Holy Mothers

Original title Die Präsidentinnen
Première 15. februar 2022, Velika dvorana UL AGRFT

Running time 1 hour 30 minutes. No intermission. 

Director Nina Ramšak Marković
Translator Mojca Kranjc 
Dramaturg Milan Ramšak Marković
Set and costume design creators of the performance
Lighting designer Mojca Sarjaš

Cast
Žan Koprivnik
Sara Dirnbek
Miranda Trnjanin
 

In Holy Mothers, three retired cleaners meet at one of their houses to spend time together. Their entertaining discussions cover the Austrian Nazi tradition, Lumpenproletariat, sexual trauma, faeces and fantasies about their imaginary future. The production explores the pleasure that ensues from transgressing social norms, which often emerges at the points where society draws clear boundaries, particularly through the ideology of Christian morality. The pleasure of doing something forbidden often brings paradoxical feelings of disgust and attraction. By deliberately crossing the boundaries, the performance determines the point from which to address and provoke the viewer. The characters of the cleaners directly deconstruct the hypocrisy of the petty bourgeoisie and its ostensible taboos, such as faeces. They don’t outwardly approve of them but nevertheless enjoy them as long as they have a contextual excuse for their expression, which becomes an alibi for pleasure. In this new context, a topic that would primarily produce a feeling of discomfort on stage becomes intriguing and comical and thus subversively "inscribes" itself in the viewer’s body.

Director

Nina Ramšak Marković is a theatre director, president of the Melara Institute and co-founder of publication Adept. She finished her Bachlor's Degree in 2016 with the performance The House of Bernarda Alba, for which she received the academic Prešeren award. She finished her Master's Degree with the performance The Day After. Shedirected theatre performances Alarmi! (2019), The Emigrants (2021) The Presidents (2022) and Norma Jeane Baker Of Troy (2022). She has been collaborating with the artistic group Mismo Nismo since 2019.

Producer

The Melara Institute, under the auspices of Nina Ramšak Marković, Milan Ramšak Marković and Žan Koprivnik, is an institute for cultural and artistic production. Since its establishment in 2020, Melara Institute has been working in the field of performing arts and intermediate new media research. We dedicate ourselves to the creation of independent productions, through direct peer to peer artistic cooperation. As co-producers we cooperate with a wide range of institutions and free groups and artists with a goal to develop a new platform for our vision based on inclusivity. Through our activities, we try to bridge the gaps between seemingly different segments of the performing arts scene and create a creative environment in order to realize our artistic view and practices.