Ristić in Slovenia

Blaž Lukan

A key author in the Slovenian theatre "boom” of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ljubiša Ristić directed his first production in Slovenia in 1974, with another nine productions following until 1985. The paper attempts to define the meaning of Ristić’s guest presence for Slovenian theatre of that time. It takes into account the idea of Yugoslavhood (in 1977 Ristić founded the theatre initiative KPGT, Kazalište-pozorište-gledališče-teatar, an acronym formed from the words for theatre in four of the languages spoken in Yugoslavia) and the criticism of the system (seen also in Dušan Jovanović’s work in Mladinsko Theatre). It also addresses Ristić’s aesthetic radicalness and innovativeness, which influenced an entire generation of younger Slovenian directors (Pipan, Taufer, Živadinov, etc.). Ristić cut into the fundamental poetics of Mladinsko Theatre, opening it to the political and aiding in positioning it on the world theatre map.

Blaž Lukan received his PhD from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana (AGRFT UL) in 2006. He is active as a dramaturg and writes accompanying texts for published plays and scholarly articles in the field of drama and performing arts theory. He has been artistic director of Glej Experimental Theatre and Celje People’s Theatre, co-selector of the international puppet festival Lutke, selector of the Maribor Theatre Festival and president of the Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia. He has written numerous books, among them, Gledališki pojmovnik za mlade [Theatre Glossary for Young People], Slovenska dramaturgija: dramaturgija kot gledališka praksa [Slovenian Dramaturgy: Dramaturgy as Theatre Practice] and Performativne pisave: razprave o performansu in gledališču [Performative Gestures: Essays on Performance Art and Theatre].