Uvodnik1
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Ljubiteljsko gledališče združuje veliko število ljudi po vsem svetu. V Mednarodno zvezo ljubiteljskih gledališč (International Amateur Theatre Association) so včlanjena posamezna gledališča in nacionalne organizacije iz 74 držav, ki prihajajo z vseh celin. Samo v Sloveniji je leta 2019 na področju ljubiteljskega gledališča delovalo več kot 7000 ljudi. Kljub temu je področje le redko predmet znanstvenega zanimanja. To dejstvo je še nenavadnejše, če pomislimo na nekatere pojave v 20. stoletju, ki so odločilno vplivali na razvoj gledališča in so se zgodili prav v neprofesionalnem gledališkem okviru. Tokratna številka Amfiteatra je zato v celoti posvečena vprašanju sodobnega ljubiteljskega gledališča v Sloveniji in Evropi, podobo pa dopolnjujejo analize nekaterih njegovih ključnih zgodovinskih trenutkov 20. stoletja, ko so se v njem rodile nove uprizoritvene prakse.
Tako je že Bertolt Brecht pisal o »proletarski igri« ter o razliki med amaterji in diletanti. Amaterji so bili zanj gledališki ustvarjalci, ki svojo neprofesionalno pozicijo izkoriščajo za iskanje novih uprizoritvenih možnosti, diletanti pa tisti, ki skušajo posnemati institucionalno gledališče, a ga nikoli ne morejo doseči. To delitev Aldo Milohnic aplicira na raziskavo Delavskega odra pod Bratkom Kreftom in Ferdom Delakom.
Po drugi svetovni vojni je bila ljubiteljska kultura ena od kulturno-političnih prioritet v nekdanji Jugoslaviji, saj je vključevala veliko število ljudi, omogočala pa je tudi ideološko indoktrinacijo. Država je pospešeno obnavljala in gradila infrastrukturo, pri čemer so sodelovali tudi znani arhitekti in scenografi. Takšen je bil Valo Bratina, ki je med letoma 1946 in 1954 načrtoval in izvedel več obnov in gradenj kulturnih domov (njegovo delo raziskuje Ana Kocjančič), kjer so domovale ljubiteljske gledališke skupine.
Performativni obrat v šestdesetih in sedemdesetih letih se je na Slovenskem zgodil na obrobju. Izvedli so ga mladi profesionalci ali še študentje gledališke akademije in Filozofske fakultete, ki so iskali nove načine uprizarjanja. Odnose med institucionalnim in eksperimentalnim oz. neinstitucionalnim gledališčem v svojem članku analizira Tomaž Toporišič, ki pokaže, kako močno so ti pojavi vplivali na nadaljnji razvoj gledališča v osemdesetih letih in od kod so črpali ideje. Barbara Orel raziskuje nadaljevanje tega dogajanja v sedemdesetih letih prek specifičnega vprašanja obrata k neigranju (pojem Michaela Kirbyja), ki ponovno dokazuje močno vpetost slovenskega gledališča v tedaj aktualne ameriške gledališke avantgarde.
Podobo sodobnega ljubiteljskega gledališča najprej zarišejo tri empirične raziskave, ki
1 Uredništvo te številke in pisanje uvodnika je potekalo na AGRFT Univerze v Ljubljani v okviru raziskovalnega programa Gledališke in medumetnostne raziskave P6-0376, ki ga financira Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije iz državnega proračuna.
10 prihajajo iz treh evropskih držav (Gašper Troha, Anneli Saro in Hedi-Liis Toome, Vicki Ann Cremona in Marco Galea). S pomočjo statističnih podatkov in rezultatov ankete med ljubiteljskimi gledališči v Sloveniji, Estoniji in na Malti prikažejo podobo in izzive sodobnega ljubiteljskega gledališča, ki ima v Evropi številne skupne značilnosti. Ob tem se pokažejo tudi nekatere posebnosti, npr. zabrisana meja med profesionalnim in neprofesionalnim gledališčem na Malti, ki so posledica zgodovinskega razvoja v posameznih državah.
Vsebinsko te članke dopolnjujejo raziskave posameznih primerov ljubiteljskih gledališč, projektov ali področij ustvarjanja. Najprej Tomaž Krpič analizira vprašanja, ki jih sproža uprizarjanje Škofjeloškega pasijona, predvsem vprašanje skupnosti, ki jo to uprizarjanje vedno znova proizvaja. Vprašanje uprizarjanja kulturne dediščine dodatno osvetli Ana Vrtovec Beno, ki ugotavlja, da je to ena od specifik ljubiteljskega gledališča, saj je vezano na točno določen prostor in skupnost, ki lokalno dediščino pozna.
Louise Ejgod Hansen raziskuje program za otroke projekta Aarhus, evropska prestolnica kulture 2017. Njegova osnovna ideja je temeljila na sodelovalnem gledališču, ki so ga delali otroci za otroke. Na skupnosti v gledališču temelji tudi t. i. gledališče zatiranih, ki ga predstavlja Barbara Polajnar, tudi sama aktivna ustvarjalka tega gledališča v Sloveniji.
