Različne scenske postavitve Cankarjevih del v ljubljanski Drami in drugih slovenskih gledališčih med obema vojnama (1918–1941)

Plays by Ivan Cankar unequivocally marked Slovenian theater in the period from 1918 to 1941. In addition to Shakespeare’s works, it was Cankar’s plays that were most frequently performed on the Slovenian stage. His works especially appealed to directors that were seeking deeper, symbolic meanings of the text, which they tried to present to the audience to the best of their ability. Thus, Cankar’s narrative was intensified through directing and acting, whereas the scenery was of secondary importance in most performances. These mostly included painted scenes or backdrops to represent the setting. Only the stagings of Pohujšanje v dolini Šentflorjanski (The Scandal in the St. Florian Valley), Kralj na Betajnovi (The King of Betajnova), Hlapec Jernej in njegova pravica (The Servant Jernej and His Justice), and Lepa Vida (The Beautiful Vida) contained more developed scenography. However, until the 1930s, scenery design for Cankar’s plays performed on the professional stage varied between painted backdrops and expressionist sets. It was not until the appearance of the director and scenographer Bojan Stupica that the scenery of these plays reached the boundaries of new realism and modern avant-garde. Until then, an unspoken rule had been in force that the scenery of Cankar’s plays should not extend beyond the boundaries of expressionism. This rule was observed even by the avant-garde painter Avgust Černigoj. However, Cankar’s plays were staged completely differently in workers’ theaters and popular theaters. With new avant-garde staging, they often surpassed the development of theater design in professional theaters, and caught up with contemporary formal ideas in Slovenian and European fine arts. Here, Cankar’s works were staged as anti-political propaganda. In order to better express their new ideas, these theaters also used new tools, such as projectors and film clips, and experimented with spotlights. The most original among these were the creations by the director Ferdo Delak at the Ljubljana Workers’ Theater and the works by Fran Žižek at the District Theater in Ptuj