1973

1973: the year in which Yugoslavia becomes the FIBA EuroBasket champion, Fellini makes Amarcord, Pink Floyd release The Dark Side of the Moon, and Tomaž Pengov his unforgettable album, recorded in his lavatory. Josipa Lisac sings Dnevnik jedne ljubavi, the American Psychiatric Association declassifies homosexuality as a mental disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American intervention in the Vietnam war ends, the first call on a mobile phone is made in New York and a day later, the World Trade Center opens. On 11 September Pinochet, supported by the United States, topples the democratically elected Chilean government and takes power. One of the longest total solar eclipses of the 2nd millennium is visible over equatorial Africa. The cable car to Sveta Gora stops operating, the Mushroom Pickers’ Club in Nova Gorica is established and the Athletic Club Nova Gorica celebrates its first decade. Nova Gorica hosts the sports meet of the wood industry workers from the entire Socialist Republic of Slovenia. On 11 September 1973, the family that the production talks about experienced events that would change their entire future. The year 1973 is a portal into one family’s intergenerational stories that span across the 20^th century and lead up to today.

The project 1973 is a trans-generational documentary fiction, based on the creators’ personal stories. It is a story from the 1970s that grows out from thetower blocks of the era, a story connected to many local and global events that link Nova Gorica to different world cities. The production is a part of the theatre dodecology 1972–1983 (a part of the Destin(y)ation/A touch of Destiny project). It is a year-long theatre omnibus of twelve theatre projects directed by Tomi Janežič that are created in Nova Gorica, Ljubljana, Timişoara, Ivano-Frankivsk, Novi Sad and under the auspices of the Krušče Creative centre. The dodecology of drama miniatures was written by Simona Semenič, with several artists from different countries included in it in different ways. Throughout the entire 2025, it will be shown as a part of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica – Gorizia, with one project shown every month. The dodecology sketches a network of life destinies that stretch through time and are marked by travels and moves. But above all this is an omnibus about theatre itself. 

Janežič is a master of creating atmospheres, with unbelievable ease. Acting, we could say, that is not acting, because the actors tell a story, that is, many little stories beyond the traditional character construction, like normal people. And yet, every single detail comes to life in front of us and thus triggers our imagination.  

Szerda Zsófia

(a review of the production 1978, which premiered in Timişoara in 2023 and will be shown in Nova Gorica in 2025)