Jelena Kajgo
Rollercoaster
Ljiljana is approaching 70 and increasingly feels she
can barely keep up with the rush and rapid changes
of today’s world. She is leading a life torn between
her native Belgrade and London, where her daughter,
who married a foreigner, has moved to start a family.
She is making strenuous effort to understand the new world and adapt to it. She is struggling to catch her breath in the face of a flood of information, the quest for more and better, the increasingly pragmatic thinking and the overpowering development of technology. The playwright paints a picture of contemporary society, but also peeks into the future and wonders to what extent artificial intelligence will fill up the void that is settling in. Despite her effort, Ljiljana realises that she is lagging behind. Besides, there’s a life of Ljiljana’s daughter and her peers, who in a world that is so modern and advanced, strive to cope in a different, but no less painful way, with the relentless pace and increasing alienation. In this madding world, they are seeking meaning, chasing happiness, making compromise and struggling to find their own place in the world.
Rolerkoster, 2020
First Slovenian production
Premiere: 16. March 2023
Performance length is 1 hour and 20 minutes and has no pause.
Actors
Ana
Lena Hribar Škrlec
Ljiljana, Ana's mother
Bernarda Oman
Svetlana, Ana's friend
Diana Kolenc k. g.
Emil, a friend
Gregor Podričnik k. g.
Adam, Ana's husband
Jure Rajšp k. g.
Lana, a friend in London
Tanja Dimitrievska
Sheila, a robot
Karin Komljanec
SARA, Ana's and Adam's daughter (voice)
Karin Komljanec
The Rollercoaster is a play about the gap between two generations, spinning around the same circle of feelings and expectations, despite their insurmountable differences.
They all yearn for love, they all day-dream, experience success as well as failures and disappointments, cope with prejudice, overcome distress and fears, have doubts and hope … Although the future that the playwright sees is not bright, the subject is approached lightly and with plenty of humour.
Jelena Kajgo (1969), the acclaimed Serbian playwright, has written a number of prominent plays that have been staged with great success in many theatres, nationally and internationally. Her plays deal with urban themes in an intellectual and bourgeois setting, which is why she is often compared with Yasmin Reza, the highly-acclaimed French playwright. The world premiere of Rollercoaster was held in March 2022 at the Atelje 212 theatre in Belgrade.