artist's suffering", his performance was a surprise for many; no less, his creation of the diametrically opposite role, the amorous servant Melchior in Nestroy's burka Danes bomo tichi: in the "sentimental" Gorazd, "excellent comic power" was also discovered, a completely new side of his talent (the performance in January 1885 was also his first "directing", actually a restoration of the set of the popular comedian Kocel). All this made the decision-makers think that Gorazd's talent should be supported and allowed to improve. Vienna; meeting with the famous realist Tyrolt, who remained his role model; returning with "the most beautiful diploma". Now he could stage more demanding works of the European schedule, including Schiller's drama about blacksmithing and love or Gogol's satirical comedy; the roles of the young Major Ferdinand and the fake auditor Khlestakov (1886, 1887). The year 1892 was famous for him and for us: Even before the Provincial Theater was opened, the director brought the first modern European drama, Ibsen's Nora, with his student and lifelong companion Zofia Zvonarjeva in the title role, to the old reading room stage; and he opened the new house in the fall with Jurčič's Veronika Deseniška, who was again portrayed by the same actress, while he himself played the peripheral role of the impoverished nobleman Vukašin and at the same time "spoke" Funtko's rapturous prologue before the ceremonial start.
Two years later, the disputes between the former Gorazd and Zvonarjevo led the Dramatic Society to a fateful decision: the Slovenian artistic couple accepted the invitation of the famous Zagreb intendant Dr. Stjepan Miletić to lay the foundation for a modern realistic play on the Croatian stage. Working together with Miletić - these were Borštnik's best years, all paths were open to him. In Ljubljana, he avoided Shakespeare, aware of the level of his actors, there was the Danish royal in the first year, as well as Molière's Tartuffe, in Kovarstvo he was now the scheming president's secretary Wurm. He sponsored too many Croatian plays and staged Cankar's Jakob Ruda in Zagreb the same year as in Ljubljana. But he was even more attracted by demanding tasks in the modern psychological repertoire, especially Ibsen's Osvald in Fears, which, according to Miletić's judgment, even Zacconi's European fame could not overshadow.
He was always appreciated and recognized in Zagreb almost all his life. In his later years, as president of the actors' union, he became embroiled in disputes with the new quartermaster, and an early retirement followed. At the end of the war and after it, he even appeared in local films, and when the Ljubljana theater was being renovated after the collapse of the monarchy, he returned with the desire and task to take care of the education of local actors. He also performed a few more times, even in the role of his Ritmeister in Strindberg's play The Father, two weeks before the farewell. The role of Cankar's pastor from Hlapce, which he - the former Cantor - diligently studied while still in the hospital, remained a torso.
He was our first drama artist and an interpreter of the most demanding roles. Vienna could be proud of him, they wrote; he could establish himself on any major European stage. Dušan Moravec, Vasja Predan: One Hundred Slovenian Dramatic Artists, Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 2001.
