Days of Comedy arrive in Celje
Celje, 9 February - The SLG Celje theatre will host the 32nd Days of Comedy festival between 10 and 25 February featuring eight theatre plays in competition and, for the first time, an accompanying programme bringing plays from Slovenia and abroad, round table debates and workshops.
Celje
Press conference ahead of the 32nd Days of Comedy in Celje.
Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA
Celje
Press conference ahead of the 32nd Days of Comedy in Celje.
Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA
The competing plays were picked by Kaja Novosel out of 19 entries. Seven of the plays competing for the jury awards and the audience darling award come from five Slovenian public theatres and one is a private production.
According to SLG Celje manager Miha Golob, the plays competing for the awards this year are mostly not based on Slovenian texts, except for one original project and one adaptation of a Slovenia novel.
The festival will open with Shakespeare's As You Like It directed by Janusz Kica in the production of the Ljubljana Drama theatre. The theatre will also stage Slawomir Mrožek's Tango by Luka Marcen.
The MGL theatre from Ljubljana will perform two plays - Jelena Kajgo's Lunapark by Tijana Zinajić and Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace by Nina Ramšak Marković. The SLG Celje theatre will stage Matteo Spiazzi's Paradise.
The SSG theatre in Trieste, which is a part of the Slovenian theatre network, will stage Nekaj v Zraku (Something in the Air) by Vladimir Bartol and Simona Hamer, directed by Anđelka Nikolić, about a capital-based society, harassment at work and precarious work.
The cultural associations Društvo Dveh and Rumena Zavesa will stage a play by Nik Škrlec entitled Zdrava Pamet (Common Sense) and the Prešeren Theatre Kranj will put on Werner Schwab's The Presidents, directed by Jure Novak.
After each play from the competitive programme, a debate with the authors will be held. On the final day of the festival comedian Tadej Toš will stage the play Abraham.
As customary, the best play, best director, best actress and best actor will be declared and the audience will also pick its comedian of the evening and favourite play.
As part of the accompanying programme, four additional plays will be staged, two of which will be international productions. Three workshops will also be organised as part of the festival.
The best author of a play will also be honoured at the festival. The jury unanimously decided that the award goes to retired professor who also writes, Nina Majer Ivanetič, for her comedy Komu Gori (To Whom It Burns), which was picked out of 15 entries.
This award is confirmed in cooperation with the Celje municipality, the sponsor of the festival, as part of an anonymous open competition for the best original Slovenian comedy.