Anton Podbevšek Theatre

Theatre performance Livingston's Last Kiss (Zadnji Livingstonov poljub) at Anton Podbevšek Theatre in Novo mesto

Anton Podbevšek Theatre (APT) was established in May 2005. As such, it is the youngest Slovene professional theatre house as well as the first professional theatre in the history of Novo mesto, a town in the south eastern region of Slovenia. APT's aim is to make engaged, challenging, and contemporary theatre that would surpass the distinction between popular and elite culture. Thus, it seeks to present a wide range of theatre genres (music drama, drama and post-drama theatre, and dance theatre), synthesising literature, dance, music, architecture, painting, and film. In addition, it organises programme-related colloquia and discussions. The choice for the theatre's name, namely after the first Slovene avant-garde artist Anton Podbevšek, suggests APT's orientation toward research, risk-taking, reflection, and new modes of presentation.

Overview of theatre production

APT finds its primary challenge in performing the antagonisms and ground-breaking turns in different societies, circumstances, tastes, and mentalities. The theatre launched its programme with Bertolt Brecht's Galileo Galilei (2006), directed by Matjaž Berger; followed by the intimate dance spectacle Sun City (2007), based on the literary utopian text from the 16th-century The City of the Sun by the Italian theologist and philosopher Tommaso Campanella, co-produced by Fičo Balet; and the musical fairy tale Peter and the Wolf [Peter in volk] (2007), directed by Nana Milčinski and Matjaž Berger.

Since then, APT has collaborated with over 150 makers/artists in producing large-scale post-drama theatre performances. Thus, in 2007 APT premièred the inscenation Alain Badiou: XX. Century [Alain Badiou: XX. stoletje], directed by Berger, which employed the performance model that included a corpus of theatre gestures, Internet art, a rock concert, and sports, and included actors, musicians, dancers, and cyclists. The spectacle took place at the Cycling Velodrome near Novo mesto. In 2008, APT produced a follow-up to this performance, namely Bertolt Brecht's Me-ti / Book of Twists and Turns [Me-ti / Knjiga obratov], also directed by Berger, which attempted to reflect on the questions opened up in this famous Brecht text, namely, how does a subject constitute and maintain her/his dignity, attitude, gesture in the times permeated with forced choices. APT's programme has also presented projects by Marko Mlačnik, whose performance Left Terrorism [Levi terorizem] (2008) dealt with the legacy of movements and thinkers of the 1960s, drawing from concrete, "real" destinies of 4 German terrorists, members of the 1st generation of Red Army Faction – RAF; and Confessions [Spovedi] (2009) by Dušan Jovanović, which reflected on the ambivalent connection between confession, truth, and power, disclosing the nature of confession as a prevailing cultural form.

Anton Podbevšek Theatre also hosts performances of different Slovene theatre and dance producers, such as Slovene People’s Theatre (SLG) Celje, DUM Association of Artists, Maska Institute, EnKnapGroup (EKG), Betontanc, etc., as well as organises other cultural and social events. In addition to its performing arts and educational activities, APT also organises an art cinema programme and runs a photographic gallery.

International cooperation

In 2008, APT entered its first international co-production with the Theatre City Festival Budva, Monte Negro. The performance Kadmopolis – a Look From the Distance [Kadmopolis – Udaljeni pogled], directed by Matjaž Berger, investigates the myths of the emergence of settlements in the Mediterranean area, interweaving them with fragments from texts by Beckett, Hegel, Sartre, Eluard, and Pavić. In 2009, APT co-produced with the Bologna-based Teatri di Vita, Italy, the performance Portrait of a Lady [Portret neke gospe], directed by Matjaž Berger, which won two awards at the Borštnik Theatre Festival in Maribor in 2009: Matjaž Berger received the Borštnik Award for the unique performing discourse and Peter Penko for best musical score. In 2009, APT co-produced EnKnapGroup's production 10 Min East [10 minut vzhodno], comprised of 5 choreographic miniatures. The performance was co-produced also by the Workshop Foundation, Hungary; the Zagreb Dance Ensemble, Croatia; and the Slovene National Theatre Maribor.

APT Academy

APT also launched an interdisciplinary programme of reflection on the arts in general and the contemporary theatre discourse in particular. Aiming to inform the viewer with topical reflections as well as to prepare him for new modes of presentation, APT is developing 2 models. It organises colloquia and symposiums, thematically related to APT's theatre projects, which commonly host philosophers, theatre researchers, directors, and translators, and a weekly educational programme for the Novo mesto secondary school population, offering knowledge about the basic paradigms of 20th-century theatre practices through practical insights.

Venue

Technical data for the venue is available at the theatre's website (see External links below).

External links

Anton Podbevšek Theatre website (in Slovenian)
Technical information about the venue (in Slovenian)
Collected poems by Anton Podbevšek – with facsimiles and commentary

Gallery

Concert by Dan D at Anton Podbevšek Theatre in Novo mesto

Theatre performance Livingston's Last Kiss (Zadnji Livingstonov poljub) at Anton Podbevšek Teatre in Novo mesto with members of the rock band Siddharta

Theatre performance Livingston's Last Kiss (Zadnji Livingstonov poljub) at Anton Podbevšek Theatre in Novo mesto

A premiere of Two Men With Bombs, an art action directed by Matjaž Berger and produced by Anton Podbevšek Theatre, within the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012 programme and the Rock Otočec festival, June 2012