Ira Ratej, Ana Duša, Iza Strehar, Luka Jamnik
A Better World
In order to avoid activism and actualism, the authors have chosen to oppose two extreme social and existential alternatives that are nor realistic, however, they encourage us to consider other ways of co existing with nature – with a clear warning, of course, that our way of life needs to be changed, if we aim to create a better world for our descendants.
A Better World, 2021
Musical
World premiere
Performance length is 2 hours and 15 minutes and has 1 pause.
Creators
Story
Ira Ratej
Dialogues
Iza Strehar in Ira Ratej
Lyrics
Ana Duša
Composer
Luka Jamnik
Director
Gregor Gruden
Dramaturg
Ira Ratej
Set designer
Urša Vidic
Costume designer
Bjanka Adžić Ursulov
Music arrangment and vocal pedagogue
Sašo Vollmaier
Choreographer
Anja Möderndorfer
Language consultant
Martin Vrtačnik
Sound designer
Sašo Dragaš
Lighting designer
Boštjan Kos
Assistant to vocal pedagogue
Maja Bevc
Assistant to set designer
Anja Gruden
Actors
The Chairman
Gaber K. Trseglav
The Secretary
Karin Komljanec
The Prospector
Matic Lukšič
Lucijan
Filip Samobor
The Countess
Nataša Tič Ralijan
The Postwoman
Sara Gorše k. g.
The Sewerman
Gašper Jarni
1st Priestess
Lena Hribar Škrlec
2nd Priestess
Lara Wolf k. g.
Nina
Ana Pavlin k. g.
Muses (musicians)
Izidor Leitinger/Sašo Vollmaier (keyboards), Nejc Škofic/Aleš Ogrin (keyboards), Uroš Buh/Anže Žurbi (drums)
Our way of life needs to be changed, if we aim to create a better world for our descendants.
In the last decade, the issues of environmental imbalance, pollution, putting nature and the whole of the planet under risk are gaining ground also on the European theatre stages. The repertoire choice is expected as it is raising awareness and publicly encouraging concrete changes in everyday life. However, the issues of ecology are nothing new in the world drama. One of the texts that prophetically draws attention to the attitude of corporations towards natural resources is The Madwoman of Chaillot (La Folle de Chaillot), a poetic satire by Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first put on stage in 1945, a year after the author’s death.
The action is set in the future, when the world is dominated by a single corporation. It owns all natural resources, with the exception of the last resource of clean water that is in a cavern underground. The world of corporation, headed by the elusive Chairman, is completely instrumentalised, the reproduction and genetic manipulation of human species take place in laboratories, each inhabitant is given its own place and tasks to perform, while the nutrients are artificially produced, since the soil is infertile due to the pollution and lack of clean water. Underground, by the source of clean water, there gather renegades. Their informal leader is the Countess who strives to live with her followers in a different way: they grow their own food, recycle their waste and hide from corporate representatives. One day, their relative peace is disturbed by two newcomers: young Nina who was found exhausted on the banks of the toxic Black river, and Lucijan, a melancholic Chairman’s son who jumped in the Black river due to depression. When the Countess finds out about Lucijan’s true identity, she strenuously demands his execution, but the newcomers fall in love, and Nina makes a plea for Lucijan to be left to live. When the Chairman claims the last source of clean water for himself, a clash between the two worlds begins …