Bourgeoisie

The comedy Bourgeoisie was written by Milan Ramšak Marković for the Ljubljana City Theatre and will be directed by Nina Ramšak Marković. Like Luis Buñuelʼs famous film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Ramšak Marković presents a group of people trying to fulfil a few simple desires, one of them is to have dinner together. In the process, the members of the group gradually discover the limits of their world.

The productions that aim at social and class critique on Slovenian stages usually deal with themes and poetics that stem from a clear moral imperative, most often in a way that evokes a sense of guilt in the spectator. But the question is whether such an approach is effective at all. Can guilt ever be a primary driver or engine of change? Less often does social class critique use strategies as those used by Luis Buñuel in his films. At first glance, the target of his ridicule is clear: the corrupt social elite and the ideological state apparatus (the wealthy, the police, the church). On closer analysis, however, it becomes clear that the criticism could have been much more direct and much harsher. It seems that Buñuel is actually shedding light on the various mechanisms by which this reality is constructed. It becomes clear that the target of his criticism is not the elite or the wealthy, but rather we, ourselves. In the play, therefore, we follow likeable and funny individuals who participate in the recognisable social rituals of their class, but their actions seem to make no sense. Similar dissociations are used by Roy Andersson, the Swedish director, whose artistic model was Buñuel. The effect is humorously poignant and allows us to get to know the comic nature of existence in a particular way.

Bourgeoisie is a theatrical response to the principles of the two film giants mentioned above, but also a continuation of the aesthetics that the creative duo Ramšak Marković have begun to develop in two of their previous productions (The Emigrants at the SNT Drama Ljubljana and Arsenic and Old Lace at the Ljubljana City Theatre). Bourgeoisie is a narrative about people whose reality is constantly constructed by rituals, stories and dreams, from which, it seems, the only way out is – a new dream.

Milan Ramšak Marković, born in 1978 in Belgrade, is an award-winning dramaturg, playwright and actor. He works in an institutional drama theatre, writes for film and television and is an active member of the Serbian and Slovenian contemporary dance scene and independent art production. His plays have been staged in Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Lithuania and England. In recent years, Ramšak Marković has successfully collaborated with theatre director Sebastijan Horvat and director Nina Ramšak Marković, with whom he has created a number of acclaimed productions. In 2021, he received the Grün-Filipič Award for achievements in the field of dramaturgy and theatrology at the 51st Week of Slovenian Drama.