Something in the Air (Al Araf)

About the performance

The production is 1 hour and 25 minutes long.

A society characterised by money, the fear of losing one’s social status, abuse of power in the workplace, mobbing and precariousness. These are some of the themes of the play Something in the Air, produced by the Slovene Repertory Theatre of Trieste to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Triestine author Vladimir Bartol. The stage adaptation of the short story "The Last Driving Force" was penned by dramaturg Simona Hamer. The story constitutes the last chapter in the short story collection titled Al Araf (1935), in which Bartol employs different narrative styles and techniques to tell a number of stories about the human condition in the interwar period, a time marked by great uncertainty.

The collection combines fiction, philosophy, psychoanalysis and love. Despite its almost vaudevillian style, the selected story offers several levels of interpretation. In fact, it is centred around a love quadrangle between a businessman, his wife, a secretary and a business consultant. Their seemingly banal liaisons are only a façade which hides the author’s primary purpose: to reflect on the forces that drive the actions and lives of every human being. The "something in the air" is an invisible and intangible economic, political or social element that influences the characters’ every choice.

"The dramaturg’s and director’s ability to create relationships between all four characters leads to brilliant moments in the one-and-a-half-hour play. If the direction, dramaturgy and acting are precisely coordinated, the other elements of the play do not lag behind either. The main word here is music." Martin Lissiach, Primorski dnevnik, 24 January 2023

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