Solo no peek

SOLO NO PEEK
By Simona Semenič and Rok Vevar

PREMIERE AND RERUNS

LJUBLJANA, GLEJ, SLOVENIA, 01. 12. 2003
LJUBLJANA, GLEJ, SLOVENIA, 02. 12. 2003
KRANJ, THE WEEK OF SLOVENE DRAMA, SLOVENIA, 10. 03. 2004
LJUBLJANA, GLEJ, SLOVENIA, 20. 02. 2003
LJUBLJANA, GLEJ, SLOVENIA, 21. 02. 2003
LJUBLJANA, GLEJ, SLOVENIA, 22. 02. 2003

ABOUT …

Solo No Peek is a short (60 minutes) theatre piece based on a story about 5 friends placed together in a cold place, not facing each other, hardly talking. Soon we find out that they are actually waiting at the police station and that it's shortly after the death of their mutual friend with whom they'd celebrated his birthday. In a doomed situation – that none of them is really able to deal with – conflicts start to occur. Step by step they are revealing to us what was happening at the casino where they were partying. First we are convinced that their friend commited suicide, we are witnessing their incompatible perspectives on the issue of suicide, but further we go, the more clear becomes to us, that we don’t know what really happened at the casino and that persons in front of us are most likely not what they appear to be. There's more and more evidence of a mutual mistrust and terror between them. It all slowly boils down to the horrifying fact that each and everyone of them has a motif for murdering the friend. Who really killed him? Are they suspects or witnesses? Are they really friends or do they only bluff to be such? Who really are they? Human beings - or just appearances of a human kind?

Perhaps we get the answer in the second part of the show – with no words, with no dialogue, with no acting. On the other hand – perhaps the second part of Solo no peek doesn’t give the answer or raise questions, but just – walks by.

CAST & CREW

Text and concept: Simona Semenič, Rok Vevar
Directed by Simona Semenič, Rok Vevar
Performed by Lara Jankovič, Manica Ogorevc, Vito Rožej, Sebastijan Starič, Rok Vevar
Choreography: Petra ŽistY
Set and costume design: Irena Grošelj
Sound design and music: Peter Kus
Musicians: Srečko Meh – violin/ Sonja Vukovič – viola/ Pavle Rakar – cello/ Matevž Mercina – bass/ Andrej Žibert – electric guitar/ Peter Kus – Bb clarinet
Music recorded in Studio Alien, Ljubljana, by Aleš Trpnik,
Lighting Design: Igor Remeta, Jaka Šimenc
Technician: Igor Remeta
Press and catalogue photos: Nada Žgank
Graphic design: Ajax Studio
Puppet made by Žiga Vojska
Executive producer: Nataša Zavolovšek
Co-produced by MASKA Ljubljana & GLEJ Theatre
Post-production: Rok Vevar, Simona Semenič and Špela Trošt, for Maska Productions
Premiered: 30.11.03 at GLEJ Theatre, Ljubljana.

BIOS

Solo No Peek, that was premiered in November 2003, is a second theatre work of Rok Vevar and Simona Semenič – a young directors' team that started to work together at Academy for theatre, radio, film and TV in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1998 – and was extremely well received both by the public and by critics. Co-produced by Maska Ljubljana and GLEJ Theatre, Solo No Peek has been recently compared to the work of Richard Maxwell, a rising star and a promise of a contemporary american theatre.

After the theatre debut of Rok Vevar and Simona Semenič, 'A Fistful of Empty Hands' that was premiered in Dance Theatre Ljubljana in December 2001 and characterized by critics as 'a splendering gift of pure and unpretentious beauty', in Solo No Peek authors – as an opposite to 'A Fistful of Emty Hands' that was based on the storytelling hands' gestures – decided to use a text (written by themselves). Staged as a delicate, minimal 'full-length situation' for 5 actors and persona in absentia, Solo No Peek deals with an ethical, existential state of generation that German philosopher Robert Kurtz described with a term – 'The World as Will and Design'.

In March this year both attended a young playwrights workshop with Slovene dramatists Draga Potocnjak, Matjaz Zupancic and Graham Whybrow of Royal Court Theatre at the Festival of Slovene drama in Presernovo Theatre in Kranj (Slovenia). 'Solo No Peek' has been chosen to the 2004 selection of the same festival as well.

SIMONA SEMENIČ

Simona Semenič (1975) studied law at Facultas Iuridica and dramaturgy at the Academy for theatre, radio, film and TV in Ljubljana. As an assistant dramaturg she worked in the City Theatre of Ljubljana (with director Zvone Sedlbauer), Slovene National Theatre in Nova Gorica (with director Lary Zappia), as a dramaturg in a dance/ performance art project 'What A Feeling' (dancer and choreographer Nina Meško) (2003). In 2003 she started working with director Ivan Talijančič and his theatre company Wax Factory, New York. Their first mutual project was 'Cleansed' (2003) at the Exodos, Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, in Ljubljana, currently they are working on a new project (4.48 Psychosis), which is to be premiered at Cankarjev dom in February 2005. She has been a member of the artistic board of Exodos festival, Ljubljana. She is writing short stories, which are being published in various Slovenian magazines. She also works on the reaserch projects at the Peace Institute, Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies in Ljubljana. Currently she is dramatizing stories for children, which are to be presented at MiniTeater Ljubljana in fall 2004.

ROK VEVAR

Rok Vevar (1973) studied comparative literature at Faculty of Humanities and theatre directing at Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and TV in Ljubljana. He is a publicist (DELO Daily, VECER Daily, Radio Student, MASKA, Lutka, Frakcija, Catalogue of Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana, Catalogue of City Theatre of Ljubljana, editor of various Festival Catalogues, Literatura etc.) theatre director and member of the editorial board of Maska magazine. Worked on various projects as a dramaturg (Dance Theatre Ljubljana), an assistant director at Slovene TV (documentary programme), author of lyrics for a cinematic band Pavel Vlasov Sextet (Slovene Cinematheque) etc. and has been a member of various editorial boards of theatre magazines (Lutka, Maska). Currently he works as a selector for Gibanica/ Moving Cake, Slovene Dance festival (selection 2005) and as a executive producer and author of Slovene Contemporary Theatre and Dance Archive Project.