Pavla Above the Precipice
- Čop
- Uroš KaurinBrenk, Breiner
- Kham, Maček
- Old Pavla, Attorney Prenner
- Barbara RibnikarYoung Pavla
- Pavla
- Prosecutor/Judge; Giovannini
- Dramaturgy: Tomaž Toporišič
- Set design: Tomaž Štrucl, Sandi Mikluž (Estrihi in ometi)
- Costume design: Neli Štrukelj
- Music: Tibor Mihelič Syed, Marko Brdnik
- Choreography: Branko Potočan
- Climbing training: Gregor Šeliga - Šeli, Marko Brdnik
- Illustrations: Nina Bric
- Animation: Gregor Balog
- Video compositing, mapping and programming: Luka Dekleva
- Language consultant: Mateja Dermelj
- Lighting design: Tomaž Štrucl, David Cvelbar
- Sound design: Silvo Zupančič
- Make-up artist: Barbara Pavlin
- Stage manager: Urša Červ
In climbing and in cinematography, Pavla Jesih paved new ways. The director Matjaž Pograjc invited the playwright Andrej E. Skubic to write a text about her using the following words: “Climbing is the way of winning over the world, and as a female climber she had to, in addition to this, beat the men, too. And she did.” Pograjc takes the climbing in the performance literally: as the climbing of the actors on the “northern” wall of the theatre and the performing, and at the same time on the icy wall of politics that proved too slippery, even for Pavla. In this daring, innovative and aesthetically perfected performance the team managed to “merge the story of a sad fate of the interwar period bourgeoisie [... with] innovations in the field of the physical and risk theatre.” (Matej Bogataj, Sodobnost)
What is undoubtedly charming in the performance is the physical component in the acting, of all the actors. Branko Potočan's choreography, physical condition and the climbing technique – two coaches took care of this – all contributed to the great agility and astonishing effects; the stretching between the face of the mountain and the sky, hanging in the air, swinging to mountain ledges or between the grips, even Brenk, who climbs with a shorter ice axe that slightly resemble some heavy-metal climbing axes – all this ripples the action and gives it a hint of danger and earnestness. It seems that Pograjc and his team this time managed to merge the story about the sad fate of the interwar bourgeoisie – fine, so Pavla Jesih gained this status, toiled for it, so to speak – with the past innovations in the field of physical and risk theatre.
From the point of view of a theatre spectator and a critic, something truly great was achieved by the director Matjaž Pograjc and the Mladinsko ensemble. The performance grips the spectator from the first scene and elevates him to the sky – then slams him onto the ground of reality in the last one.
Pavla Above the Precipice is of course not only an intimately retrospective story of Jesih’s greatness; it opens – critically, but not one-sidedly reproachful (a definite virtue of the performance message) – our own historic picture, in which our views of the erstwhile national (German-Slovenian altercations), political conspiracies and sexual discrimination are still blurred, and rather than problematizing them in a fresh way, we decide to sweep them under the carpet.
- Spotkania z Filmem Górskim, Zakopane, Poland, 2 Sep 2016
- Teatro Metastasio, Prato, Italy, 15–17 Jan 2016
- MOT, Skopje, Macedonia, 25 Sep 2014
- Week of Slovenian Drama, Kranj, Slovenia, 5 Apr 2014
- Prešern Fund Award to Katarina Stegnar, among others also for her role in Pavla Above the Precipice
Val 202
Leto kina – Kinodvor 90, leto praznovanja kina in filma
Plezalni center Ljubljana
Konzorcij Ljubljana
Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenija
8. festival gorniškega filma Ljubljana