Hinkemann

Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana

Première 26. 9. 2014, Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana
Running time 1 hour 35 minutes. No interval.

Director Marko Čeh
Translator Ante Novak
Dramaturg Eva Kraševec
Set designer Marko Turkuš
Costume designer Branka Pavlič
Composer Branko Rožman
Language consultant Tatjana Stanič
Lighting designer Vlado Glavan
Assistant dramaturg Anja Pirnat

Cast
Hinkemann Klemen Janežič
The Other Maša Derganc
Grete Nina Ivanišin
The old Mrs. Hinkemann Maja Končar
Paul Großhahn Klemen Slakonja
Max Knatsch Matjaž Tribušon
Peter Immergleich Vojko Zidar
Sebaldus Singegott Marko Okorn
Michel Unbeschwer Gorazd Logar
Stallholder Valter Dragan
Slate Vanja Plut

A whole range of social phenomena connects us to the époque in which Toller wrote his play Hinkemann – the aftermath of WWI. We are confronted with the absence of class and political awareness, with the extensive process of commodification, with the rationalisation and mechanisation of work and workers … Yet the most powerful parallel with today’s world is the inability of the main character to find his place under the sun and start living according to his own beliefs. He is aware of the responsibility that he bears as an individual. He is aware that he cannot find refuge in the realm of the authorities or in the church. On the contrary: his sole task is the responsibility for his own existence. From the very onset of the play, Hinkemann is not whole; his war handicap is the source of his sensitivity, his self-questioning, his existential unrest as well as of the quest for ways in which to go on with his life. And perhaps it is Hinkemann’s handicap that is the condition for a new post-war individual? Perhaps surviving the indescribable horrors and the stigma of the indelible experience are precisely what transform Hinkemann into the man of the future? Perhaps this is the only way of true progress? If this is so, then Hinkemann is not an error of society but an enlightened individual who, in spite of his lack of power, represents at least the minimum potential within the society.

Photo: Peter Uhan

Photo: Peter Uhan

Photo: Peter Uhan

Photo: Peter Uhan