Moon on the Road
- Ravil Sultanov
- Nataša Sultanova
- Visual concept, costume and props design: Barbara Stupica
- Set design: Sandi Mikluž
- Music: Nino Rota
- Lighting design: Matjaž Brišar
- Sound design: Silvo Zupančič
- Stage manager: Janez Pavlovčič
Moon on the Road is a nostalgic performance about a forgotten clown who wanders empty city streets at night. People have long since forgotten about clowns, laughter and mirth. Because he no longer has work, the clown rambles around and rummages rubbish bins for food. In a deserted street, he notices a faded, torn poster that reminds him of the glitter of the circus where he used to perform. The moon peeks from behind a cloud … Or, as Ivan Peternelj, the director of the performance, says: “Theatre is a black hat of a magician. The performance Moon on the Road is a nostalgic miniature for two clowns. A tramp clown and a moody bohemian girl clown meet when the full moon reigns over the night, shedding mysterious dust falls, dust that enchants everyone and makes them act silly. Clowns are unpredictable and complicated creatures and thus silly twists occur: all quite illogical, insensible and incomprehensible. But clowns know how to deal with this, just as every child is right in her or his own perception of the world. Long live clowns, tears and laughter.”
The nonverbal Moon on the Road develops its poetry on the basis of smaller and larger meetings, by using different elements that lull the performance into a surrealist atmosphere, with nostalgic tones. Along with the use of 'clown' music by Nino Rota, the revolving set by Sandi Mikluž and the colourful visual design by Barbara Stupica, it is fuelled by a passionate performance of two actors, and enlivened by their at times downright surprising or simply comical tricks. It is not only the younger members of the audience who respond to them – just as the poetic concept with its symbolic and other meaning may not only speak to adults.
If Moon on the Road was meant to create a mythical landscape on stage, one in which everyday objects, such as plain white flour, a marble, a red umbrella will magically come to life, its creators definitely managed to do that. The praise for that goes to the exceptional physical presence of the performers Ravil and Nataša Sultanov, who don’t vie for the attention of the audience merely by their virtuoso circus skills. […] The stage poetry is underscored by the minimalist play of light, in a non-illustrative way, by going beyond the mere function of lighting the actors and the space, it co-creates the rhythm and atmosphere of the performance, which is – maybe even more than the referential chosen music […] determined by the floury magical silences which make it seem as if the dramaturgy of the performance poured out of the heart of a clown. An unpredictable, playful one, at moments illogical, yet so elementary, natural, life-like.
- Župančič award 2013 to Ivan Peternelj, among others also for his direction of Moon on the Road
- award for poetical nonverbal theatre at the Golden Stick festival 2013 to Ravil Sultanov and Nataša Sultanova