Symposium: The Magical Theatre of Rudi Šeligo

Syposium

Saturday, 6 November 2021 at Slovenian Theatre Institute (Mestni trg 17, 1000 Ljubljana)

Prešeren Theatre Kranj in collaboration with the Rudi Šeligo Foundation

A day-long symposium with a break for lunch.

Concept and realisation: Marinka Poštrak

The Prešeren Theatre Kranj and the Šeligo Foundation are organising a symposium about Rudi Šeligo’s extensive dramatic opus, which has had a resounding impact throughout the Slovenian literary and theatre space. Šeligo’s magical theatre cosmos is therefore undoubtedly worth re-exploring. At this event, seven prominent participants from different artistic fields will examine Šeligo’s drama opus and his immanent theatricality Following the presentations, dramaturg Rok Andres will moderate a round table.

Anja Bajda: The Body and the Subject in Šeligo’s (No Longer) Drama Opus

Andraž Gombač: Rudi Šeligo and Ivan Cankar

Eva Kraševec: The (Im)potence of the Word: Beautiful Vida and The Witch from Upper Davča

Svetlana Slapšak: Playwright Rudi Šeligo: Women, Monsters, Post-Human (The Witch from Upper Davča, Beautiful Vida, The Wedding and Ana/Light and Seed)

Dorian Šilec Petek: Fantasy, Beautiful Vida and The Witch from Upper Davča

Vilma Štritof: Šeligo’s Entrance into Theatre and His Final Realisations About It: On Šeligo’s First Play, The Higher You Jump, the Faster You’re Smoke, and the Last, The Stones Would Catch Fire

Tomaž Toporišič: Otherness as the Topic and Poetics of Šeligo’s (Dramatic) Art: The Wedding, The Witch from Upper Davča, Ana, The Triptych of Agatha Schwarzkobler

About Rudi Šeligo

Rudi Šeligo (1935–2004) was a playwright, writer and university lecturer. He was born in Sušak, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now part of Rijeka, Croatia). His family later moved to Slovenia, first to Jesenice, then he continued his education in Tolmin, studied philosophy and psychology in Ljubljana, and completed his studies with a master’s degree in aesthetics. He eventually moved to Kranj, where he worked at the Zavod za proučevanje organizacije dela in izobraževanje kadrov (an institute for work management and human resources) and taught statistics at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. For most of his professional life, he lived with his family in Kranj. He often referenced Kranj in his work, particularly in novels. This city was the core of his creativity. In addition to editing and co-editing several professional journals, he held many leading and political functions (he was the president of the Slovenian Writers’ Association, a member of parliament, the chairperson of the parliamentary committee for culture, the president of the council of RTV Slovenia, an associate member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the president of the Maribor Theatre Festival for ten years and, for a short time, the minister of culture). He won numerous awards for his work, including two Slavko Grum Awards for his plays The Wedding (1981) and Ana (1984). Upon his death in 2004, the award for the best production of the Week of Slovenian Drama as selected by the expert jury was renamed after him. In 2016, his son Aleš Šeligo established the Rudi Šeligo Foundation.

Photo: Miško Kranjec