Ich kann nicht anders

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January 16 - January 19, 2020

Downstairs | 66 East 4th Street (Basement Level)

Thursday to Saturday at 8PM; Sunday at 5PM

$25 Tickets; $20 Student/Senior Tickets [+$1 Facility Fee]

Performance for Ages 17+
Run Time: 65 Minutes (No Intermission)

View the Digital Program

Conceived & Directed By Beton Ltd.
Music by Dead Tongues
Performed in English

Ich kann nicht anders is fifth performance of the collective Beton Ltd.. It is an arena where the audience peek like voyeurs into selected intimate moments of three people. Their relationship is fluid, their roles are ephemeral, their words are something we would never write down, never say out loud in front of people we do not know, never repeat. Because they are so intimate, so banal, so common, so connected to everything daily omni-present, yet ungraspable: terrorism, capitalism, hashtags, patriarchy, sex, food … and: other people too.
The atmosphere of this piece is ever elusive, almost embarrassing and the shifts are sublime: the viewer can never fully immerse herself in the performance, even though the performers are so close one could almost touch them, but one can also not look away. Ich kann nicht anders was made based on improvisations, the text is based on documenting dialogues, while co-existing in an isolated space to which the actors confined themselves during the developing process. It erases the boundaries between the fictitious and private, between the politically incorrect and objective, between the world outside and the world of intimacy.

Press

“Ich kann nicht anders leaves an impression of staging some fundamental existential fear, powerlessness and the feeling of uneasiness that still remain with the spectator after the performance ends.”
- Nenad Jelesijević, Radio Študent

“A multifaceted questioning of the state of the individual as well as of the society...very substantial.”
- Pia Brezavšček, Gregor Butala, Dnevnik Newspaper

Creative Team

Conceived and Directed by Beton Ltd.
Music by Dead Tongues
Space Design by sonda4, Toni Soprano
Costume Design by Mateja Benedetti
Sound Design by Jure Vlahovič
Dramaturgy by Urška Brodar
Technical Direction by Andrej Petrovčič
Executive Producer: Maja Vižin
Produced by Bunker, Ljubljana
Cover Photo by Toni Soprano Meneglejte

Performers:
Primož Bezjak, Branko Jordan, Katarina Stegnar

The performance was supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Municipality of Ljubljana
With help of: Elektro Ljubljana d.d., Slovensko mladinsko gledališče, ŠD Tabor

About the Artists

Beton Ltd. is one of the leading Slovenian collectives in the field of contemporary performing arts, established in 2010 by three renowned Slovenian actors Katarina Stegnar, Primož Bezjak and Branko Jordan. Beton Ltd. collective is always tackling problems of the contemporary world with much self-reflection and humour, with innovative performing practices and methods.
“This is an ensemble, which builds on a gesture. This is not revolutionary theatre, although it is innovative and political. It is a theatre we need here and now, to push us at least a few feet somewhere else – or reminds us, that it’s time to go.” - Muanis Sinanović, Kriterij