Mama is the First Word

About the performance

In her play, Mama is the First Word (Prva beseda je mama), Tjaša Mislej introduces a series of female protagonists and skilfully confronts them with key issues of emancipation woven into the dramatic fabric of the play. Through the dilemmas of her protagonists, we see that contemporary society has yet to resolve these issues. The struggle of women ̶ just one minority among many identities ̶ is anything but over.

With acerbic humour, Mama is the First Word exposes the many cracks in the idealised image of motherhood promoted by contemporary emancipated society. The play is an omnibus of five interconnected stories. Twenty-three-year-old Liza faces an unwanted pregnancy and, with the support of her partner, decides to have an abortion, much to the disappointment of his family. Maša cannot imagine life without a child and pursues becoming a mother at any cost. Ema, overwhelmed by the unequal distribution of caregiving and household labour in her relationship, sacrifices career opportunities while battling burnout and guilt over never feeling ‘good enough’ as a mum. Ksenija and her daughter Tina are trapped in a toxic mother–daughter dynamic: Tina, afflicted by teenage pregnancy, was persuaded by her mother to give up her baby for adoption. Barbara, who has deliberately chosen not to have children, is suddenly confronted with the responsibility of caring for her teenage niece. Alongside the central characters and their problems, a range of supporting characters enrich the play’s dramatic structure and deepen its exploration of contemporary motherhood.

"Tina Vrbnjak and Klemen Janežič stand out in Mama is the First Word, convincingly capturing the full range of exhaustion, self-restraint, and quiet frustration. The emotional core of the production lies in a finely calibrated two-hander between Vrbnjak and Janežič who keep the scenes grounded and deeply human. The gender swap is especially interesting and praiseworthy: Janežič plays the mother, while Vrbnjak takes on the male role. This choice creates a clear and accessible shift in perspective, allowing the audience to perceive the division of caregiving work without the bias of so-called "natural" roles. The scene is wittily funny and sharply exposes where expectations truly begin to falter. Kaja Petrovič is also excellent as the child, portraying the character with restraint and authenticity – without exaggeration, naturally and with clarity, maintaining a credible emotional line from beginning to end. /…/ Mama is the First Word impresses with its finely tuned cast (Kaja Petrovič, Tina Vrbnjak, Benjamin Krnetić, Klemen Janežič, Iva Babić, Saša Pavlin Stošić, Robert Prebil, Silva Čušin, Eva Jesenovec), a flawless rhythm, and scenes in which we can easily recognize ourselves. The Spleen, on the other hand, draws the audience in with accomplished acting and a quiet yet persistent intensity that gets under one’s skin. Brina Klampfer Merčnik demonstrates a broad directorial range: in the first play, she confidently guides both the cast and the complex score of short scenes, while in the second, she relies fully on the simplicity of the scene and the strength of the actors. These are productions that do not seek acclaim through grand gestures, but through clarity of thought, sensitivity, and assured acting choices. At the same time, they raise an essential question: is the first word really always "mama" – or do we say that because the burden of childcare so often remains solely in the mother’s domain? It is precisely this question that lingers long after the applause. Finally, it is worth noting that both plays were written by talented young female authors we are likely to hear much more about in the future. The National Theatre’s decision to include new voices of Slovenian playwriting in its repertoire is particularly commendable."

Gašper Stražišar, Dnevnik

"Brina Klampfer Merčnik’s directorial debut on the Small Stage of the National Theatre is surprisingly confident and mature. The fragmented, densely written script which frames a condensed set of situations with discursive inserts is transformed into a refined score in Mama is the First Word. By reducing the number of scenes, much of the textual "material" is removed, preventing the stories, focused primarily on motherhood, care work, and the intimate economies of survival, from slipping into a mere catalogue of women’s experiences. Through careful contextual layering, the director opens up interpretative space and illuminates the systemic patterns in which the (female) characters are embedded: from the production of guilt through patriarchal norms and the everyday economy, to the construction of "natural" motherhood. /…/ The most expansive and focused scene in terms of direction is the family saga dealing with maternal guilt, burnout, and the unequal distribution of care work. The director constructs it through a role reversal: Tina Vrbnjak plays the absent father, while Klemen Janežič embodies the mother, trapped in the routines of caregiving and housework. This inversion functions as a comic flash of insight and as a distancing incision that reveals the absurdity and rigidity of socially prescribed roles."

Evelin Bizjak, Sigledal

90 minutes, no interval

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