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Jean-Paul Sartre

The Flies

(Les mouches)

Drama in Three Acts
First Slovene Production

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Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading intellectual figures of the 20th century in the philosophy of existentialism and Marxism. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature but refused it - he was the first Nobel Laureate to voluntarily decline the prize - saying that such an award would forever limit his freedom.
Sartre defined his own drama as theatre of situations. He said:
If it's true that man is free in a given situation and that in and through that situation he chooses what he will be, then what we have to show in the theatre are simple and human situations and free individuals in these situations choosing what they will be .... The most moving thing the theatre can show is a character creating himself, the moment of choice, of the free decision which commits him to a moral code and a whole way of life. Since there is no theatre unless a unity with all the spectators is created, we must seek situations that are general and common to all.
Sartre's plays invariably deal with important issues and dilemmas, including war, revolution, tyranny, the individual's place in the world.
His second play The Flies (1943) is an adaptation of the Electra and Orestes myth. Orestes returns to his native town of Argos. The town is overwhelmed by rubbish and stifled by foul smell reminiscent of its past crimes, and plagued by repulsive horseflies. They symbolize the Erinyes, deities of vengeance, as well as the decaying Argos civilization. Orestes is the son of Agamemnon, king of Argos, and Clytemnestra. Fifteen years prior, her lover Aegisthus deposed and killed Agamemnon, who had won the Trojan War, and took the throne, while instilling the people of Argos with a sense of collective fear of the murder.
Electra incites her brother to take revenge of their father's death and tells him to kill their mother and her lover. After killing Aegisthus and his mother, Orestes comes to know the limitless human freedom. Orestes takes upon himself the consequences of his crime and rids Argos of the flies. In doing so, he does not only voluntarily redeem the people of Argos of their past sins and moral slavery, but also fulfills his sense of justice. I am doomed to have no other law but my own. All he wants to attain is his authentic existence without any external or internal pressure.
The Flies is a drama about personal and collective freedom. Sartre wrote it during the Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime; it bears an unambiguous message: the usurper, or the occupier (Aegisthus) and his local collaborator (Clytemnestra) have to be eliminated.
This production of The Flies, however, brings the action closer to home, to a contemporary Slovenian setting.

Translator Draga Ahačič
Author of the adaptation, director and dramaturg Janez Pipan
Set Designer Marko Japelj
Costume Designer Leo Kulaš
Composers Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar, Damir Avdić
Language Consultant Jože Volk
Lighting Designer Andrej Hajdinjak
Assistant Director Jaša Koceli
Cast
Zeus Renato Jenček
Orestes Blaž Setnikar
Aegisthus Rastko Krošl
The Tutor Igor Žužek
Electra Pia Zemljič
Clytemnestra Lučka Počkaj
The Old Woman; the Erinye Manca Ogorevc
The Woman; the Third Erinye Barbara Medvešček
The Young Woman; the Second Erinye Tanja Potočnik
Another Young Woman; the First Erinye Nina Rakovec
The First Man; the Dead Man David Čeh
The Second Man; the Dead Man Aljoša Koltak
The Third Man; the Cocoon, later The  Butterfly Branko Završan
The High Priest; the Dead Man Damjan M. Trbovc
The Child; the Altar Boy Matevž Sluga (guest appearance).
The Idiot Zvone Agrež
Palace Guards Dani Les, Svetislav Prodanović (guest appearances).

Opening 17 February 2012

 

Janez Pipan wishes to dedicate his production of The Flies to Peter Stein and Tadeusz Kantor.

The opening Sartre's poem from his war diaries (Les carnets de la drôle de guerre; septembre 1939 - mars 1940) translated by Aleš Berger.
The song Non Monsieur, je n'ai pas vingt ans by Henri Gougaud, Gérard Jouannest and Juliette Gréco  translated by Branko Završan.
The extract from the novel Clerambault by Romain Rolland translated by Janko Moder.

 

Men's Costumes Made by Franjo Tivatar.
The producers wish to thank SOLINE Pridelava soli d.o.o. (Salt Production Co. Ltd.) that manages Secovlje Salina Nature Park where salt has been harvested in accordance with traditional methodes for 700 years.

  • Igor Žužek, Blaž Setnikar

  • Blaž Setnikar

  • Manca Ogorevc, Tanja Potočnik, Barbara Medvešček

  • Zvone Agrež

  • Zvone Agrež, Igor Žužek

  • Zvone Agrež

  • Zvone Agrež, Renato Jenček

  • Pia Zemljič

  • Pia Zemljič

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Pia Zemljič, David Čeh, Igor Žužek, Brane Završan, Aljoša Koltak

  • Pia Zemljič, Lučka Počkaj

  • Lučka Počkaj, Blaž Setnikar

  • David Čeh, Branko Završan, Matevž Sluga, Nina Rakovec, Barbara Medvešček, Manca Ogorevc

  • Muhe

  • Matevž Sluga, Damjan M. Trbovc

  • B. Završan, A. Koltak, D. M. Trbovc, D. Čeh, B. Medvešček, M. Ogorevc, T. Potočnik

  • Muhe

  • S. Prodanović, B. Završan, A. Koltak, D. Čeh, B. Medvešček, M. Ogorevc, T. Potočnik, N. Rakovec

  • Lučka Počkaj, Matevž Sluga, Damjan M. Trbovc

  • Muhe

  • L. Počkaj, M. Sluga, P. Zemljič, S. Prodanović, D. M. Trbovc, B. Završan, A. Koltak

  • Pia Zemljič

  • R. Krošl, P. Zemljič, A. Koltak, M. Sluga, B. Završan, D. M. Trbovc

  • M. Sluga, B. Medvešček, D. Les, A. Koltak, P. Zemljič, M. Ogorevc, S. Prodanović, D. Čeh, B. Završan

  • Pia Zemljič

  • Pia Zemljič, Zvone Agrež

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Blaž Setnikar, Pia Zemljič

  • Lučka Počkaj, Rastko Krošl

  • Lučka Počkaj, Rastko Krošl

  • Renato Jenček, Rastko Krošl

  • Renato Jenček, Rastko Krošl

  • Pia Zemljič, Rastko Krošl, Blaž Setnikar

  • Rastko Krošl, Pia Zemljič

  • Blaž Setnikar, Pia Zemljič, Rastko Krošl

  • P. Zemljič, B. Setnikar, R. Krošl; zadaj M. Ogorevc, B. Završan, B. Medvešček, N. Rakovec

  • Branko Završan

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar; zadaj Nina Rakovec, Manca Ogorevc, Tanja Potočnik, Barbara Medvešček

  • Nina Rakovec, Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar, Barbara Medvešček

  • Nina Rakovec, Manca Ogorevc, Tanja Potočnik, Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar, Barbara Medvešček

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar, Renato Jenček

  • Blaž Setnikar, Renato Jenček, Pia Zemljič

  • Pia Zemljič, Blaž Setnikar

  • Nina Rakovec, Manca Ogorevc, Branko Završan, Igor Žužek, Tanja Potočnik, Barbara Medvešček

  • Damjan M. Trbovc, David Čeh, Aljoša Koltak, Blaž Setnikar, Zvone Agrež

  • Damjan M. Trbovc, David Čeh, Lučka Počkaj, Aljoša Koltak, Rastko Krošl

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