Beton Ltd.: ICH KANN NICHT ANDERS

Photo: Toni Soprano

The first performance of the German cycle

“The bridge between being principled and practical is called survival. In theatre, we always use stories to be able to talk about the world, we play roles to be able to speak of human nature, and we pretend that a table is a table. But we were aiming for a reverse principle. Since we cannot speak with any certainty and artistic integrity of anything else than ourselves, our position, our principles and non-principles – all the rest are moralistic discourses or whining excuses and guilt washing – precisely the things that an artist should not possess can emerge between practicality and integrity: detachment, fascism, sexism, narcissism, misanthropy … It is these little perversions which show that we are not exempted, even if we pretend that we are.

In the end, we have to admit to ourselves that we can do no other. Ich kann nicht anders.

And this dual position is more than perverse.

My life is disgusting, I make myself sick, and yet I am so far from changing anything. And even though I am frightened by these sacred spaces, I am unresponsive and stiff as soon as I leave them. In the end, I am not worth anything.”

The authorial poetics of collective Beton Ltd. (Katarina Stegnar, Branko Jordan, Primož Bezjak) is characterized by a search for intimate entries into the global issues – their position is often personal – a search for new, hybrid forms of performing, and a mastery of performing techniques. Ich kann nicht anders is their fifth performance, where the counterpoint between the total intimacy and the echoes of the global events reminds us of a thesis by Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat, that the real revolution is always a revolution of everything, all social interactions, even the most intimate ones.

The world around us is saturated with change, and if there is one constant, it is currently uncertainty. We anticipate changes, but it is not yet clear what they might be. One of the possible strategies to combat the deafening noise of the world is to retreat into one’s own world. Not to surrender, but to defend one’s own intimate territory against the outside world. A retreat into intimacy, where freedom is possible and where utopia is – now.

Credits

Conceived and directed by: Beton Ltd.
Performers: Primož Bezjak, Branko Jordan, Katarina Stegnar
Music: Dead Tongues
Space design: sonda4, Toni Soprano
Costume design: Mateja Benedetti
Sound design: Jure Vlahovič
Dramaturgical adviser: Urška Brodar
Graphic design: Saša Kladnik
Proofreading: Barbara Rogelj
Photography: Toni Soprano
Technical director: Andrej Petrovčič
Technical assistance: Martin Lovšin
Executive producer: Maja Vižin
Produced by: Bunker, Ljubljana
The performance was supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Ljubljana
With help of: Elektro Ljubljana d.d.,  Slovensko mladinsko gledališče
Thanks to: GT22, Športno društvo Tabor, Aljoša Cetinski, Mini Teater, Uroš Kaurin

Performances

Premiere: 
26th August 2016, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana

Upcoming performances:

9th and 10th March 2019

Past performances: 
27th August, 29th August, 30th August 2016, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
24th September, 25th September 2016, 8.00 pm Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
8th October, 9th October 2016, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
19th November and 20th November 2016, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
22nd November 2016 ad 6.00 pm and 9.00 pm, Narodni dom Maribor, Maribor
4th April 2017, The Week of Slovenian Drama, Kranj
13th and 14th May 2017 at 8.00 pm, Dvorana Športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
3rd and 4th June 2017 at 8.00 pm, in the frame of Flanders – Balkan Express Meeting, Dvorana Športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
17th September 2017, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
5th and 6th October 2017, Prague Crossroads International Theatre Festival, Czech Republic
10th and 11th October 2017, Festival Konfrontacje Teatralne Lublin, Poland
10th and 11th February 2018, 8.00 pm, Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana
6th March 2018, 8.00 p.m., Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica, Slovenia
11th August 2018, 9.00 p.m., Kamfest, Kamnik, Slovenia
6th and 7th October at 9.00 p.m., Dvorana športnega društva Tabor, Ljubljana

Critics

Arhar N.: Ich kann nicht anders, Delo, 30. 8. 2016 (pdf 180KB) (translation: M. Jesenko)
Jelesijević N., In a vacuum of preserving bare life : Ich kann nicht anders, Radio Študent, 30.8.2016 (pdf 172 KB) (translation: M.Jesenko)

Video

Ich kann nicht anders Trailer from Bunker Ljubljana on Vimeo.

Photos

Photo: Nada Žgank