KING LEAR: A DECLARATION OF SINCERE LOVE

EN

Dissecting the classical text by employing three women, a balance beam and an audio book, King Lear: A Declaration of Sincere Love reinterprets Shakespeare’s classic dramatic situation through contemporary take on the question of reciprocal love in relation to struggle for power. With most of the original characters, including the king himself, absent from the stage, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan put in the limelight their physical take on love, passion, truth, power and possessions. All of these topics are explored not only in relation to personal traits of performers themselves but also in relation to the audience, which to a large degree occupies the position of the sovereign whose devotion the performers are working hard to gain.
Mixing various archetypes of Western consumerism and contradictory notions of female, feminine and feminist in contemporary capitalist societies, the three performers’ concept of sincere love takes on as many meanings as the expression of sincere love takes forms. Can any of these really be sincere though? Can any of these succeed in being sincere while confronting power? And in what way can they pull it off? Through words?
Words are obviously deceitful, as Shakespeare has shown. What about the body? Is the body, the mere corporeality, as deceitful as words? It’s up to you - the king, the sovereign - to decide.

SI

Troje žensk, gimnastična greda in zvočna knjiga – plesna predstavaKralj Lear: Izjava o iskreni ljubeznito Shakespearjevo klasiko secira in jo na novo interpretira, tako da se s sodobnim pogledom loti vprašanja recipročne ljubezni in potegovanja za moč. Na odru manjka večina izvirnih likov, vključno s kraljem samim; Kordelia, Goneril in Regan s svojo telesnostjo v središče postavljajo svoje videnje ljubezni, strasti, resnice, moči in lastnine. Plesalke teh tematik ne raziskujejo le v odnosu do svojih osebnostnih lastnosti, ampak tudi v odnosu do občinstva, saj se to znajde v položaju kralja, za katerega naklonjenost se izvajalke potegujejo. Z mešanjem raznovrstnih zahodnjaških potrošniških arhetipov in kontradiktornih konceptov o ženskosti, ženstvenosti in feminizmu v sodobnih kapitalističnih družbah trojica plesalk svojemu videnju iskrene ljubezni nadene toliko različnih pomenov, kolikor je različnih načinov izražanja te ljubezni. Poraja pa se vprašanje – je sploh lahko katera od njih iskrena? Bo kateri od njih to iskrenost uspelo ohraniti, ko se zoperstavi moči? Na kakšen način jim lahko to uspe? Z besedami? Besede so zahrbtne, Shakespeare je to jasno pokazal. Kaj pa telo? Je telo – gola utelešenost – enako zahrbtno kot besede? O tem odločate vi: kralj in vladar.

CREDITS

Created by Leja Jurišić & Jelena Rusjan; Performed by Leja Jurišić, Jelena Rusjan & Teja Reba; Choreography by Leja Jurišić; Set & Light Design & Costumes by Petra Veber; Music by Drago Ivanuša; Producer: Žiga Predan; Produced by Pekinpah; Coproduced by Cankarjev Dom Supported by: Ministry of Cuture Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana - Department of Culture
Photo by Matija Lukić

SHOWS

VILLACH (Play Off), 23 November 2016
LJUBLJANA (Cankarjev dom), 13 February 2016
LJUBLJANA (Cankarjev dom), 12 February 2016
LJUBLJANA (Cankarjev dom), 25 October 2015
LJUBLJANA, Cankarjev dom), 23 October 2015