Difference between revisions of "Slovene National Theatre Maribor"

Revision as of 10:51, 15 October 2010

One of three state-owned theatres in Slovenia, the Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor was established in 1919. It is organised into five units: Drama, Opera, Ballet, Symphony orchestra, and the annual Borštnik Theatre Festival.

History

In its over 90-year-long history, SNG Maribor has presented more than 900 premières of dramatic works, 450 operas and 100 ballets – a comprehensive programme realised by over 700 authors and collaborators.

In 1978, a series of renovations of the SNG Maribor building began, which were realised in several stages over a period of 25 years. In 1994 the Grand Hall was added to the existing building and in 2003 the Old Hall was renovated.

Drama

Theatre activity in Maribor began in 1785, when the first theatre hall was organised, which mainly presented works by travelling theatre groups. The building was enlarged in 1864 and has remained practically the same since then. Until 1919, the building was the home of the German professional drama and opera theatre, when the Dramatic Society, established in 1909, moved to the existing theatre building and formed the first Slovene professional theatre with a permanent drama ensemble. The opening première was Josip Jurčič's Tugomer directed by the first director of SNG Maribor Hinko Nučič.

In the period before World War II, the theatre focused on Slovene playwriting, but also staged some world classics, mainly expressionist. After WWII and simultaneous with the city's industrialisation, the programme took on a more socially-critical emphasis, staging mainly Russian socialist realist plays. During the following decades the programme consisted of contemporary authors (Osborne, Camus, Brecht) and a number of new Slovene playwrights. In 1989 Tomaž Pandur, who brought the name of SNG Maribor Drama to the theatre world, became director and created a number of visually distinctive performances (La Divina Commedia, Carmen, Faust, Hamlet). Widely praised for his poetics, the performances toured extensively across the world (Vienna, Dresden, Saint Petersburg, Brussels, Cuidad de Mexico, Caracas, etc.).

In 1966, the Week of Slovene Theatres festival was organised for the first time and in 1971 was renamed to Borštnik Theatre Festival, the central Slovene theatre festival in which all Slovene drama theatres compete for different awards. Each year, the highest award for acting achievement, the Borštnik Ring, is awarded.

Ballet

The first ballet staging Možiček took place in 1926. However, the first evening-length ballet performance premièred only in 1949, when Leo Delibes's Coppelia was choreographed by Maks Kirbos. The ensemble included around 20 dancers. The programme included new ballet works by foreign as well as Slovene choreographers.

Programme

Drama

The programme of the SNG Maribor Drama presents both classical and contemporary dramatic texts, including works by Slovene dramatists (Ivan Cankar, Slavko Grum, A. T. Linhart, Dominik Smole, Tone Partljič, Drago Jančar, Rudi Šeligo) as well as international playwrights. Many original Slovene texts staged at SNG Maribor are national premières. The theatre annually presents around 7 new productions, while the repertory commonly consists of around 12 performances. The stagings of SNG Maribor Drama comprise elements of traditional dramatic theatre with contemporary post-dramatic approaches. The theatre's programme oscillates between unconventional and radical stagings and communicative, popular genres, such as spectacle, comedy, and performance art. At present the ensemble comprises 27 permanent members. The theatre continually collaborates with established Slovene directors of a younger and middle generation, such as Janusz Kica, Jernej Lorenci, Mateja Koležnik, Ivana Djilas, Sebastijan Horvat, Diego de Brea, etc.

SNG Maribor Drama is regularly included in the programmes of major Slovene theatre festivals, such as the Borštnik Theatre Festival or Slovene Drama Week, where its performances as well as individual members of the ensemble are often awarded the highest recognition from the expert as well as the wider audience. The theatre also appears abroad. The 2008 production An Intimate Self-Portrait of Frida Kahlo [Intimni avtoportret Fride Kahlo], directed by Ivana Vujić, received 3 awards at the International JoakimInterFest 2008 in Serbia, namely for direction, visual concept, and the audience award; the 2009 production Wind in the Pines. Noh plays [No-igre. Veter v vejah borov], directed by Jernej Lorenci, received the Best Direction Award at the Golden Lion Festival Umag, while the actress Nataša Matjašec received the Borštnik Ring Award at the 2009 Borštnik Theatre Festival, where the performance Peer Gynt, directed by Janusz Kica, was also awarded twice, namely for set design (Marko Japelj) and acting achievement (Branko Šturbej).

The 2009/10 season programme of SNG Maribor Drama emphasised the re-examination of the traditions of 20th-century historical avant-gardes. The texts selected for the repertoire originated from the periods of symbolism (Maeterlinck's Blue Bird), futurism (the project with the working title Futurism based on texts by Marinetti and his contemporaries), and surrealism (a love comedy with songs Bepop based on Boris Vian's play Head of Medusa and That Obscure Object of Desire based on Luis Buñuel's film of the same title). The programme also includes Patrick Marber's play Closer [Od blizu] and Dominik Smole's Antigone [Antigona], the re-staging of which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first institutional staging of this very important Slovene play.

