The theatre Dodecalogy 1972–1983 (a part of the DESTINYation project) directed by Tomi Janežič is a year-long theatre omnibus of twelve theatre productions. This transgenerational documentary fiction explores Nova Gorica as a place of growing up and as a place with surprising links to other cities. Through family stories, it addresses the themes of borders, socio-political changes, war and so on. It sketches a network of life destinies that span across time and are marked by journeys and migrations. But above all, this is an omnibus about theatre itself.
The Dodecalogy is being created in Nova Gorica, Ljubljana, Timisoara, Ivano-Frankivsk, Novi Sad and as a part of the Krušče Creative Centre. It will be showcased in 2025 as a part of the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica/Gorizia 2025!, one production per month.
January 2025:1972 a theatre play for one person (at a time) in a caravan at SNG Nova Gorica
February 2025: premiere of the play 1973 on the small stage of SNG Nova Gorica
March 2025: premiere of the play 1974 at the Slovenian Mladinsko Theatre in Ljubljana
April 2025: guest performance 1975 of the Ivan Franko Academic Drama Theater from Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine) in Nova Gorica
May 2025: a unique event in 1976 at the stadium in Nova Gorica
June 2025: performance 1977 in the auditorium of SNG Nova Gorica
July 2025: guest performance 1978 of the Hungarian State Theater Csiky Gergely from Timisoara (Romania) in Nova Gorica
August 2025: premiere of the play 1979 at the Creative Center in Krušče
September 2025: premiere of the play 1980 at the Slovenian Mladinsko Theatre in Ljubljana
October 2025: guest performance 1981 by the Novi Sad Theater Újvidéki Színház (Serbia) in SNG Nova Gorica
November 2025: premiere of the play 1982 on the small stage of SNG Nova Gorica
December 2025: final event, performance 1983 in Nova GoricaA HOUSE A HOME (performance)
A HOUSE A HOME
A House A Home takes short stories of female writers (Clarice Lispector, Alice Munro, Kate Chopin) that deal with themes of womanhood and life juices, home, family and absence as a starting point. It furthers the topic of family and intergenerational relationships and different roles of a woman- artist which were central already in performance Oh, how very ordinary.
The performance happens at home, where the author lives. In a flat/kitchen set on a miniature stage, she dances through different situations integrating in it the personal and actual frame of the piece. Entrapment in the small space and possible feeling of entrapment of the “standard” female roles is not linked to victimhood but through humor guides us into the question of freedom, aliveness, maybe juiciness or even the magic of the mundane. It uses dance, music and plays with the possibility of the filmic in theatre.
From the reviews:
Perhaps the best key to entering the multi-layered performance is provided by the element that at first seems the most arbitrary in its inclusion, an excerpt from Opening Night (1977) projected on the screen. Nowhere in the film is it explicitly explained, but the judiciously chosen excerpt quickly clarifies Legin’s interest. Director John Cassavetes, with his partner and actress Gena Rowlands, made films that were more attentive to women’s experience of the world than his contemporaries. Rowlands herself, however, never glossed over the latter – tragic as they were – in her approach to creating and embodying her characters. Instead of playing them as victims, she imbued them all with the dignity that unenviable situations deserve. Like Legin, she found strength in powerlessness. Dancing behind the bars of expectations, Metod Zupan, Kritika, 15.1. 2024 (https://veza.sigledal.org/kritika/plesati-za-resetkami-pricakovanj-r)
Reflection on platform Neodvisni by Maša Radi Buh:
“In the end, what distinguishes the performance A House A Home is that Katja brings us close, but not only close, to her intimacy, a practice that is not alien to the performing arts, and is often even a safe tool for the production of content and material. Katja lets us in close because she shares with us her unknowing, her uncertainty, because at the end of the performance it does not seem that all these questions are answered or that Katja can draw clear and relieving conclusions that would relieve her of her burdens. After all, at the end of the performance, we leave the theatre through the door and find ourselves in the kitchen/dining room of the family house, the children arrive from upstairs and the end of the event consumes the life of this house, which is a life that crosses the boundaries of work and home.” https://www.neodvisni.art/refleksija/2024/06/dvojnosti-umetelne-prisotnosti/
The performance was invited to 59th Borštnik theatre festival 2024 (in June). It was recently included in Gibanica, the Biennial of Slovenian Contemporary Dance Art 2025 - a selection of the 8 best performances created in the field of contemporary dance in Slovenia in the last two years http://(https://gibanica.info/najava-selekcije-gibanice-2025/). On the Kritika portal, the critic and theoretician Zala Dobovšek included it among the 15 best productions of the 2023/24 theatre season http://(https://www.slogi.si/wpcontent/uploads/2024/07/STN_Julij-2024.pdf).
Performance by: Katja Legin. On stage: Katja Legin and guests. Concept for the space: Branko Hojnik, Tomi Janežič. Scenography: Branko Hojnik. Costumography: Marina Sremac. Sound design: Tomaž Grom. Collaborator in the process: Kaja Lorenci. Artistic advice: Tomi Janežič.
Production: Studio za raziskavo umetnosti igre. Partners: Društvo Studio za raziskavo umetnosti igre (UC Krušče), Bunker, Nagib Maribor. Producer: Petra Hazabent
Supported by Municipality of Ljubljana and Ministry for culture RS.
THE WAYS OF THE HEROES
The Ways of the Heroes is an international project of 7 partner organizations gathered around the idea of artistic examination of social apathy and absence of agency and offering ways to deal with them, while focusing on the most concerning issue that needs our immediate action – the environment. Do we need to see the color of the air that we breathe in order to act? How do we move on from the feeling of hopelessness?
The project offers various impulses to create agency and responsibility in times of crisis. We are gathering the facts about the climate crisis, but the questions are: What do we DO with these facts? How do we ACT as individuals and communities? How do we react politically, socially and emotionally to the crisis? How do we make the first step on the way?There are already many individuals acting for the good cause in our communities, but they are not visible enough. The project will emphasize and share their stories to inspire communities to trace their own Ways of the Heroes. Inspired by Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People which questions the impact of individuals on the community and vice versa, the project is focusing on bringing stories of these hidden heroes to international audiences. Theatre, videos, public space performances, exhibitions, illustrated books for children and online campaigns are the means that will be used to share these stories. By recognizing all the hidden heroes that build our communities, The Ways of the Heroes hopes to provoke a sense of belonging, ever so important for an individual’s identity.
By establishing a creative ecosystem in which each activity influences another, and differences between artistic disciplines are blurred, the project will include diversified means of expression. Translating the themes from one media to another will bring layers and multiple new angles on how we perceive our planet today.
The moving force of the project are examples of good environmental practices – interviews with citizens-agents of all 6 partner countries. These real-life stories will be reinterpreted through a public space performance, a production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, an illustrated book for children, an ARTISTIC COMMUNITY BUILDING WORKSHOP and an exhibition. The sustainability and the impact on the environment of these activities will be followed by an environmental expert with the aim of provoking self-reflection and inspiring a wider understanding of the individual-environment relationship among the participants of the Ways of the Heroes.
PARTNERS
The project The Ways of the Heroes gathers 7 partner organizations from 6 countries. The lead partner in the project is MNT (Macedonian National Theatre) from Skopje, North Macedonia and partners include La Dramaturgie (Italy), Eho animato (Serbia), Loop (Greece), Studio Teatar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gavroche books (North Macedonia) and Studio for the research of the art of acting (Slovenia).
