SLG Celje - Five Kings: The Psychopathology of a Monarchy

Dramaturg and director Livija Pandur has created a remarkable body of work in Slovenian and international theatre. As a dramaturg, she co-created the entire oeuvre of the late director Tomaž Pandur. In recent years she has focused intensely on directing. Her productions include Immaculate/Immaculata (Drama SNT Maribor, 2016) which had was to stage with Tomaž Pandur, as well as a revival of ballet Symphony of Lonesome Songs (SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, 2017), and The Penelopiad (SNT Drama Ljubljana, 2022).
Kings, an adaptation of Five Kings: l'histoire de notre chute (2015), a play by Canadian director and playwright Olivier Kemeid, is based on two tetralogies, i.e., on the octology of William Shakespeare's historical chronicles (Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI and Richard III).
Olivier Kemeid (born in 1975 in Montreal) is a Canadian playwright and theatre director, artistic director of Trois Tristes Tigres, a theatre company he founded in 2003, and artistic director of Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montreal (since 2016). His published plays include also L’Énéide (2008) and Moi, dans les ruines rouges du siècle (2013); his three plays were all nominated for the Canadian Governor General's Award for French-language drama.
Shakespeare's “great mechanism of history” (Kott), in which power is transferred by the rise of a new king who kills the previous one, is condensed by Kemeide into the story of the Snow, Fire, Iron, Sand and Blood Kings.
The infernal machine of hangmen and victims repeats itself in the cycle of history, following the same pattern over and over again: a rise is followed by a fall. Invariably, the protagonists of this mechanism, caught in a web of relationships, are individuals who, in the midst of their power struggle, in the pursuit of survival and social advancement, search in vain for their own reflection in a broken mirror that no longer echoes their true reflection.
In a new adaptation by Livija Pandur and Tibor Hrs Pandur, Kings will attempt to answer whether Shakespeare's “great mechanism” is still at work in our time when the cycles of power are governed by the cycles of economic crises and growth. Have we moved back to a period in which few privileged families are positioned so high above the law that they can haphazardly discard the ever-growing portion of the population made redundant by the capital? Has contemporary society of surveillance been mirrored already in the stuffy palaces of the bloodthirsty Henrys and Richards?

»When exactly did the history of our downfall begin?«
(Olivier Kemeid Five Kings)

Translators Primož Vitez (from French), Tibor Hrs Pandur (from English)
Director Livija Pandur
Dramaturg Tibor Hrs Pandur
Set designer Marko Japelj
Costume designer Leo Kulaš
Composers Silence (Boris Benko, Primož Hladnik)
Stage movement consultant Sanja Nešković Peršin
Music director Živa Ploj Peršuh
Language consultant Živa Čebulj
Video designer Lina Rica
Lighting designer Vesna Kolarec
Assistant to costume designer Lara Kulaš

Cast
ACT ONE: RICHARD II, OR DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
King Richard II Lovro Zafred
Queen Isabella, Richard II’s wife Lucija Harum
Henry of Lancaster, Richard II’s cousin, later King Henry IV Aljoša Koltak
Jeanne Lancaster, Duchess, his mother and Richard II’s aunt Lučka Počkaj
Edmund York, Richard II’s cousin Luka Bokšan, as guest
Aumerle York, his brother Borut Doljšak, as guest
Northumberland Žan Brelih Hatunić
Bishop of Carlisle Branko Završan

ACT TWO: HENRY IV, OR PARANOIA
Henry of Lancaster, King Henry IV Aljoša Koltak
Harry Lancaster, his son, later King Henry V Borut Doljšak, as guest
John Falstaff Branko Završan
Northumberland Žan Brelih Hatunić
Percy Northumberland, his son Luka Bokšan, as guest
Kate Mortimer, Percy’s wife Barbara Medvešček
Lola Eva Stražar
Nell Lucija Harum
Ned Lovro Zafred

ACT THREE: HENRIK V, OR NATIONALISM
King Henry V Borut Doljšak, as guest
Caterina Valois Barbara Medvešček
Lola Eva Stražar
Soldier 1 Luka Bokšan, as guest
Ned, Soldier 2 Lovro Zafred
Bishop of Canterbury Žan Brelih Hatunić
Envoy Aljoša Koltak
Hospital attendant Lucija Harum
Soldiers Aljoša Koltak, Žan Brelih Hatunić

ACT FOUR: HENRY VI, OR CATATONIA
King Henry VI Luka Bokšan, as guest
Margareta of Anjou, his wife and Queen of England Lučka Počkaj
Duke of York, Edward IV and Richard III’s father Branko Završan
Richard of York, his son, later King Richard III Žan Brelih Hatunić
Edward of York, later King Edward IV Aljoša Koltak
Duchess of York, Duke of York’s wife Barbara Medvešček
Elizabeth Grey, later Edward IV’s wife and Queen of England Eva Stražar
Lady Anne, widow of Edward, Henry VI’s son, later Queen and Richard III’s wife Lucija Harum

ACT FIVE: RIHARD III, OR GENOCIDE
King Richard III Žan Brelih Hatunić
Margaretha of Anjou, King Henry VI’s widow Lučka Počkaj
Lady Anne, widow of Edward, Henry VI’s son, Queen and Richard III’s wife Lucija Harum
Duchess of York, Duke of York’s widow, Edward IV and Richard III’s mother Barbara Medvešček
Elizabeth, King Edward IV’s widow Eva Stražar
Doctor Aljoša Koltak
Henry VII, Earl of Richmond Lovro Zafred

Opening night 12 April 2024
Performance duration 4 hours and 2o minutes. One interval.

Stage manager Zvezdana Kroflič Štrakl • Prompter Breda Dekleva • Lighting masters Amadej Canjuga, Uroš Gorjanc • Sound master Mitja Švener • Property master Roman Grdina • Front-of-house Simon Koštric • Make-up artist and hairdresser Andreja Veselak Pavlič • Hairdresser Sibila Senica • Wardrobe masters Suzana Pučnik, Maja Zimšek • Tailor Anita Kragelj • Seamstress Ivica Vodovnik • Head of construction Gregor Prah • Technical manager Aleksandra Štern • Assistant technical manager Rajnhold Jelen

Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje
Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje
Lucija Harum
Lovro Zafred
Borut Doljšak, Barbara Medvešček
Lovro Zafred, Luka Bokšan
Lučka Počkaj, Luka Bokšan
Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje
Eva Stražar, Lučka Počkaj, Žan Brelih Hatunić, Lucija Harum
Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje
Branko Završan, Eva Stražar, Barbara Medvešček
Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje
Lovro Zafred, Lucija Harum, Eva Stražar
Barbara Medvešček, Eva Stražar, Lucija Harum, Lovro Zafred, Luka Bokšan, Borut Doljšak
Eva Stražar, Aljoša Koltak, Lucija Harum
Foto Aljoša Rebolj/SLG Celje

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