Beton Ltd.
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16 Jan 2020
19 Jan 2020
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30 Jun 2019
The performance Great Expectations by Beton Ltd., produced by Bunker Institute,
at the Spectrum Theatre Festival
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10 Oct 2017
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5 Oct 2017
6 Oct 2017
Performances
With their name referring to a limited liability company, the collective Beton Ltd. has become known for addressing problematic issues of contemporary social and/or political life with much self-reflection and (auto)irony, delivering a critique of the capitalist system, consumerism, and the contemporary culture of narcissism. Comprising three successful performers active in both the institutional and non-institutional theatre scenes, the collective gained critical attention with their first production, SO FAR AWAY: Introduction to Ego-logy (2010), produced by Bunker Institute. This production announced their topicality and interest in the search for new, hybrid forms of performing. Their second performance, I Say What I Am Told to Say (2012), drawing inspiration from Samuel Beckett's The Unnamable, was a co-production of Anton Podbevšek Theatre and Bunker Institute. It focused on generational angst against a backdrop of constant self-questioning and verifying one's identity.
Primož Bezjak and Branko Jordan from Beton Ltd. collective in their first production SO FAR AWAY: Introduction to Ego-logy, produced by Bunker Institute in 2010. Author: Urška Boljkovac
Beton Ltd.'s productions are strongly marked by a search for personal, even intimate entries into the topics dealt with, as seen in the visually impressive performance Everything We’ve Lost While We've Gone on Living (2013), with set design by Son:DA, the collective's ongoing collaborator. This production took the viewer on a journey through fictitious and (semi)imaginary landscapes, invoking a bitter-sweet contrast between what was before and what is today. Although the collective's performances usually resonate as reflections of a strongly disintegrated reality and the fundamental powerlessness of individual action, Beton Ltd. employs to their advantage the procedures of subversive affirmation, caricature, and parody to capture the ambiguity of contemporary life.
In 2014, the collective teamed up with film directors Rok Biček, Klemen Dvornik, and Žiga Virc in a theatre-film performance, Upor ni človek, based on the writings of Albert Camus and again co-produced by Anton Podbevšek Theatre. This production dealt with the topics of rebellion, resistance, and the price an individual has to pay for existential awakening.
Primož Bezjak, Branko Jordan, and Katarina Stegnar from collective Beton Ltd. in their performance Grosse Erwartungen. Author: Nada Žgank
The international theatre co-production Fun Fact, created in collaboration between the Beton Ltd. collective and Estonian theatre Kanuti Gildi SAAL, premiered in 2023. Author: Ivian Kan Mujezinović
The German Cycle
In 2016, the collective created the first performance of the so-called German cycle, Ich kann nicht anders. The cycle continued in 2018 with the performance Great Expectations (Große Erwartungen), dealing with the topic of great expectations and the future. It addressed the desires of a European, white, heterosexual, urban, cosmopolitan, over-represented generation. In 2019, the cycle continued with Mahlzeit, a music performance event dedicated to dining, feeding, snacking, and socializing. All performances were produced by Bunker Institute.