SNG Drama theatre returning to roots in upcoming season

Ljubljana, 24 May - The SNG Drama Ljubljana theatre will be staging ten new plays in the 2023/2024 season, the last before the old theatre building will undergo renovation. Theatre director Vesna Jurca Tadel said they are going back to the roots, returning to powerful stories, strong characters and dialogues.

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
SNG Drama theatre presents its season for 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana Ten plays will premiere at SNG Drama theatre in the season 2023/2024. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Ljubljana
Ten plays will premiere at SNG Drama theatre in the season 2023/2024.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA

Jurca Tadel said that the programme was based on four pillars: its mission, tradition, a top-level team and the pledge to perform classical works, Slovenian works and exciting foreign works. Six plays will be performed on the main stage and four on the small stage.

On the main stage, the season will kick off with Antigone by Dominik Smole, directed by Janez Pipan, in September. The theatre director noted that the text raises eternal moral issues, made only more topical by the current global events.

A month later, The Morning Star, an adaptation of the namesake novel by the Norwegian writer Karj Ove Knausgard, will see its premiere. The original text was adapted for the stage by Goran Vojnović by commission and is directed by Ivica Buljan.

The classical comedies As You Like It by William Shakespeare and The Miser by Moliere, will come to the main stage in December and January, directed by Janusz Klica and Slobodan Unkovski, respectively.

The Welkin, a play by the celebrated British playwright Lucy Kirkowood, will premiere in March, directed by Sebastijan Horvat. A modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac by the Brit Martin Crimp will premiere in April, directed by Tin Grabnar.

The 2023/2024 season on the small stage will be opened in September by The Day I Was No Longer Me by the German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig, directed by Maša Pelko.

In December, Tango, the most significant work by the absurdist Polish author Slawomir Mrožek, will premiere on the small stage, directed by Luka Marcen.

Meanwhile, the last two plays to premiere on the small stage in March and April will honour this venue, which will be moved to a different part of the building after the renovation.

The American Dream by Edward Albee was the first play performed outside Drama in 1963, now seen as the beginning of the theatre house's small stage. It will be directed by Igor Pison.

The season will close with the first performance of This Game Is Over by Matjaž Zupančič, who will also direct the play, which was nominated for the Grum Award for best play of 2023.

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© STA, 2023