Casimir and Caroline

Original title Kasimir und Karoline (1932)

Premiere 19. 9. 2024, Ljubljana City Theatre

Running time 1 hour 45 minutes, with intermission.

Post-performance dicussion with the artists.

Director Nina Rajić Kranjac

Translator Borut Trekman

Dramaturg Tibor Hrs Pandur

Set designer Urša Vidic

Costume designer Marina Sremac

Composer Branko Rožman

Assistant director Jaka Smerkolj Simoneti

Language consultant Martin Vrtačnik

Lighting designer Andrej Koležnik

Sound designer Sašo Dragaš

Assistant dramaturg Tilen Oblak

Assistant costume designer Nina Čehovin

Cast

Primož Pirnat, Jana Zupančič, Karin Komljanec, Gregor Gruden, Matej Puc, Mojca Funkl, Tanja Dimitrievska, Jernej Gašperin, Bernarda Oman, Lotos Vincenc Šparovec, Uroš Smolej, Jure Rajšp as guest, Gaber K. Trseglav, Lena Hribar Škrlec, Diana Kolenc as guest

 The Austrian-Hungarian writer and playwright Ödön von Horváth wrote Casimir and Caroline at the beginning of the 1930s, only a year before Hitler’s rise to power. The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the economic crisis and the experience of the First World War were the main cause of the intensification of nationalist tendencies throughout Europe and of the fact that segregation based on ethnic, religious or any other affiliation became a legalised permanent feature. The social mood was represented by simple folks who were fed up with their ever-lasting existential issues and therefore willing to put the blame on someone else.

The drama Casimir and Caroline is set against the backdrop of Oktoberfest, the famous feast in the capital of Bavaria where people feast on sausages and indulge in beer until unbridled passions flare between them. The two protagonists are a truck driver who was made redundant and his girlfriend, a simple lower division clerk, whom he suspects of wanting to leave him because she wants to relax and have fun despite his troubles. A seemingly innocent quarrel between the two lovers, which is anything but that due to economic and social circumstances, results in a break-up of the relationship that is impossible to prevent.