The Stranger, based on the book by Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus, is directed by Slovenian director Jernej Lorenci, who is regarded as the most prominent figure in contemporary Slovenian theatre and one of the most individual, insightful and innovative theatre-makers in Europe.
A novel exploring the themes of indifference, loneliness and absurd coincidences, The Stranger describes a short phase in the life of the protagonist, Merso, and his trial. After refusing to lie to himself and to others, defying the rules imposed by society, and being caught up in a series of strange coincidences, Merso is eventually condemned not for a possible crime, but for being different - a stranger.
Is modern society, more tolerant than ever, actively defending human rights, standing up for the weak, really tolerant of the different? Are there others who are universally pitied and others who are not? Where is the difference? How would you feel if you tried to explain your motives in court, but were asked the same biased questions over and over again, and realised that nobody was really interested in your answers? Would you fight or would you surrender?
Director Jernej Lorenci says that Merso is an iconic figure in twentieth-century literature and philosophy: "The outsider, the outcast, the outsider, the outsider who distances himself from everything and everyone. He observes the world from his shell. He has no position of his own. Does this 'detachment' have a philosophical meaning, or is it just a way to endure? Is Mersa a freak or a visionary?
How would we describe him today, when we live in a time of snap judgments and black and white truth? Now that we are expected to have a clear opinion on everything, always firmly for or against? Either for or against - for us it has become a kind of all-encompassing commandment of God, a new catechism: for/against, either/or. We live in a time when we are rather proud of our generalised and simplistic view on everything. When we are furious, irritated, so angry that we think we are about to burst. When we cling to our truth, when we fight for our exclusive right, the one, the only, the real one? We are all waving the flag of our tiny rights. A sea of flags, a sea of banners - that's what we are! And little by little we are drowning in stupidity, which is turning more and more menacingly into real blood."
In addition to numerous awards in Slovenia, Lorenci has also won numerous awards abroad: the New Theatre Reality Award (2017) and the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) Award (2013) are among the most important. In his work, the director refuses classical adaptations, and this performance will be no exception. Camus' novel The Stranger will be the dramaturgical axis of the performance, but during the creative process with the actors and the creative team, other relevant texts, contemporary contexts, the personal experiences of the creators will be used, and all of this will be transformed into an original and relevant treatment of the novel.
