Emilija
Longing for longing
Večer, Lojze Smasek
In Emilija the artwork by Barbara Novakovic, the longing
for Napoleon has developed into a longing for longing, since each fulfilment
of a wish or an expectation leads, at the very least, to an emptying of
feelings, if not a disappointment. With the close-by, palpable Napoleon
in »hand«, there arises the longing for an idealised image of him "on
the roof" (i.e. to the proverb which says "better the sparrow
in the hand than a pigeon on the roof")
Author of this concept and the director of Emilija, Barbara Novakovič,
has succeeded in presenting this with the initial, brimming, "shouting"
joy of a girlish, gentle, even hovering expectation, embodied by four
actresses in complementary variations on the theme of Emilia, and contrasted
by the rigid, firm and awkward world of men, primarily fighters, represented
by three actors. The main conceptual point of the staging, however, is
the notion born from the interweaving of both directions, of the tendencies
of men and women. All Emilias dance with all Napoleons. They are in their
arms physically, but spiritually Emilias looks through Napoleons and past
them - to the idea of them which differs from the reality of their presence.
But even if this wish were fulfilled, a new disappointment would follow,
and then a new longing once more.
All of this, together with the stage which "pulsates" wonderfully
with pictoral lighting and sombre colourfulness, and particulary with
the differentiation between the acting creations (accomplished by both
movement and voice), results in a fascinating and extremely beautiful
production - with the single failure caused by the incongruous, inarticulate
and pallid final scene. Fortunately, its stay in the memory is short and
ephemeral, for there is so much excellence in Emilija that it entirely
overrides the less congruous points...
Emilija between tendernrss and roughness, and with the liveliness of each
single moment - seeks for the path to the spectator's notions of super
- temporality.
Where is Emilija
Dnevnik, Jedrt Jeľ
The initial picture embraces the whole performance in one
sweeping movement. First, the minimal (in the opening scene it is entirely
bare), but absolutely effective, point - focused set design. In the Muzeum
theatre productions the space - settings represents the fundamental basis
which, all by itself, provides evidence of spiritual cosmos: of those
who enter it, of its creator, and - last but not least - of ourselves
looking onto it. It is of course a question of the similarity of spirit.
Within the embrace of events in the completely empty space of The Cricket
and Lo Scrittore, which only appear to be static, their flow playfully
entangles us with a gentle but irresistible force into the dance of incessant
seduction. Just as in both previous productions, the lighting used in
this last creation gently shaped and filled the atmosphere. It might conditionally
be said that Muzeum is a theatre of fine art and movement, multi-layerd
and more eloquent than any avalanche of words.
But Emilija is a firmly drawn narration in profound - or high, if you
prefer - poetic sensations which engender the language of l'art-pour-l'art.
This language not only adds to the ambience, but through the harmony of
words it also causes the silent and powerful expressive images to become
lost in the gentle light. It is as if we could at once look at the spatial
sketches of an "emotional scenario", to quote Eda Čufer, and
listen to romantic poetry (...)
