Five Kings: The Psychopathology of a Monarchy

Premiere 12. 4. 2024, Grand Stage Celje City Theatre

Running time 4 hours 20 minutes, with intermission.

Post-performance discussion with the artists.

Director Livija Pandur

Translators Primož Vitez, Tibor Hrs Pandur

Dramaturg Tibor Hrs Pandur

Set designer Marko Japelj

Costume designer Leo Kulaš

Composers Silence (Boris Benko, Primož Hladnik)

Movement consultant Sanja Nešković Peršin

Music director Živa Ploj Peršuh

Language consultant Živa Čebulj

Video designer Lina Rica

Lighting designer Vesna Kolarec

Assistant costume designer Lara Kulaš

Cast

Lovro Zafred, Lucija Harum, Aljoša Koltak, Lučka Počkaj, Luka Bokšan as guest, Borut Doljšak as guest, Žan Brelih Hatunić, Branko Završan, Barbara Medvešček, Eva Stražar

Questioning the legitimacy of power and political theology, the performance is based on William Shakespeare’s octalogy of historical chronicles spanning a brutal period of English history – the great medieval crisis, the Hundred Years’ War with France and its culmination in the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses, which ultimately resulted in the defeat of Richard III, the establishment of the Tudor dynasty and the eventual dawn of the Elizabethan era. The medieval material and spiritual crisis are reflected in the psychopathology of five kings: Richard II (delusions of grandeur), Henry IV (paranoia), Henry V (nationalism), Henry VI (catatonia) and Richard III (genocide), who, as absolute rulers, inevitably suffer from a loss of humanity. The infernal machine repeats itself in the cycle of history, following the same pattern: a rise is followed by a fall. Amid their power struggle in the pursuit of survival and social advancement, the protagonists of this mechanism search in vain for their own reflection in a broken mirror. The “great feudal mechanism of history” (J. Kott) examines how Shakespeare’s psychological models of rulers function today and how much of modern political practices are already mirrored in the stagnant courts of the bloody Henries and Richards.