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Marius von Mayenburg

Martyr

(Märtyrer)

Director Boris Kobal

Drama
First Slovenian production

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Marius von Mayenburg (born in 1972 in Munich) is a German playwright, dramaturg, director and translator who studied playwriting at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. In 1998 he started working as a dramaturg for the theatre of the young, Baracke, under the auspices of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, in which Thomas Ostermeier directed Shopping and Fucking by Mark Ravenhill, marking the beginning of their cooperation. Mayenburg translated several plays by Shakespeare that were staged by Ostermeier - Hamlet (2008), Measure for Measure (2011), Richard III (2015), as well as Much Ado About Nothing (2013) which he translated and directed himself. Since 1999 he has been an in-house writer, dramaturg, translator and director at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin where Ostermeier staged high-profile plays by Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill. Since 2009 Mayenburg has directed his own plays Confused (Perplex, 2010) and Martyr (Märtyrer, written in 2012 and staged in 2013). In Residentztheatre in Munich he directed Call Me God (2012) which he co-wrote with Gian Mario Cervo, Albert Ostermaier and Rafael Spregelburd, and Bunbury (2013) by Oscar Wilde. His first major success was the play Fire Face (Feuergesicht), winning the Kleist Award for a young playwright in 1997.

Considered one of the most successful and penetrating contemporary German playwrights, Mayenburg’s plays have been translated into more than thirty languages and have been performed in Germany and many other countries.
Invariably, his plays provide an analysis of contemporary society. Mayenburg is most intrigued by the concept of family and the complexity of family and other human relations. Being a perspicuous observer of the anomalies of contemporary society, his plays are characterized by a lack of restraint and indulgence combined by razor-sharp humour.
Benjamin is a teenage boy who refuses to take part in school swimming lessons. His mother suspects drugs and possibly his sense of discomfort, caused by a teenage perception and acceptance of one's own body. In no time she finds out that drugs are not to be blamed. It was something else that caused an equally strong addiction: the Bible. Benjamin has found faith and God, which is why swimming in mixed-sex classes is an insult to his religious zeal. He declares war on corruption and sinfulness, refusing to go swimming, as he finds girls’ bodies in bikinis offensive, and, as his classmate Lydia soon founds out, conducive to other sensations as well. His biology teacher somewhat recklessly responds to his provocations and engages in an ideological, moral and philosophical war with unpredictable consequences.
Written in the form of a film script, Martyr is composed of twenty-seven short scenes illuminating Benjamin's religious zeal. His newly found extreme views are an enigma for his mother. Terrorizing his teachers and classmates, Benjamin soon becomes a pain in the neck for his dearest and nearest. He assumes the role of a martyr, aiming to expose the flaws of the system, as well as those inherent in a family, school and theology. As the play evolves, it turns out that he is actually the least of a martyr.
Martyr is a subtle and multi-layered play, equalling the madness and passion of puberty with the madness and passion of religious fanaticism and extremism. Fundamentalism is confronted by tolerance and political correctness, while provocation can trigger unimaginable consequences. Is Benjamin a martyr, a devil’s advocate, or just an adolescent loner? This provocative, witty and poignant play deals with the precarious traps of contemporary extremism.

Translator Mojca Kranjc
Director Boris Kobal
Dramaturg Tatjana Doma
Set Designer Urša Vidic
Costume Designer Mira Strnad
Composer Petar Eldan
Language Consultant Jože Volk

Cast
Willy Batzler, headmaster Renato Jenček
Erika Roth, biology, chemistry, geology Minca Lorenci
Markus Dörflinger, history, PE Andrej Murenc
Vicar Dieter Menrath, RS Rastko Krošl
Benjamin Südel, pupil Blaž Dolenc
Inge Südel, his mother Jagoda
Georg Hansen, pupil Urban Kuntarič (guest performance)
Lydia Weber, pupil Živa Selan (guest performance)/Beti Strgar (guest performance)

Opening 16 February 2018
Performance duration: 1 hour and 45 minutes. No interval.

  • Andrej Murenc, Minca Lorenci

  • Andrej Murenc, Minca Lorenci, Renato Jenček, Jagoda, Blaž Dolenc

  • Minca Lorenci, Urban Kuntarič

  • Jagoda, Blaž Dolenc, Rastko Krošl

  • Urban Kuntarič, Jagoda, Rastko Krošl

  • Renato Jenček, Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar

  • Minca Lorenci, Urban Kuntarič. Beti Strgar, Blaž Dolenc

  • Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc

  • Urban Kuntarič, Rastko Krošl, Blaž Dolenc

  • Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc, Jagoda

  • Blaž Dolenc, Urban Kuntarič, Jagoda

  • Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar

  • Minca Lorenci, Andrej Murenc

  • Blaž Dolenc, Urban Kuntarič

  • Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar, Andrej Murenc

  • Blaž Dolenc, Urban Kuntarič

  • Blaž Dolenc, Urban Kuntarič

  • Beti Strgar, Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc

  • Beti Strgar, Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc, Renato Jenček, Minca Lorenci

  • Urban Kuntarič, Minca Lorenci, Beti Strgar, Renato Jenček, Blaž Dolenc

  • Urban Kuntarič, Beti Strgar, Blaž Dolenc, Renato Jenček

  • Urban Kuntarič, Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar

  • Urban Kuntarič, Renato Jenček, Blaž Dolenc

  • Jagoda, Blaž Dolenc

  • Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar

  • Minca Lorenci, Blaž Dolenc

  • Jagoda, Blaž Dolenc

  • Minca Lorenci, Blaž Dolenc

  • Blaž Dolenc, Urban Kuntarič

  • Minca Lorenci, Renato Jenček, Rastko Krošl, Blaž Dolenc, Jagoda, Andrej Murenc

  • Minca Lorenci, Blaž Dolenc, Rastko Krošl, Renato Jenček, Jagoda, Andrej Murenc

  • Renato Jenček, Blaž Dolenc, Jagoda, Minca Lorenci, Andrej Murenc, Rastko Krošl

  • Renato Jenček, Andrej Murenc, Blaž Dolenc, Jagoda, Minca Lorenci, Rastko Krošl

  • Blaž Dolenc, Jagoda, Renato Jenček, Minca Lorenci, Rastko Krošl

  • Minca Lorenci

  • Renato Jenček, Blaž Dolenc, Beti Strgar, Jagoda, Urban Kuntarič, Minca Lorenci, Rastko Krošl

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