“It is a great joy if imagination finds its material form”

Address by Rok Bozovičar, Managing director of the Prešeren Theatre in Kranj

I open this year’s address with a quote. Once imagination finds its material presence on stage, as Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski writes, something precious happens – the thought, or imagination, becomes a tangible, communal experience. In a time of global and local divisions, societal fragmentation and the general insecurity of "the world out of joint", this is not abstract romanticising but theatre’s pledge: to think the world in front of the audience. It is an ethical oath.

Ethics – by the Russian theatre reformer Stanislavski, the author of the quote in the title – was published in Slovenian in 1954 by the Prešeren Theatre Kranj, which in 2026 celebrates eighty years with this name. The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television of the University of Ljubljana has covered an equally long path, and both institutions have, throughout the years, proven that theatre is not a legacy taken for granted but a constant process of learning, doubting and reinventing stage art. Therefore, the question of ethics that accompanies us this year as the festival’s guiding line and challenge is not theoretical and universal because it refers to the real, concrete relationships between theatre and its time, between creativity and community, between artists and truth. Theatre only exists inasmuch as it takes responsibility for these questions and answers.

And the programme of the 56th Week of Slovenian Drama proves exactly that. Zala Dobovšek, this year’s selector, created the Competition and Accompanying Programmes by including productions that clearly articulate their attitude to modern time. They seek not only comfort or pleasure but also conflict: social, aesthetic, ethical. In this respect, engagement is not a style label but a modus operandi – an openness that allows theatre to become a place of confrontation.

The 56th Week of Slovenian Drama – a place of meeting and diversity –is not only an overview of the peaks of the previous year but also a moment when theatre looks at itself: its procedures, responsibility and power of imagination. We will pay special tribute to Zofka Kveder, an author who, over a hundred years ago, understood writing as an act of courage and whose work reminds us of the engaged stance when it comes to social inequality, the position of women and personal freedom – insisting on a point of view that doesn’t agree with the self-evident world.

The core of the festival remains new Slovenian drama, which, with the nominations for the Slavko Grum Award and the Zofka Kveder Award proves that Slovenian drama is not a retrospective. Slovenian drama is a timely process and an intense dialogue that, together with the dedication of its creators, the trust of its collaborators and the curiosity of its audiences gives the festival its key importance and atmosphere.

When imagination finds its material form onstage, theatre happens. Welcome to the 56th Week of Slovenian Drama.

 

Rok Bozovičar,

Managing director of the Prešeren Theatre Kranj