The 61st Maribor Theatre Festival Opens Today

The 61st Maribor Theatre Festival opens this evening with its first festival performance, the documentary performance Now, Suddenly, I Was a Creature of Vice, produced by Maska.

Created by concept author, playwright, and director Lučka Neža Peterlin, the piece is based on conversations with women who have experience of sex work in Slovenia. Combining documentary material with theatrical construction in a multimedia format, it addresses questions of stigma, social control, and moral judgement. Through a range of voices and lived experiences, it explores who gets to speak, who is heard, and under what conditions speech becomes possible at all.

The festival programme will also be enriched by the opening of the photography exhibition Backstage at the 60th Maribor Theatre Festival. Through the lens of long-time festival photographer Boštjan Lah, the exhibition reveals aspects of theatre that usually remain hidden from the audience's view. A selection of 25 photographs captures creative intensity, concentration, anticipation, and fleeting moments of backstage life, offering visitors an intimate glimpse behind the curtain. The exhibition will be on view daily throughout the festival in the foyer of the Small Stage at SNG Maribor.

We will also open the exhibition The Power of Youth: Young Architects in the Space of Stage Scenography, organised in collaboration with DESSA Gallery. Featuring the work of eleven emerging architects and stage designers, the exhibition sheds light on the creative processes behind the design of theatrical space, an essential element in shaping the audience's experience of a performance. It will be on display daily in the foyer of the Kazina Hall.

The first festival day will conclude with a guest performance by the Italian theatre collective Kepler-452, presenting A Place of Safety. Journey into the Central Mediterranean. This acclaimed production, which received the 2025 UBU Award for Best Italian Theatre Production of the Year, takes audiences to the heart of contemporary migration routes and opens a space for reflection on responsibility, solidarity, and the boundaries of Europe.

Tickets are still available.

*prevedeno s pomočjo AI