Taxidermists believe that it is possible to bring a dead creature back to life. In »Still Life«, the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre tries to do just that. The opening production of »Theater der Dinge« revolves around the idea of naturalness and poses fundamental questions about our relationship with the animal world.
In this brief interview right in the middle of the stage set-up, Tin Grabnar tells us how he thinks the production relates to the festival topic »The world without us«.
Quotes from the video
»In my work I like to address subjects that are hard to speak about in society. … I am really happy that Schaubude is so progressive and addresses these themes.«
»In our production we are animating animals that were killed by the human hand and are now brought back to life on stage – again with the human hand. … With this, we are trying to heal the wounds in our society.«

»Taxodermists wish to restore the animals’ dignity. On the other hand, taxodermy involves the idea of possessing nature, of possessing animals. This is the starting point for our show and through this we are addressing this ethical dilemma, the human relation towards nature.«

»We are trying to evoke sensibility towards animals in the audience. So the show is based on visual, long lasting scenes, kind of a visual poetry in space. The scenography is trying to support these nine animals, although everything is articficially made, everything is out of plastic.«
Slovenian director Tin Grabner shifts between genres, having worked on both theatre and film productions. He is also a winner of several awards for his puppet theatre productions. And now, for the first time, one of his productions is being staged in Berlin.
Still life
Puppet Theatre Ljubljana, Slovenia
4.11. 20:00 + 5.11. 18:00 + 21:00
Play: Asja Kahrimanović Babnik, Iztok Lužar, Zala Ana Štiglic / Direction: Tin Grabnar / Scenography:
Sara Slivnik / Costumes: Sara Smrajc Žnidarčič / Music: Mitja Vrhovnik Smrekar / Sound design, music effects: Eduardo Raon / Puppet technology: Zoran Srdić / Light design: Gregor Kuhar / Stage management, sound: Luka Bernetič
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