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Susan Sontag

Alice in Bed

First Slovenian production

Director

Dorian Šilec Petek

Opening night

8 November 2019
Small Stage

Duration:

80 minutes

Oh, the ecstasy of solitude!
Susan Sontag

How heroic to be able to suppress one’s vanity to the extent of confessing that the game is too hard.
Alice James, on suicide

The name Alice. What is hidden is a search, hidden is the unknown, the grotesque and the dangerous. A miracle is hidden. Alice is found in unrecognizable forms, appearing as a ghost and as a partner. Despite its unrecognizability, this body can be Alice, the last frontier of Alice. The black sun shines in the cold room in which Alice lives. There is no one around her.
In her diary, Alice James wrote about an elderly couple who decided to jump together into a swollen river after a full lifetime. This is Alice’s determination, her daydream, and there is something magical in this daydream. Alice believes in magic, not in trickery and spells, but in the light that spills through the window into the room, illuminating the shiny particles in the air, the golden leaves that give us the will to live. She believes in the power of sudden happiness, momentarily granting everything a form of sense and order which breaks down in the next moment. Her legacy is a testimony of a constant quest and its liberating power, since the existence of a sense would turn everything in an empty automaton. All that we have, and this is what Alice tells us, is a quest that makes everything meaningful, and this is the greatest degree of optimism which we can sincerely stand by.
A thought occurred to me today — There is nothing, nothing that stops me from doing anything except myself … I’ll take off— God, living is enormous!
Susan Sontag

Alice James is hiding in intimacy and in relationships with other people. What does it mean to talk to someone? What does it mean to be heard, let alone understood? The black sun that shines and cripples in the forefront of being, closes one in small rooms. Loneliness and solitude. Silence and immobility. What is the boundary of life? The game is pain and all the efforts to make sense fail. Complex and tied, we are slowly drifting towards Alice – we desire her nearness. It is our desire to own her, to be her acquaintances, her brothers, her saviours; we desire to be the ones to carry her pain for her. But she is too quick for us, she is stronger than us, she outwits and evades us. We cannot understand Alice and she writes in her diary: Cuckoo birds imitate cuckoo clocks masterly.

“Concerning the death of Gertrude Stein: she came out of a deep coma to ask her companion Alice Toklas, “Alice, Alice, what is the answer?” Her companion replied, “There is no answer.” Gertrude Stein continued, “Well, then, what is the question?” and fell back dead.”
Susan Sontag

Dorian Šilec Petek

Creators

Creative team

TRANSLATOR

Darja Dominkuš

Drama Igralec: Darja Dominkuš | odpri ustvarjalca

DRAMATURG

Staša Prah

Drama Igralec: Staša Prah | odpri ustvarjalca

SET DESIGNER

Dorian Šilec Petek

Drama Igralec: Dorian Šilec Petek | odpri ustvarjalca

COSTUME DESIGNER

Tina Bonča

Drama Igralec: Tina Bonča | odpri ustvarjalca

COMPOSER

Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar

Drama Igralec: Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar | odpri ustvarjalca

LANGUAGE CONSULTANT

Tatjana Stanič

Drama Igralec: Tatjana Stanič | odpri ustvarjalca

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Andrej Hajdinjak

Drama Igralec: Andrej Hajdinjak | odpri ustvarjalca

Cast

Maša DergancDrama Igralec: Maša Derganc | odpri igralca

Alice James

Sabina KogovšekDrama Igralec: Sabina Kogovšek | odpri igralca

Nurse Myrtha

Saša TabakovićDrama Igralec: Saša Tabaković | odpri igralca

Henry (Harry), Aliceʼs brother

Iva BabićDrama Igralec: Iva Babić | odpri igralca

Margaret Fuller

Eva JesenovecDrama Igralec: Eva Jesenovec | odpri igralca

Emily Dickinson

Awards

2021

Maša DergancBorštnik Award for Acting

Festivals

2021

56th Maribor Theatre Festival

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