Opera

The history of the SNG Maribor Opera Company goes back to 1919 when a small company staged mostly operettas. Today it presents a diversified programme featuring its own orchestra and regular appearances by visiting international guest performers, while its productions also go on regular tours (Croatia, Austria, Italy, Luxemburg, Taiwan, etc.) – see also SNG Maribor Symphony Orchestra.

Ballet

The SNG Maribor Ballet ensemble cooperates with the Opera and Drama ensembles in its productions and produces around 2 ballet performances per year. The ensemble, led by the Romanian dancer and choreographer Edward Clug, hosts many guest dancers and choreographers from other countries. During the last decade, Edward Clug put SNG Maribor Ballet on the international map of ballet companies with his stagings of innovative and highly expressive ballet performances, which are nevertheless firmly rooted in ballet tradition, among others, a highly successful Tango (1998), Lacrimas (2002), Radio and Juliet (2005), featuring the music of the British rock band Radiohead, which appeared in numerous festivals in Europe and America (Le temps d'aimer in Biarritz (FR), Dance Festival Tel Aviv (IL), Arts Festival Singapore, Festival of Firsts and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (US)), and Prêt-à-porter (2008). Edward Clug received the Prešeren Foundation Award in 2005 and the Glazer Award in 2008 for achievements in the area of contemporary dance.

In 2006, Architecture of Silence [Arhitektura tišine], a dance-music performance directed by Clug and accompanied by the music by the Slovene composer Milko Lazar, was realised in co-production with the SNG Ljubljana Opera and Ballet and Festival Ljubljana. The performance brought together ballet and opera ensembles as well as the symphonic orchestras of the two major national ballet and opera houses in Slovenia. Another co-production between the two houses took place in November 2009, when La Bayadère [Bajadera], choreographed by Rafael Avnikjan following the original choreography by Marius Petipa and directed by Aleksej Baklan, premièred in the Grand Hall of SNG Maribor.

SNG Maribor Ballet productions have been presented world-wide, for example, in Austria, Columbia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Israel, Portugal, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, the USA, and so on.

Venues

The Slovene National Theatre has five venues: Grand Hall, Old Stage, Small Stage, Chamber Stage and Casino Hall.

External links

Slovene National Theatre (SNG) Maribor website (in English)
Borštnik Theatre Festival website (in Slovenian and English)
SNG Maribor architecture - the history of the building from the Theatre Architecture in Central Europe web database

Trailers

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 SNG Maribor Drama is regularly included in the programmes of major Slovene theatre festivals, such as the [[Borštnik Theatre Festival]] or [[Slovene Drama Week]], where its performances as well as individual members of the ensemble are often awarded the highest recognition from the expert as well as the wider audience. The theatre also appears abroad. The 2008 production ''An Intimate Self-Portrait of Frida Kahlo'' [Intimni avtoportret Fride Kahlo], directed by Ivana Vujić, received 3 awards at the International JoakimInterFest 2008 in Serbia, namely for direction, visual concept, and the audience award; the 2009 production ''Wind in the Pines. Noh plays'' [No-igre. Veter v vejah borov], directed by [[Jernej Lorenci]], received the Best Direction Award at the Golden Lion Festival Umag, while the actress [[Nataša Matjašec]] received the [[Borštnik Ring Award and Borštnik Awards|Borštnik Ring Award]] at the 2009 [[Borštnik Theatre Festival]], where the performance ''Peer Gynt'', directed by Janusz Kica, was also awarded twice, namely for set design ([[Marko Japelj]]) and acting achievement ([[Branko Šturbej]]).
-The emphasis of the programme for the '''2009/10 season''' of SNG Maribor Drama is placed on the re-examination of the traditions of 20th-century historical avant-gardes. The texts selected for the repertoire originate from the periods of symbolism (Maeterlinck's ''Blue Bird''), futurism (the project with the working title ''Futurism'' based on texts by Marinetti and his contemporaries), and surrealism (a love comedy with songs ''Bepop'' based on Boris Vian's play ''Head of Medusa'' and ''That Obscure Object of Desire'' based on Luis Buñuel's film of the same title). The programme also includes Patrick Marber's play ''Closer'' [Od blizu] and [[Dominik Smole|Dominik Smole's]] ''Antigone'' [Antigona], the re-staging of which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first institutional staging of this very important Slovene play.
+The '''2009/10 season'''  programme of SNG Maribor Drama emphasised the re-examination of the traditions of 20th-century historical avant-gardes. The texts selected for the repertoire originated from the periods of symbolism (Maeterlinck's ''Blue Bird''), futurism (the project with the working title ''Futurism'' based on texts by Marinetti and his contemporaries), and surrealism (a love comedy with songs ''Bepop'' based on Boris Vian's play ''Head of Medusa'' and ''That Obscure Object of Desire'' based on Luis Buñuel's film of the same title). The programme also includes Patrick Marber's play ''Closer'' [Od blizu] and [[Dominik Smole|Dominik Smole's]] ''Antigone'' [Antigona], the re-staging of which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first institutional staging of this very important Slovene play.
 ===Opera ===

Difference between revisions of "Slovene National Theatre Maribor"

Revision as of 10:51, 15 October 2010

Contents

History

Drama

Ballet

Programme

Drama

Opera

Ballet

Venues

See also

Slovene National Theatres

External links

Trailers

Operated by

Financed by