Številko zaključujejo tri študije primerov o slovenskem ljubiteljskem gledališču. Razvoj Čufarjevih dnevov na Jesenicah raziskuje Kaja Novosel. Tara Milčinski se ukvarja z različnimi tipi ljubiteljskega gledališča in prevprašuje delitev na vaška in mestna gledališča, Ajda Sokler pa predstavi razvoj gledališča na Studencu.
Amfiteater tokrat zapolnjuje vrzel v znanstveni refleksiji ljubiteljskega gledališča. Pokaže na njegovo raznovrstnost in pomen nekoč in danes. Poleg tega pa odpre številna vprašanja, ki bodo, tako vsaj upamo, spodbudila nadaljnje raziskave in analize tega kompleksnega gledališkega polja.
Gašper Troha
Preface1
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Many people are involved in amateur theatre all around the globe. The International Amateur Theatre Association (AITA/IATA), which "unites and links amateur theatre groups, community theatres and organisations actively working for theatre amateurs and individuals throughout the world", lists organisations from 74 countries and all continents. In Slovenia, more than 7,000 people were actively involved in amateur theatre in 2019. Despite these numbers, this field of theatre is rarely subject to academic research and analysis. Even more so, if we are aware of the fact that some of the theatre revolutions of the 20th century happened precisely in semi-professional or amateur theatre groups (e.g., The Performance Group of Richard Schechner, the Teatr-Laboratorium of Jerzy Grotowski). This issue of Amfiteater is thus dedicated to the amateur theatre of the 21st century in Slovenia and Europe. This image is complemented by papers that investigate the key moments in the theatre history of the 20th century, when amateur theatre facilitated the search for new performance practices.
Already, Bertolt Brecht wrote about proletarian acting and suggested a distinction between amateurs and dilettantes. Amateurs are the ones who take advantage of their non-professional position in order to seek new ways of performance; dilettantes on the other hand strive to imitate professional theatres but can never reach the ideal. Aldo Milohnic applies this thesis to his research of the Workers' Stage in Slovenia under directors Bratko Kreft and Ferdo Delak.
After World War II, the amateur culture became one of the priorities of the cultural policy in former Yugoslavia as it gathered a large number of the population and enabled a strong ideological indoctrination. The state strongly supported the restoration of cultural halls and built a large number of new ones all over the country. It employed renowned architects and stage designers to do it. One of those was Valo Bratina, who planned a number of restorations and new projects for halls that became domiciles of amateur theatre groups. Ana Kocjančič presents his work between 1946 and 1954.
Young theatre professionals, often students of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television and the Faculty of Arts who gathered in theatre groups of amateur nature, carried out the performative turn of the 1960s to the 1970s. Tomaž Toporišič describes the relationships between the institutions and student or experimental theatres, that later influenced theatre development of the 1980s. He also investigates foreign influences that marked this development. Barbara Orel deals with the specific
1 The editorial work on this issue and the writing of the introduction took place at the AGRFT, University of Ljubljana in the framework of the research programme Theatre and Interart Studies P6-0376, which is financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency.
14 question of not-acting (Michael Kirby) that was introduced to the Slovenian theatre scene by amateur groups in the 1970s.
The image of contemporary amateur theatre in Europe is presented by three papers based on empirical studies in Slovenia, Estonia and Malta. Gašper Troha, Anneli Saro and Hedi-Liis Toome, Vicki Ann Cremona and Marco Galea analyse surveys between theatre groups as well as statistical data in order to describe the challenges of amateur theatre in their countries. The comparison shows the many similarities as well as specificities of amateur theatre in certain countries; for example, the blurred demarcation between professional and amateur theatre in Malta, which is a consequence of its specific historical development.
These articles are complemented by a series of papers which deal with specific theatres, productions or theatre genres. Tomaž Krpič analyses the community of the Škofja Loka Passion Play. Ana Vrtovec Beno deals with the representation of cultural heritage and comes to the conclusion that this is one of the formative features of amateur theatre, as it is crucially bound to a certain place and local community that is familiar with such heritage.
Louise Ejgod Hansen presents the children's programme at the Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture. The basic idea of it was to introduce participative theatre, so that the programme was done by children for children. Barbara Polajnar presents the Theatre of the Oppressed, which is also based on practices of community and devised theatre.
This issue of Amfiteater is round up by three case studies of Slovenian amateur theatre. Kaja Novosel presents the development of the gathering/festival Čufar Days (Čufarjevi dnevi) in Jesenice. Tara Milčinski analyses different types of amateur theatre groups, challenging the division between rural and urban ones. Ajda Sokler looks into the history of Studenec Theatre, an example of a successful theatre group that has managed to gain a broader resonance of its work.
Amfiteater thus aims to present amateur theatre from a scientific point of view. It shows its complexity and diversity in the 20th and 21st centuries. It opens up new questions that will, hopefully, stimulate future research and analysis of this theatre field.
Gašper Troha