Romantic Souls

Mlakar, a lawyer and a member of parliament, is a political magnate who ruthlessly crushes his opponents and acts primarily for his own gain and amusement, while the welfare of the nation is the last thing on his mind. An opposing political faction forms against him led by Delak. Mlakar lives a selfish and debauched life; his relationship with his mistress Olga is based solely on physical pleasures. But when he encounters Pavla, a pure and fragile girl, he falls deeply in love with her soul and is completely transformed. Pavla has such a profound impact on him that he suddenly longs to become a better person. He abandons the political struggle, for his inner self has changed. Other people no longer recognise him and call him a romantic soul. One day, however, Pavla, mistakenly believing that a better and more beautiful life awaits her, runs away with Strnen, Mlakar’s colleague. Mlakar is disappointed and feels betrayed, so he returns to the political struggle and ultimately triumphs. But when Pavla returns home broken and frail, Mlakar no longer cares about winning the election. The political machinery and behind-the-scenes intrigues continue to turn, but nothing can stop Mlakar now. Ready to devote himself selflessly to Pavla until the very end, he goes to her, and their souls unite in true love before her death.

Ivan Cankar (1876–1918) wrote Romantic Souls, his debut play, in 1897. Initially, the critics were unfavourable toward the play, so its premiere did not take place until 1922, after the author’s death. The play contains the elements of satire, bourgeois drama, and tragedy. While Cankar is focused on ideal love in the play, he also depicts the social and political reality of Slovenia. Themes such as longing and the will to rise to power are present, as are the motifs such as betrayal, flight, and the conflict between good and evil, which Cankar would explore further in his later works. As in some of his other plays, Romantic Souls puts forward a hero who, due to his individuality, finds himself in conflict with those around him. Despite the tragedy of his fate, the play is not pessimistic; what remains is the will and faith in the future—faith in humanity and in the possibility of a better world.

The acclaimed director Maša Pelko (b. 1992) will be directing at the Ljubljana City Theatre for the first time, though she has previously collaborated with numerous Slovenian theatres. Her productions of L. N. Tolstoy’s The Power of Darkness (2023), S. Stephenson’s Five Kinds of Silence (2023), R. Schimmelpfennig’s The Day I Was No Longer Me (2023), and J. H. Khemiri’s ≈ [Almost Equal To] (2025) were highly acclaimed. She has received three Zlatolaska national student awards: for the productions Play the Tumor in the Head! by D. Jovanović (2017) and The Winter’s Tale by W. Shakespeare (2018), and for the world premiere of D. Pešut’s play Stadion Olympia (2019). In 2018, she received the Slavko Grum Award for the Best New Play for her original drama The Royal Children.