The Theatre Times: Rok Vilčnik (b. 1968), also known as rokgre, is a prominent Slovenian author, poet, playwright, lyricist, and multidisciplinary artist working across theatre, literature, music, television, and radio. Widely recognized as one of Slovenia’s most distinctive contemporary playwrights, he is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Grum Prize for Best New Slovenian Play.
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This guy is crazy. With that being said I found a lot of his ideas and points very interesting and at times thought provoking. The section about space in dramatic productions was very eye opening, as he says “space is the first character” and outlines a number of impacts that theatrical spaces can have on performers and audiences. What’s really clear about Vilcnik is that he thinks through everything. A lot of his answers and explanations give the impression that the man has sat down and had a good long think about a multitude of things, especially relating to art, the human condition, and societal systems. This can end up being really compelling asides such as his “all of life’s a stage” answer to a question about how funny his shows are, to a little overwrought such as his answer to a question about theater’s place in society with “God, one could say, is a multidisciplinary artist. His co-production with us is the most complete work that exists, the grand theatre of illusions that nourishes our confused souls. In a somewhat irreverent spirit, I allowed myself to explore precisely this theme.” Come on. Despite a few of these asides being a little too self indulgent I liked what Vilcnik had to say when asked repeatedly about comedy and humor in his shows, explaining how comedy and the absurd are everywhere, and by thinking about things logically or framing them in different ways, audiences can see the absurdity in the show and in their own lives. His comment about all comedies being poorly staged tragedies was also very apt. Interesting guy, but I don’t feel the need to read his new neon novel anytime soon.
I found Vilcnik’s words and explanations extremely interesting and I’ve been thinking a lot about them since reading this article. HIs answer to the first question really struck me, as I’ve had a lot of the same thoughts regarding storytelling, human nature, and how it all works. In fact, I have applied such thoughts while conducting my own analysis of literature and media and creating my own media. I agree with a lot of his thoughts and have even had some similar ones on my own. He found a way to put these thoughts into words while I completely couldn’t as language often fails and defies me. I find it breathtaking and fascinating how he’s been able to so thoroughly explain these concepts in a way that makes sense and can be understood through some mental effort though language fails to fully express what he’s talking about. I want to look into more of this work in the future, I find him so cool!
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