Play
Directed by Matjaž Pograjc
Produced by Mladinsko Theatre
Opening night: December 11 2010
More info: www.mladinsko.com

Movement is an equal partner to words in Oliver Twist, director Matjaž Pograjc's dark and relentlessly paced staging of Charles Dickens's classic. The play's meticulously choreographed sequences take place on a unique, heavily sloped stage, designed to keep the actors in perpetual motion. Actors enter and exit the stage through hatches and use poles protruding from the floor to perform physical, all but acrobatic feats. The play's intense physicality often calls to mind Pograjc's older works, particularly Betontanc's early performances. It is also the play's most prominent feature, one that distinguishes Pograjc's staging from the numerous theatrical and cinematographic adaptations of Dickens' novel.

Pograjc's and Silence's 13th collaboration started befittingly badly. A few days into the project, a flash flood inundated Daily Girl, Silence's private studio. In order to salvage the equipment, the duet was forced to spend a lively night knee-deep in cold water. As a result, Hladnik came down with bronchitis. As a result, Benko came down with bronchitis. Finally, the director found Silence's first concept and compositions excessively cheerful. Yes, that's right, Silence's music was deemed too merry. An unprecedented event, that's for sure.

However, what started as a jinxed project eventually turned into what can only be described as a vulgarly pleasurable job. A playful, virtually strainless working process yielded a spontaneous and extremely diverse score, specialized in the unexpected (reggae, gothic rock a la Bauhaus, tributes to John Carpenter's legendary movie themes ...). The score features eleven instrumentals and one song, Pred smrtjo (Before I Die), a cathartic ballad based on Karel Destovnik Kajuh's same-titled poem. The song is performed live by actress Katarina Stegnar. All tracks were written, recorded and produced between September and December 2010 in Silence's makeshift studio (erm, Hladnik's living room).

01 The Board
02 The Orphanage
03 Dick
04 London
05 Fagin
06 Handkerchief Reggae
07 Street Market Pursuit
08 Mr. Brownlow
09 The Robbery
10 Nancy's Death / Rooftop Chase
11 Newgate Gaol
12 Before I Die (Oliver's Theme)