Rocky Peak

Opening night September 27^th 2019, Old Hall SNT Maribor
Running time 2 hours 55 minutes. One intermission.

A discussion after the performance on Old Hall SNT Maribor.

Director Nina Rajić Kranjac
Adaptation for stage Tibor Hrs, Nina Rajić Kranjac
Dramaturg Tibor Hrs Pandur
Set designer Urša Vidic
Costume designer Marina Sremac
Composer Branko Rožman
Language consultant Mojca Marič
Lighting designer Borut Bučinel
Stage manager Jernej Jerovšek
Prompter Polonca Rajšp

Cast
Andrazh Vladimir Vlaškalić
Yur, his son Benjamin Krnetić a. g.
Matiya Nejc Cijan Garlatti
Kolomch Žan Koprivnik
Sevshek Matevž Biber
Errand-woman Tamara Avguštin
Polona Minca Lorenci
Lady Death Liza Marijina
The Italian Gorazd Žilavec

Members of the Orchestra of Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet
Urban Erker, clarinet
Domen Baša, accordion
Matic Kavcl, trumpet
Nik Zendzianowski, euphonium

The play Rocky Peak, written in early 1990s and premiered in 1994, encapsulates the tragic theatre world of Dane Zajc, who epitomizes a destruction or rather a split-up of a family (or one's lineage) and therefore the destruction of the whole community through radical self-criticism. Some scholars and interpreters have drawn distinct parallels between the play Rocky Peak and Shakespeare's Hamlet, considering Zajc's drama as a cross-generational tragedy of the decline of a certain prehistoric community, with the potency to re-enact neuralgic points of the Slovenian history, thus mapping its psycho-geography of the plethora of dysfunctions, such as auto-frustration, the pleasure of self-negation, continuous postponement and transferring of one's guilt, self-pity, demonization of others, futility of treason and revenge, loosing oneself in transcendence, etc., as was pointed out by Taras Kermauner. As the dramaturg Tibor Hrs Pandur points out, the play Rocky Peak, directed by Nina Rajić Kranjac, is an act of micro-scoping and an attempt to fly over the mountain of Slovene all-encompassing pan-nihilism that reigns over people of Rocky Peak as a stone deity. Furthermore, it is an experiment of subversion, an undertaking to find light in the darkness of its 'negative theology' through counterpoint between brutal self-reflection and freedom of distance that outlines the features of the theatre, where the sphere of death is seemingly suspended, where there really is no death at all: there is only a possibility of catharsis through recognition of pertinently presented delusions of protagonists.

However, the main quality of the performance seems to be in the detection of complete disorientation of today and scattered focus, because with a multitude of impressions and stimuli, we can no longer concentrate on anything really meaningful and relevant.

Peter Rak, Delo, 2. 10. 2019

Director

Nina Rajić Kranjac (b.1991), one of the most successful and aesthetically prominent directors of the youngest generation, won several awards when she was still a student at the UL AGRFT (the best production at the International Festival of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and the Šeligo Award for the best production at the Week of Slovenian Drama for 1981; UL AGRFT Student Prešeren Award for the directing of 1981 and her solo project NOW I'm Flying!; Student Prešeren Award of the University of Ljubljana and the award for Best Young Director at the 56th MESS Festival in Sarajevo for The Conference of Birds.) In 2017 she received her master's degree in directing; her mentor was Tomi Janežič, whose assistant director she was for many productions. In 2018 she won the Borštnik Award for the Best Directing for directing Tadeusz Słbodzianek's Our Class.

Producer

Slovene National Theatre Maribor, celebrating a centennial of its existence,is the largest cultural and artistic institution in Slovenia. It is organized into four coexisting and yet independent units: Drama, Opera, Ballet and Maribor Theatre Festival. It has an immense cultural and political role through its time. As the only professional theatre in Maribor it fulfils the requirements of the theatre audiences from various social and educational backgrounds. Drama department in particular preserves and develops Slovene national identity and acts as an important pillar of the Slovene language. Each season, there are six to seven productions of the classical and contemporary plays, written by Slovene or foreign playwrights.

www.sng-mb.si
sng.maribor@sng-mb.si