The Slovenian National Theatre from Maribor brought the monodrama “Immaculate” to the audience of the “Ohrid Summer” festival last night in the vestibule of the Church of Saint Sophia.
The play is an adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel for the Slovenian National Theatre from Maribor, intertwining fourteen reflective landscapes, an altar of love, loss, loneliness, and the search for meaning in wounds that never heal.The festival audience enjoyed the outstanding performance of Nataša Matjašec Rošker, who portrayed the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
“This play is very significant for me and everyone who worked on it because the idea to realize it came from our famous director Tomaž Pandur, who suddenly passed away here in Macedonia. We had already started working on it, so now with this play, which in some way is his last, we are coming to the place of his departure, making it even more powerful for all of us. The key message of the monodrama is that Mary, above all, was a woman and a mother who lived through a real experience, the loss of her son. This, in relation to the institutional interpretation of her life and her son’s life, is more significant to her as a woman than what followed later,” said actress Matjašec Rošker.
The play was completed by dramaturg Livija Pandur in 2016, following the sudden death of Slovenian director Tomaž Pandur.
“With his passing, my wound is so deep that only the stage can bear it. I dedicate ‘Immaculate’ to him, as he believed that everything that enters the stage is transformed with him,” said Livija Pandur, who is also the sister of the legendary director with a world-renowned reputation, Tomaž Pandur.
After studying dramaturgy at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film, and Television in Ljubljana, Livija Pandur worked as a dramaturg in various theatres in Ljubljana. From 1991 to 1996, she was the dramaturg of the Drama of the Slovenian National Theatre – Maribor. Among others, she was the dramaturg for all productions of Tomaž Pandur (1963-2016), including “Scheherazade” at the Youth Theatre in Ljubljana; “Faust,” “Hamlet,” “Carmen,” “Divine Comedy,” “Russian Mission,” “Babylon” at the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor; “Dictionary of the Khazars,” “One Hundred Minutes,” “Tesla Electric,” “Caligula,” “War and Peace,” “Michelangelo” at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb; “Faust,” “King Lear” in Athens. She is the author of several theatrical publications and published and edited the theatrical monograph “The Theatre of Dreams” in 2002.