The Slovenian Theatre Yearbook 2018/2019 is the 32nd continuation of the centennial Repertoar of Slovenian theatres 1867 - 1967 and the 33rd published book. It is also the 27th issue of the Slovenian Theatre Yearbook, which was first published for the 1992/93 season.
In terms of quantity, we can speak of a season marked by a slight contraction in production compared to the previous one. For example, the number of premieres decreased from 222 to 214, and the total number of performances from 5,185 to 5,040. The number of plays also decreased, from 505 to 473. The decline in the number of spectators is somewhat greater, from 976,000 to 884,000. Among the averages of data sets, which fluctuate in uniform, relatively small amplitudes from season to season for individual theatres, there are also data that slightly protrude from the averages. For example, at the Ljubljana Opera, we can see a declining number of spectators for some time, which, despite 24 plays and 7 premieres, has not exceeded 68,000. Despite the encouraging number of plays and premieres (25 and 10), the Slovenian Youth Theatre also recorded a decline in spectators (29,000). The same trend is also evident at the SNG Drama Maribor (34,000). To ensure that the picture is not entirely one of decline, we can note that for the Anton Podbevšek Teater, after a few years of slight decline, attendance rose to 10,000 spectators this season, and that attendance at the Maribor Puppet Theatre (53,000) has also been rising in the last season.
The season was expertly evaluated by 5 experts for individual theater genres. Melita Forstnerič Hajnšek se je posvetila dramskemu in postdramskemu, Maia Juvanc and the opera theatre; the field of ballet and dance was covered by Natasha Berce, she studied the Slovenian puppetry Nika Švab, and the Slovenian radio play "measured the distance and the celestial side" Klemen Markovčič.
Even a cursory glance through these texts reveals a host of more enduring phenomena in Slovenian theatre production, discovered by the analysis of the introductory texts and which go beyond the characteristics of the season in question. These phenomena are:
- the extensive orientation of theatres, the rapid death of performances, increasingly pressing austerity in costumes and sets, the precariousness of young actors and actresses; furthermore, non-institutional stage practices, which are increasingly settling in institutions, bringing with them staging codes, performatives and many side effects of "poor theatre"; but also the repertoire of the central national houses, which is still designed according to the safe principle of pleasing the audience, something for everyone (Melite Forstnerič Hajnšek);
- then: the increasingly ossified fixation of Slovenian opera on a single track of music-theater practice and the resulting increasingly truncated repertoire, which is not even inspired by the world's iron repertoire, but is a strange distillate, brewed for "Slovenian needs and tastes" (Maia Juvanc);
- further: The good condition of Slovenian ballet from the celebratory perspective of the centenary of its development, but it is accompanied by at least two major problems: the lack of premieres, which slows down the qualitative growth of ensembles, and the still unresolved issue of the necessary early retirement of ballet dancers. (Nataša Berce);
and again - established, rigid ways of working that prevail in Slovenian puppet theatre, the perception of puppet theatre as a theatre for children, in which visual communicativeness is the most important (i.e. the attractiveness of puppets and scenography), while other categories - such as the weight of the theme, the breadth of the horizon, the inclusion of the different, the importance of diverse representation - are neglected (Nika Švab);
And finally - The threat to Slovenian radio drama, which has demonstrated its quality for years and has also been recognized internationally, due to the abolition of the curriculum for it at AGRFT (Klemen Markovčić).
The presenters (Melita Forstnerič Hajnšek, Maia Juvanc, Nataša Berce, Nika Švab and Klemen Markovčič) continue to answer the editor's question about what special features and advantages the season brought and what its possible weaknesses are.
Stefan Vevar, editor
Editor's Foreword
Accompanying interpretations:
Melita Forstnerič Hajnšek: A look at the 2018/2019 drama theatre season (drama and post-dramatic theater)
Natasha Berce: A look at the 2018/19 ballet and dance season (ballet and dance)
Maia Juvanc: A Distillate of the Iron Repertoire. A Look at the Slovenian Opera Season 2018/19 (opera theater)
Nika Švab: Is a puppet an animated object, a robot or a puppet? History of the theatre of animated objects in Slovenia in the 2018/19 season (puppet theater)
Klemen Markovčič: Radio play – between realization and autonomy. Overview of national radio play production in the 2018/19 season (radio play)
You can order the publication at:
slogi@slogi.si.
