Konj Puppet Theatre

Konj ('Horse') Puppet Theatre was established in 1993 by Silvan Omerzu, who studied fine arts in Ljubljana and then undertook puppet design and set design for puppet stages in Prague. At the outset he collaborated closely with Jan Zakonjšek in performances which were aimed at adult audiences as they were replete with macabre and obscene humour, oscillating between the noble, the grotesque and the lascivious, soapiness and aestheticism, the traditional and the contemporary. The troupe created many collaborative performances with animators Brane Vižintin and Boštjan Sever, writer Andrej Rozman-Roza, musician Erno Sebastian and other guest artists, and also prepared productions based on texts by E Duranty (Make a Coffin for Him, 1993), Lorenzo da Ponte (Don Juan, 1995), A Jarry (King Ubu, 1998) and F G Lorca (Don Cristobal Alba, 2000). Its performances were presented and awarded at festivals at home and abroad, in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, the Czech Republic and the USA. Silvan Omerzu, continued in 2001-2003 with the trilogy Stories of Life and Death premiered at Cankarjev dom Culture and Congress Centre: Farewell, Prince was based on the drama by the Flemish playwright and mystic M de Ghelderode, while Sandmann and Councillor Krespel were based on E T A Hoffman's stories. In these productions Omerzu's grotesque puppets were transformed into refined aesthetic creatures contemplating the purpose of life, the magic of death, pure art, divine perfection and the mystery of creation. To date Omerzu has received nine international and five Slovene awards, including the Prešeren Foundation Award in 2006. In 2006 at the Mladinsko Theatre he directed a performance of Kleist based on the love correspondence between the outsider of German Romanticism, Heinrich von Kleist, and various women. In 2008 Omerzu will adapt Ivan Cankar's short story The Ward of Our Lady of Mercy for stage, transcribing the symbolist and decadent atmosphere of this work into an irresistible dramatic work. Silvan Omerzu has also engaged in the visual arts: his fine art puppet-sculpture installation Tears was presented at Božidar Jakac Gallery, Kostanjevica na Krki and at Ljubljana Castle, and was subsequently shown in Brussels in January 2008 within the scope of the Europalia project.

Konj Puppet Theatre

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