Matjaž Farič: Slippery ground

Running time: The performance lasts approximately 60 minutes

The performance Slippery Ground subtitled ‘Anti-musical by The Unwanted’ features a large cast of artists, musicians, actors, and dancers. In blending acting, dancing, and music, the characters on stage alternate between the narrative of an event and doubts about its reality. It all happens before a live audience, who assume the role of partakers placed in the centre of the performance space.

These two lines from the show Slippery Ground, written by actress Tina Resman and set to music by Žigan Krajnčan, summarize the gist of the performance, when, overwhelmed by myriad interpretations and opinions about an emotionally unsettling event, it is no longer possible to insist on a story supposedly based on truth. It turns out that the event itself is not real, its verity depending primarily on the individual's perception and interpretation. Thus, the show’s performers increasingly doubt whether the event actually happened, facing ever more difficulties in staging the actual truth.

The show Slippery Ground forms part of director and choreographer Matjaž Farič’s creative output spanning several years. It’s a sequel to the performance The Unwanted, an attempt at staging an event objectively – a view from the outside. Conversely, Slippery Ground deals with an extremely subjective view and response to the same event – a view from within.

The focus of both shows is an event that took place in Ljubljana’s Prekmurski trg during a dance intervention in public space, The Other Side of the Street, when a misunderstanding arose between homeless people and contemporary dancers.

Actor Jure Žavbi, who plays himself and a homeless character named Lepi, says in the show: